Best Fantasy Movies of 1981

To win the right to marry his love, the beautiful princess Andromeda, and fulfil his destiny, half-God-half-mortal Perseus must complete various tasks including taming Pegasus, capturing Medusa's head and battling the feared Kraken.

Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.

The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.

The sorcerer and his apprentice Galen are on a mission to kill an evil dragon to save the King’s daughter from being sacrificed according to a pact that the King himself made with the dragon to protect his kingdom.

Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer, in order to usher in a new occult age.

On Christmas Eve, a nameless little girl reads 'The Monster's Christmas' storybook to her teddy bear, as something sneaks around in the trees outside her window. She hears a noise in the other room, and thinking that it's Father Christmas, she goes to investigate. She finds one of the monsters, who has come seeking help to defeat an evil witch that has stolen all the monsters' voices.

Janet and Brad Majors, unhappily married, are separated after appearing on a game show. Janet becomes a superstar while Brad is thrown into a mental hospital. But what does fast food magnate Farley Flavors have up his sleeve?

The lovable Munster family finds their placid world turned into turmoil by the diabolical Dr. Diablo, the mastermind of an art heist using monster robots, including clones of Herman and Grandpa.

In turn-of-the-20th-century upstate New York, Winnie Foster, a 12-year-old girl, discovers a family living in the woods near her family's home who never ages thanks to a magical spring they drink from and she is entrusted to keep their secret and becomes involved in their lives.

A wealthy playboy, seeking the ultimate sexual experience, ends up meeting Madame Lau, an exotic oriental temptress endowed with mystical powers. She promises him that he will find the gratification he seeks.

The apparent vertical scratch in celluloid that opens Presents literally opens into a film within the film. When its figure awakens into a woman in a 'real' unreal set, the slapstick satire of structural film begins. It is not the camera that moves, but the whole set, in this first of three material 'investigations' of camera movement. In the second, the camera literally invades the set; a plexiglass sheet in front of the dolly crushes everything in its sight as it zooms through space. Finally, this monster of formalism pushes through the wall of the set and the film cuts to a series of rapidly edited shots as the camera zigzags over lines of force and moving fields of vision in an approximation of the eye in nature. Snow pushes us into acceptance of present moments of vision, but the single drum beat that coincides with each edit in this elegaic section announces each moment of life's irreversible disappearance.

'The Shadow of the Sun' draws upon Derek Jarman’s interest with alchemical processes as a metaphor for reprocessing Super-8 film. Jarman once described film’s union of light and matter as “an alchemical conjunction” and experimented throughout his career with creating dream symbolism through the superimposition of image and action. Originally called English Apocalypse, the film’s final title is derived from a 17th Century alchemical text that used the phrase as a synonym for the philosopher’s stone – the highly sought substance that turns base metals into gold and silver. The film was intended as a step toward the idea of an ambient video, that like its musical counterpart, was designed to enhance an environment.

Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City chronicles Strawberry Shortcake's trip to Big Apple City, so she can compete in a baking contest at "the little theater off Times Pear". Strawberry's journey, however, is in jeopardy due to the constant interference of the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak, who is her only competition in the bake-off. The Pieman counts on his kohlrabi cookies and a little trickery to beat Strawberry and her famous shortcake.

The king of the faeries sends for a young hunter after his shadow escapes and threatens his kingdom.

In an experiment, a pair of scientists use electric jolts to induce a sleeping woman to have erotic dreams.

When Max dies in an accident, he goes straight to hell. But the devil Barney makes him an offer: if he manages to get three innocent youths to sell him their souls in the next two months, he may stay on earth. Max accepts, and returns to earth, equipped with special powers. However, his task is harder than expected, especially when 7 years old Tobi demands that he marry his mother.

Spider-Man goes to China to help an official accused of World War II treachery. Two episodes of the TV series "Spider Man" edited together and released as a feature.

After his family moves to a new house, a young boy discovers a mysterious book that details a curse hanging over the date of Saturday the 14th. Opening the book releases a band of monsters into the house and the family must join together to save themselves and their neighborhood.

This is an animated story covering the ancient legend of Beowulf, as narrated by Grendel himself, the "monster" in the legend. Aimed more at adults than children, this version holds some interesting twists on the traditional tale, and is based on a novel by American critic and academic John Gardner.

A man uses an instant photo booth with bizarre results.

College professor Stephen Miles (Gary Bayer), his wife, a young girl, and a drifter (Jerry Houser) are suddenly faced with a society where money is worthless, food is scarce, your neighbor is your enemy and oppression reigns. The four must survive a world of earthquakes, natural disasters, looters, corrupt officials and the Anti-Christ in power.

In order to earn her wings, potential angel Angel Buns is dispatched to Earth to help middle-aged Sidney Pertzer, who is about to commit suicide out of frustration over his sexual ineptitude and inexperience.

A teenager becomes a werewolf after a family vacation in Transylvania.

