Galen is an apprentice of wizard Ulrich. One day, an expedition led by Valerian and Tyrion asks Ulrich to help them get rid of a dragon that has been terrorizing their land for a long time. Upon demanding proof of his magical powers, Ulrich asks Tyrion to stab him with a dagger in the heart. Tyrion obliges, and Ulrich dies. The expedition leaves, but Galen follows them, taking a magical amulet with him. He finds out Valerian is actually a woman, hiding her gender since the King of the land ordered that women be tied to a pole and sacrifised to the dragon to appease him. The amulet is able to cause a landslide of dragon's cave, but the people are shocked when the dragon turns out to be alive. Using a huge spear, Galen goes to the cave and wounds the dragon. After throwing Ulrich's ashes in he burning water, Ulrich is resurrected, is able to trick the dragon into grabbing him, but then explodes after Galen smashes the amulet, thereby causing the dragon to die.
"Dragonslayer" is a dark fantasy that is almost a dragon-version of "The Seven Samurai", except that in this case only the apprentice Galen (comedian Peter MacNicol in a serious edition) travels to a village to save it from the villain—in this case, the mythological giant lizard. This movie is a very straightforward affair, sometimes even a bit too much, since it is at times too monolithic and grey, while one wishes it had a higher amplitude of range, such as more ingenuity or versatility. The characters are all one-dimensional, yet the narrative is very concise and well made, creating a dirty and realistic environment inside this fantasy world. Some situations are grim, such as the one where the kingdom has a tradition of sacrificing women to the dragon by chaining their hands to a pole, so one unlucky one manages to squeeze her hands out of the chain bracelets, yet it causes her wrists to be all bloody and damaged. Having the wizard Ulrich disappear from the story already in the opening act was a weird choice, though that gave Galen a chance to prove himself as the new hero. The main attraction are definitely the outstanding special effects, featuring a great example of a stop-motion dragon—the highlight appears 80 minutes into the film, when Galen enters the cave and the camera pans to the right to reveal a whole catacomb with a lake on fire. Galen first spots the dragon's head as a reflection in the water, and then goes out to fight it with a spear, creating a wonderful suspense rush. These painstaking visual effects of the dragon, fleeting as they may be, compensate for the other parts in the film.
Grade:++
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