A sorcerer and his apprentice 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.
Practical Effects
Vermithrax Pejorative: a full-scale dragon puppet that still slaps.
Direction
Robbins builds dread like a slow burn—then immolates you.
Acting
Ralph Richardson's Ulrich: ancient, exhausted, absolutely iconic.
Director
Matthew Robbins
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Industrial Light & Magic's first non-Star Wars project; the dragon puppet required 17 operators and still malfunctioned constantly.
Disney distributed this R-rated adjacent nightmare while pretending it was family-friendly—parents in 1981 were NOT prepared.
