Sword and sorcery is a literary genre that emerged from the early 20th century by blending elements from the Adventure and Horror genres with major influences from early archeology and theosophy, as well as folklore and mythology, often written in a gothic literature fashion with heavy themes of existentialism, social critiques, questions about agency, and expressions of free will. It is a sub-genre of weird fiction, and the parent of fantasy. It is also known for its utilization of eastern story telling techniques and religious story telling concepts such as Divine intervention, often employing the Deus Ex Machina trope.
Violent and controversial, the genre has experienced small bubbles of popularity. This genre is marked by morally grey characters, romance subplots, and an elevation or appreciation of primitive instinct or emotion as superior to civilization and/or law. These characters typically face interpersonal trials as they venture out to fight a mythical or supernatural evil in the pursuit of self-discovery or self-enrichment.
This genre was created by the author Robert E. Howard in 1926 with his King Kull story The Shadow Kingdom. Howard's characters Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane would go on to become the basis for this genre. It received its official name much later, in 1961, when Micheal Moorcock and Fritz Leiber had a public discussion through fanzines, deciding that there must be "a name for the sort of fantasy-adventure story written by Robert E. Howard."
This list will attempt to chronicle all films related to or inspired by the Sword and Sorcery genre. Due to the nature of film as being quite different from literature, there is substantial variation even in direct adaptions of S&S stories to the screen. There is considerable crossover with the screen presence of this genre and other subgenres of heroic fantasy.
In film, this genre is commonly referred to by the hybrid name supernatural action-adventure.
List of films (chronological)
Film Year Anim Ref. Die Nibelungen 1924 The Wizard of Oz 1939 Kashchey the Deathless 1941 The Magic Sword 1950 Prince Valiant 1954 Ilya Muromets 1956 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 1958 Sleeping Beauty 1959 Y Hercules Unchained 1959 Hercules in the Haunted World 1962 Jack the Giant Killer 1962 The Magic Sword 1962 Jason and the Argonauts 1963 Hercules the Avenger 1965 Treasure of the Petrified Forest 1965 The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun 1968 Y Ruslan and Ludmila 1972 The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1973 Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 1977 Wizards 1977 Y Star Wars 1977 Jabberwocky 1977 The Hobbit 1977 Y The Lord of the Rings 1978 Y Warlords of Atlantis 1978 Black Angel 1980 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Hawk the Slayer 1980 The Return of the King 1980 Y Clash of the Titans 1981 Dragonslayer 1981 Excalibur 1981 The Archer 1982 Ator l'invincibile 1982 The Sword of the Barbarians 1982 The Beastmaster 1982 Conan the Barbarian 1982 The Flight of Dragons 1982 Y The Last Unicorn 1982 Y Gunan, King of the Barbarians 1982 Hero 1982 The Sword and the Sorcerer 1982 Sorceress 1982 Conquest 1983 Ironmaster 1983 Thor the Conqueror 1983 Return of the Jedi 1983 Deathstalker 1983 Fire and Ice 1983 Y Hearts and Armour 1983 Hercules 1983 Hundra 1983 Krull 1983 The Throne of Fire 1983 Ator 2 - L'invincibile Orion 1983 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 Conan the Destroyer 1984 The Devil's Sword 1984 The NeverEnding Story 1984 Sword of the Valiant 1984 The Warrior and the Sorceress 1984 Barbarian Queen 1985 Return to Oz 1985 The Black Cauldron 1985 Y Ladyhawke 1985 Legend 1985 Red Sonja 1985 Starchaser: The Legend of Orin 1985 Vampire Hunter D (1985 film) 1985 Y Amazons 1986 Highlander 1986 The Barbarians 1987 Deathstalker II 1987 Mio in the Land of Faraway 1987 Stormquest 1987 Iron Warrior 1987 Masters of the Universe 1987 The Princess Bride 1987 Deathstalker III 1988 Willow 1988 Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II 1989 Erik the Viking 1989 Sinbad of the Seven Seas 1989 The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter 1990 Quest for the Mighty Sword 1990 Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back 1990 Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time 1991 Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans 1991 Subspecies 1991 Wizards of the Demon Sword 1991 allmovie.com Army of Darkness 1992 Quest of the Delta Knights 1993 Highlander III: The Sorcerer 1994 The NeverEnding Story III 1994 Yamato Takeru 1994 First Knight 1995 Lord of Illusions 1995 Mortal Kombat 1995 Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus 1996 Dragonheart 1996 Kull the Conqueror 1997 Snow White: A Tale of Terror 1997 Mortal Kombat Annihilation 1997 Wishmaster 1997 Princess Mononoke 1997 Y Berserk 1997 Y Hellsing 1997 Y Small Soldiers 1998 Kirikou and the Sorceress 1998 Y Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies 1999 The 13th Warrior 1999 Dungeons and Dragons 2000 Dragonheart: A New Beginning 2000 Demonicus 2001 The Hexer 2001 Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell 2001 The Scorpion King 2002 Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled 2002 Ariana's Quest 2002 Barbarian 2003 Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King 2004 Van Helsing 2004 Beowulf & Grendel 2005 BloodRayne 2005 Wolfhound 2006 Hellsing Ultimate 2006 Y Beowulf 2007 Claymore 2007 Y In the Name of the King 2007 The Golden Compass 2007 The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior 2008 The Spiderwick Chronicles 2008 The Pagan Queen 2009 Solomon Kane 2009 9 (2009 animated film) 2009 Y Tales of an Ancient Empire 2010 How to Train Your Dragon 2010 Y Tangled 2010 Y Conan the Barbarian 2011 In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds 2011 Ronal the Barbarian 2011 Y Priest 2011 Your Highness 2011 Season of the Witch 2011 The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption 2012 Sword Art Online 2012 Y Gallowwalkers 2012 Witchslayer Gretl 2012 Epic 2013 Y Gåten Ragnarok 2013 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters 2013 Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft 2013 Seventh Son 2014 Viy 2014 Mythica: A Quest for Heroes 2014 Dudes & Dragons 2015 The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power 2015 Overlord 2015 Y The Last Witch Hunter 2015 Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse 2015 Mythica: The Darkspore 2015 Mythica: The Necromancer 2015 Mythica: The Iron Crown 2016 Gods of Egypt 2016 Mythica: The Godslayer 2016 Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire 2017 The Scorpion King: Book of Souls 2018 The Stolen Princess 2018 Y Dragon Kingdom 2018 Dragonheart: Vengeance 2020 Jiang Ziya 2020 Y Onward 2020 Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge 2020 Y The Spine of Night 2021 The Green Knight 2021 The Northman 2022 Willow 2022 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 2023 Mythica: Stormbound 2024 The Slave and the Sorcerer 2024 Red Sonja 2025 Deathstalker 2025 Masters of the Universe 2026
See also Category:Sword-and-sandal films Category:Sword and sorcery anime and manga List of high fantasy films and TV series Adventure fiction Adventure film Lists of adventure films Peplum (film genre)
References