Dragonslayer

The film is a personal favorite, but for what it was trying to achieve and for what it actually did. It is an underappreciated work but because it was shot so dark, to complement its thematic needs, it's been a difficult transfer in home video. this 4K disc is stunning. seriously be best I've ever seen it and it is glorious.

Ever since I read the novelization back in 1981, I've been a fan of "Dragonslayer." I always felt it was underrated and should stand up high as one of the best 1980s fantasy films. Well acted and directed, "Dragonslayer" is stunning.This new 4K UHD is superb. The picture quality maintains the 35mm cinematography with natural ease and it doesn't look like it was digitally cleaned up. The film suddenly has a lot of depth and shows off the look of the production well. This does not look like the horrible VHS version I remember as a kid by a long shot.What will shock buyers is how excellent this film sounds. Truly breathtaking. No "dated" fidelity here. Dialogue is clear. Music and sound effects roar (pun intended) over my surround sound system with a dragon's fury. It doesn't hurt that the renowned sound designer, Walter Murch, helped craft this incredible soundtrack. Alex North's score is clear as a bell and lush sounding.The extras, too, are well worth buying this disc. CGI is fantastic, but there is something about watching a hand crafted dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, breathe fire and life on the screen. Interviews with visual effects icons like Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston and Phil Tippett, and director Matthew Robbins, are fun to watch.

This movie is my favorite fantasy movie of all time. I love everything about it. The Story, atmosphere, images, and music. The remastering of this film onto Blu-ray is stunning and the color and clarity are sharp and vibrant, however, there is only one problem. They reformated this classic film into the horrible and detestable 2:35 aspect ratio. Oh, God why? The original DVD had the 1.85 16x9 aspect ratio which filled your widescreen TV or projector image and utilized every inch of your television, something we spent a lot of money on for its size of images. Now, the 2:35 aspect ratio puts those hideous black bars on top and bottom of your glorious 60" or 80" TV screen whatever size you purchased, thus reducing your expensive widescreen TV image to a puny 20" high by 60"-wide joke for those majority with a 60" TV. The image size reduction varies on the size television you have, it's even smaller for those who have less than a 60" TV. It makes us feel like we are viewing a fantasy world through a single slat on our window blinds. It is awful and I hate this about the 2.35 aspect ratio. We want the option put on our Blu-Ray discs to have both aspect ratios included, Blu-Ray discs have the capacity to include both, giving us the option to choose. You will see that 1.85 16X9 will always win and be chosen by the majority. Hear me, Hear me! We are sick of your 2;35 aspect ratio video formats. Return them to the 16x9 aspect ratio as they should be for our televisions.

Great video quality and a fair amount of special features. The movie itself drags a little but one of the best dragons put to screen.

Even when you consider this movie was made in 1981 and you have current movies like Reign of Fire and Eragon to contend with Dragonslayer beats them all. Not only do you have the coolest dragon ever, but you also have a very well written story with plenty of parallels moving alongside the main plot. Add to that a fantastic setting and talented cast and you have not only the best dragon movie, but also one of the best fantasy movies made so far.Lets start with the dragon, Vermithrax Perjorative (cool name eh?). This is simply the best-designed dragon to ever reach the silver screen. From the conceptual design to how ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) made it come to life, Vermithrax is a delight to behold. Granted most of the dragon sequences are filmed using stop motion effects, but the process used makes the movements very fluid and believable. The dragon design itself is not the only beautiful thing about it. The way they tease you will a little shot of the tail here and a claw there makes seeing the dragon all that more satisfying at the final scenes. The dragon is definitely a treat to behold. The rest of the special effects (non-dragon related) are subtle and effective. Perfect for a movie of this sort.The story is as well designed as the dragon. Everything falls into place like it should. This is very refreshing when many Hollywood movies tend to throw a scene in just to appease what they think the audience wants. Dragonslayer is all substance without any of that fluff. I particularly like some of the underlying subjects like the rise of Christianity and the end of the age of magic. The story is complimented by what I consider one of the most detailed and accurate settings for a medieval dragon story I have ever seen. You really feel like you are in the Dark Ages. The acting, from both veteran and young actors, is compelling and believable without any of the camp many fantasy films fall victim to.The one thing I didn't really enjoy was the soundtrack. Granted it was done very professionally and the music is definitely befitting of the movie theme, I just found it more distracting than anything else on most of the scenes. There is no melody or pace set to the music. It just flies off all over the place like a mad scientist's experiment. I know most people who like Dragonslayer love the music. I just can't say that I am one of them.Too bad the DVD treatment isn't as good. No special features to speak of. No commentary tracks. Nothing special at all. Would be nice to at least see a remastered version sometime in the future.Compelling story, wonderful sets and location shots, talented and effective acting, spectacular special effects (especially considering when it was made), and a kick butt dragon design make Dragonslayer required viewing for any fantasy movie fan. This is especially true if you are into the swords and sorcery type or into dragons. If you want to see a really good story done really well then this too is the movie for you. Action fans might or might not get into it depending on how much action you really need, but there is probably not enough action for you testosterone freaks out there. All I can say is when you see this movie get ready to put away every preconceived notion you had on what a REAL dragon movie should be like.

