My Personal Ranking of 1980s Fantasy Movies (Patreon)

No, no reason at all for this. I was just thinking about it, so I thought I'd share.

I'm only ranking movies initially released in theaters (so no animated Return of the King), with no strong modern elements (so goodbye to excellent films The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, and Time Bandits, though Krull stays because it has some scifi elements, but nothing modern-day), that include some kind of magic (ruling out Quest for Fire), released between Jan 1 1980 and Dec 31 1989. I'm also not ranking movies I consider to be primarily a different genre, such as scifi or wuxia, even if it otherwise fits.

And it's very important to note that these are ordered by how much I personally like them, not by any attempt to objectively measure their quality as movies. I'll never try to claim Krull is a better movie than Excalibur, but I do enjoy it more.

From most to least liked:

Krull

Conan the Barbarian

Hawk the Slayer

Excalibur

Ladyhawke

The Dark Crystal

Labyrinth

The Sword and the Sorcerer

Fire and Ice

Clash of the Titans

Dragonslayer

Willow

(My fondness for the movies below this is significantly less than for any of the movies above this.)

Legend

Conan the Destroyer

The Beastmaster

The Last Unicorn

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Sword of the Valiant

The Black Cauldron

The NeverEnding Story

(Movies below this point I consider 'bad,' though I might still watch them on a Bad Movie Night... except the last two.)

Deathstalker II

Deathstalker

The Warrior and the Sorceress

Red Sonja

Erik the Viking

Hercules

Sorceress

Barbarian Queen

Ator the Fighting Eagle

Deathstalker III

The Adventures of Hercules

The Blade Master (Ator 2)

The Barbarians

(I do not recommend anyone watch the movies below this point, even if you like fantasy and bad movies.)

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom

Thor the Conqueror

Gor

Conquest

Disagree? Tell me what movies ought to be higher or lower on the list!

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