MovieChat Forums > Dragonslayer (1981) Discussion > Great example

Great example

posted 8 years ago by infanttyrone-1
1 reply | jump to latest

--of a movie that lets the viewer's imagination do most of the heavy lifting. There's not a lot of gratuitous show-offy shots of the dragon (partially to not expose the weaknesses of the effects of course,) what we get is a very effective build-up of an enemy that's not just a monster but an environmental catastrophe, a natural disaster, something so bad people don't want to say it's name. This isn't a world where dragons crack jokes or noodle around; these dragons are volcanos or tsunami or a tornado alley. Characters might put traits like malice or sadism onto dragons but they say it the way we'd say February on the southern shore of Lake Superior is cruel.

[–] Ace_Spade (9610) 4 years ago

A better film for that. Showing monsters makes them less scary. Jaws is effective for the same reason.

I'm half-and-half on the "dragon as beast" thing. When the dragon is just an animal, it does - as you say - impart a bit of "realism" to the world and grounds the film. On the other hand, when it's basically just a way worse crocodile and there's nothing supernatural or intelligent about the beast, it makes it feel like the quest isn't that special. Galen is basically just a really specialised exterminator. They also take time to show the dragon mourn her young, so...they kinda try to eat their cake and have it to with the non-magical monster version of the wyrm.