My personal theory about this Dragonslayer 4K release is that someone either took extremely good care of the original film, and the home video department at Paramount had some spare time, or else a Paramount executive was a huge fan of this movie growing up, and was determined not to screw this up. Whatever the case may be, Dragonslayer, one of the "lesser" fantasy films of the 80s that was by no means a box office success or pop culture fixture, has gotten a 4K restoration that would normally be reserved for the likes of cinematic classics.On the visual side, it's crazy how much love this movie got. They've done it the proper way, going right back to the original negative and rescanning it in 4K, and then meticulously going through to remove any scratches, dirt, or other imperfections that might mar the image while leaving the film grain intact, so this movie still retains that 80s filmic look. The result is an 80s movie that looks far and away more impressive than it has any right to, especially when compared to the rough 4K treatment that some other 80s classics have received, like The Highlander.The audio is another area with pleasant surprises. Even now, there are some restorations of beloved movies like The Crow or Event Horizon that take the easier route, choosing to retain the decent 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby/DTS audio that previous Blu-Ray releases got. However, Dragonslayer somehow got a brand new Dolby Atmos mix, and because this is a movie about a guy fighting a dragon, this sounds as impressive as you'd expect. Overhead speakers come to life when the dragon soars overhead, attacks villages, or even just rises up and towers over the hapless hero. Thanks to how immersive the sound is, viewers are now getting, far and away, a vastly superior audio experience to what film-goers experienced in theaters in 1981 when this movie first ran. Music is boisterous, dialog is crystal clear, and during dragon sequences, the subwoofer roars to life to match the dragon and will shake your walls if you let it. All in all, it's an astounding level of unexpected high-quality audio for a movie that tanked at the box office in the 80s.The same goes for the extras. Fans of the film get a wealth of documentary material with some of the greats in analog special effects, like Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet, talking about the innovative stop-motion animation techniques they utilized. But perhaps most surprising of all, there is a brand new commentary included for this 4K restoration with both Dragonslayer's director, Matthew Robbins, but he's accompanied by Guillermo Del Toro, who it turns out is a huge fan of this film.If you're a fan of Dragonslayer or even just like to see older film restoration done right in the 4K era, this is a surprising must-own for your 4K movie shelf.

La película llegó a tiempo y en buen estado. Primera vez que veo la película, me había guiado por los comentarios y estaban en lo cierto, es una buena película, para mí ya un clásico. Viene solo con subtítulos en inglés.

Now this was one of those films that l had always watched bits of but never seen all the way through.A dark fantasy which was produced by Disney and paramount in the lat 70s and early 80s.Honestly, it's a bit of a gem. And holds up very well. The special affects and acting are top notch for it's time. Picked up for a fiver so happy days. It is dark, brutal in tone but also sprinkled with light hearted moments. Well worth a watch

I saw the film on TV many years ago so I was glad to find it had a 4K release, it is not the most exciting film and didn't do great commercially but I like it.At one point I did feel slightly sorry for the dragon.

Edición DVD de UK con castellano y buena imagen para ser un DVD