In this magical film Dot joins up with Santa Claus in order to help her friend the mother kangaroo find her lost baby. The pair take off into the air in Santa’s sleigh led by two kangaroos and travel the world searching for the zoo where the lost kangaroo has been sent.

Four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen. In the end, Puck reverses the magic, and the two couples reconcile and marry.

A rugged warrior is on a quest to avenge his father's brutal slaying and in search of a legendary sorcerer who can help him. Joining him on his mission is a beautiful enchantress who is also searching for the sorcerer; pursuing him is a malevolent wizard who wants him dead.

A man with a cold wife and a husband who can't keep his hands off the maid.

A man discovers that his girlfriend is a "stigmata" (someone whose hands and feet mysteriously bleed in the same places where Jesus Christ was crucified) and tries to keep her out of the hands of a greedy TV preacher who plans to exploit her to make money for himself.

Beginning with an abstract explaining ghost dogs, a woman tells a story of an abduction of a widow's son by an evil Fiddle Man with powers of Satan, and how a dog that might contain the spirit of her husband saves them both.

Alba is a mystic who lives in an underground apartment. A plumber named Carlos is visiting her when a disaster causes the building to collapse, trapping both of them.

A lad finds himself magically sent back to ancient Egypt where he and the young King Tut team up to stop their evil and overly ambitious elders.

The award-winning Coke commercial becomes a heart-warming story!

While at her grandmother's house, a ten-year-old girl finds a coat in the closet. As she inspects it, she is suddenly taken back in time.

Romantic tragedy, the story of Tristan and Isolde.

The Marvelous Land of Oz is a 1981 musical play by Thomas W. Olson, Gary Briggle, and Richard Dworsky, based on the 1904 novel by L. Frank Baum. Not long after the events in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a young boy named Tip is the unhappy servant of Old Mombi, a wicked Sorceress in the Land of the Gillikans (in the north of Oz). One day Tip escapes, after creating a walking stick figure with a jack-o-lantern head named Jack Pumpkinhead with a magic Powder of Life stolen from the witch. He goes to the Emerald City, now ruled by the Scarecrow, but unfortunately, a female Army of Revolt, 400 strong and led by General Jinjur, captures the city. The Scarecrow, Tip, Jack, and some other oddball characters flee the city and head west to the land of the Winkies, now ruled by the Scarecrow's old friend the Tin Woodman. They must recapture the Emerald City, defeat Old Mombi (who allies herself with Jinjur), and most of all, discover the true secret of unassuming young Tip.

A godlike being, discovered in an ancient sarcophagus in the plains of South America, is brought back to life and must learn to cope with today's society while using his extraordinary powers to combat evil. This variation on the "Superman" theme served as the pilot to the short-lived series (1981-82).

It is time to crown a new king of the kingdom of Bogg, and King Mildew's son, Milo, seems like the best creature for the job. However, Vandred, the king's brother, has other plans, and intends to put his son, Vandal, on the thrown. He challenges Milo, who must prove his worthiness by retrieving the Crown of Bogg and returning it to the kingdom. The crown has been banned from the kingdom for years because it is cursed, but Mildew and Milo are willing to face the risks of the quest in order to keep Vandred and Vandal from assuming control of the kingdom

A trip to the past helps a teenager learn to appreciate her mother

Young boy discovers a teenaged caveman living in the local rubbish dump.

A heavy fog cuts the small isolated Scottish island off from the mainland, and dentist Michael Gaffikin has just discovered a dismembered corpse on the golf links. Michael and his artist girlfriend, Fiona Patterson, assist the local law enforcements in searching for the murderer. However, as the body count rises and the surrounding circumstances turn increasingly bizarre and gruesome, everyone begins to wonder if the killer is a human or an unimaginable creature...

In this sequel to "The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything," down-on-his-luck Kirby Winter inherits a floundering business, and the magical gold watch which can stop time. But his wedding plans with Bonnie Lee Beaumont are interrupted when her mother phones them to help her save her family farm from a nasty land developer - using the gold watch's powers.

A magician in a carnival--who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects--works with a superintelligent chimp named Alex, who can also talk. The magician and the chimp soon become the stars of the carnival, drawing in big crowds. However, the wild-animal trainer, who has been displaced by the team as the carnival's top act, decides to kidnap Alex and sell him to a medical laboratory for experimentation, thereby getting rid of his competition.

Televised stage performance based on Charles Dickens' novella.

Compilation film with a very loose plot released for Elton John’s album The Fox.

1980 Canadian film.

While out for lunch with a friend, Pandora feels an unexplained compulsion to visit a small antique shop. While browsing, a large mirror catches her attention, seemingly casting a spell over her. Despite warnings by the shop keeper to be wary of its enveloping powers of sensuality, Pandora cannot overcome her strange desire to gaze into it, visiting the store again and again. Each time learning a bit more about the mirror’s debauched past and corrupting powers – a sensation Pandora is soon a slave to…