Fantasy Films
Fantasy Films, unlike science fiction films that base their content upon some degree of scientific truth, take the audience to netherworld, fairty-tale places where events are unlikely to occur in real life. In mythological or legendary times, they transcend the bounds of human possibility and physical laws. Fantasy films are often in the context of the imagination, dreams, or hallucinations of a character or within the projected vision of the storyteller. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary. They may appeal to both children and adults, depending upon the particular film.
Below is a collection of films where imagination has no bounds. Where entire worlds have been created and populated with mythical creatures, magical quests and larger than life heroes and villains.
The Phantom: The Serial (1943)
4.9/10
Director: B Reeves Eason
Starring: Tom Tyler, Jeanne Bates
Tom Tyler stars as the purple-and-black hero of the African jungle, helping fiancee Jeanne Bates' archeologist father locate the Lost City of Zoloz an... Read more
The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1945)
7.6/10
Director: Albert Lewin
Starring: Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford
Oscar Wilde's bitingly satirical novel, first published in 1891, was faithfully adapted to the big screen with Hurd Hatfiled as the conceited Dorian a... Read more
The Portable Door (2023)
Director: Jeffrey Walker
Starring: Sam Neill, Christoph Waltz, Patrick Gibson, Damon Herriman, Rachel House, Mirand...
Paul Carpenter is an intern at a mysterious London firm with unconventional employers, including a CEO who wants to disrupt the ancient magical world... Read more
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
7.1/10
Director: John Musker, Ron Clements
Starring: John Goodman, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey, Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Terrenc...
Discover what really happened after the princess kissed the frog in an inspired twist on the world's most famous kiss. In early 1900s New Orleans, Pri... Read more
The Princess Bride (1987)
8.1/10
Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Cary Elwes, Christopher Guest, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Wal...
A very special, engaging fairy-tale comedy which mixes romance, magic and swashbuckling action as told to a young boy by his grandfather (Peter Falk).... Read more
The Promise (2005)
5.6/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Cecilia Cheung, Hiroyuki Sanada, Nicholas Tse, Dong-kun Jang, Liu Ye, Chen Hong
From the director of 'Farewell My Concubine' comes this visually stunning tale of passion, set in China's mythical past, that unfolds against a backdr... Read more
The Prophecy (1995)
6.5/10
Director: Gregory Widen
Starring: Elias Koteas, Eric Stoltz, Christopher Walken, Virginia Madsen, Viggo Mortensen,...
An unusual shocker starring Christopher Walken as the evil angel Gabriel, whose jealousy over God's interest in humans leads him to instigate a war on... Read more
The Prophecy 3: The Ascent (1999)
5.6/10
Director: Patrick Lussier
Starring: Christopher Walken, Vincent Spano, Kayren Ann Butler, Brad Dourif
The third seraphic shocker finds Gabriel (Christopher Walken) once again fighting "on the side of the angels", as he tries to defend the half-human Da... Read more
The Prophecy II (1997)
5.8/10
Director: Greg Spence
Starring: Christopher Walken, Jennifer Beals
Christopher Walken returns as the menacing angel Gabriel. When the powers of good and evil again descend to Earth in battle over humankind, the only h... Read more
The Red Turtle (2016)
7.5/10
Director: Michael Dudok de Wit
If one day Studio Ghibli decides to produce an animator from outside the studio, it will be him, was Miyazakis pronouncement after watching Dudok de... Read more