There aren’t any genres where the movies belonging to them have to be R-rated to be good, as something being deemed suitable for audiences 17 years of age or older isn’t an automatic sign that it’s better than something that’s not. If there’s any genre where most of the best movies in it tend to be R-rated, though, it’s probably not the fantasy genre. It’s probably the horror one.
If you look at the fantasy genre, you’ve got all sorts of family-friendly movies that are timeless and wonderful (going back as far as the earliest Disney movies based on fairy tales, plus The Wizard of Oz), and then more modern fantasy films that are PG-13 (suitable for most people, just not young kids), like The Lord of the Rings. As for R-rated fantasy movies? Sure, there are some great ones, and there are even some masterful ones, including, arguably, those below.
10
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’ (1987)
Starting off with a bit of a funny example, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is, unsurprisingly, a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, and that’s a movie more easily definable as a horror one. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors also belongs to the horror genre, but flips things a little by arguably being more of a fantasy movie, whereas A Nightmare on Elm Street was a horror movie first, and a fantasy film (if at all; more supernatural horror, over anything else).
Like the title suggests, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors has its characters take a more active role in battling Freddy Krueger in their dreams, and that agency on their part goes a long way into giving the film more of a fantasy – and almost adventure – type feel. It’s odd, and might sound, on paper, like a jump-the-shark kind of thing, but in execution, it honestly works wonders.
9
‘Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust’ (2000)
If you’re after the best anime film that’s R-rated, you’re probably after science fiction-related ones like Akira or Paprika, or maybe horror-focused ones like Perfect Blue. Fantasy ones, on the other hand? Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust might be your best bet, which is bloody even by vampire movie standards, but it’s also, admittedly, something that blends quite a few genres, so you’ve got horror here… oh, and sci-fi, to an extent, since it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future.
It’s about a dhampir (half-vampire) setting out to rescue a young woman who’s seemingly been kidnapped by a vampire, and then he also has to compete with a group of bounty hunters who are also trying to track her down. It’s got a bit of everything and is also unapologetically violent when it wants to be, but it’s also not violent for the sake of being violent, since it’s genuinely engaging in other ways, too; just surprisingly good stuff all around.
8
‘Conan the Barbarian’ (1982)
It’s not hard to find enjoyment in Conan the Barbarian, which is a very no-nonsense dark fantasy/adventure movie about the titular character going on a quest to avenge the death of his parents. Whether the central performance by Arnold Schwarzenegger is good, in the traditional sense, is hard to say, but he is iconic in the role, and the movie itself is also pretty iconic.
If you’re after a bombastic sword and sorcery film, it’s about as good as they get. Conan the Barbarian looks and sounds great, with cinematography and music that’s better than you might expect, and the acting’s either good, or it’s memorable (again, Arnold Schwarzenegger). This is a movie that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is, and it delivers on that front, so sure, it’s a masterpiece; why not?
7
‘The Fall’ (2006)
Sort of like a less humorous and more violent The Princess Bride, The Fall is about an adult telling a story to a child, but this adult’s going through some stuff, and so the story takes some dark turns reflecting his state of mind. The fantasy side of things is taking place within the story, rather than the film’s actual world, sure, but so much time is spent on – and in – the story that The Fall still feels like a fantasy movie.
It’s weird to type that many words about it without mentioning how great it looks, but yes, The Fall has well and truly earned its reputation as one of the best-looking fantasy movies of all time. It’s also probably on the milder side of things as far as R-rated fantasy films go, but an R-rating is an R-rating, and so here it is.
6
‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ (1992)
Of all the film adaptations of Dracula, it’s 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula that feels like one of the closest to the source material. It’s also a bit more full-on with its content than you might be used to seeing in most other (older) Dracula movies, because not only is the style heightened here and the approach to the story quite bombastic, but the bloodshed is over-the-top for the most part, too.
Also, Bram Stoker’s Dracula isn’t shy about sex either, so that adds more to the sense of things being full-on. You can’t spell Dracula with “R,” after all, so maybe it makes sense to have it be this way. On top of all that, this is probably the best film Francis Ford Coppola ever directed that wasn’t released in the 1970s, in case you haven’t seen it and need another reason to.
5
‘Excalibur’ (1981)
Excalibur is a movie about the legend of King Arthur, but R-rated, or otherwise more graphic than you might be expecting in a movie about such a well-known story (later in time, there was The Green Knight, admittedly, which is sort of related). It’s also done on an epic scale, even if the runtime falls maybe a little shy of what most epics reach, as 140-ish minutes is on the slimmer side in a genre filled with movies that exceed three hours in length.
There are all the beats hit that you might expect, given the story at hand, but Excalibur stands out because it hits all those beats quite a bit harder than would perhaps be anticipated. It’s all very grand and maybe a bit over-the-top (not quite to the same extent as Conan the Barbarian), yet the approach works, and the film is, overall, admirably confident in what it’s going for.
4
‘The Green Mile’ (1999)
Sure, The Green Mile is more of a prison drama than an outright fantasy movie, but those fantastical elements are definitely there and ultimately important for the story, even if much of the film’s grounded. It takes place on and around death row, with one prisoner there possessing strange abilities, which changes the life of a corrections officer who then learns the prisoner may not be the one who committed the crimes that landed him on death row.
The Green Mile takes a good deal of time to watch, and is quite brutal and emotional in parts, so it also takes a toll in that way, yet it is very much worth dedicating oneself to.
All this unfolds over a little over three hours, and so it does manage to capture the bulk of its source material, which was originally written and released in six parts as a serial novel, by Stephen King. The Green Mile takes a good deal of time to watch, and is quite brutal and emotional in parts, so it also takes a toll in that way, yet it is very much worth dedicating oneself to watching at least once.
3
‘All of Us Strangers’ (2023)
Quite comfortably the most recent film here, which makes calling it a masterpiece risky (sometimes, movies need a little time to breathe, or otherwise prove they can age well), but with All of Us Strangers, it’s simply too great to overlook. It’s a little like The Green Mile in that it’s fairly grounded, or at least seems to be initially, and the fantasy elements are also downplayed.
As it goes along, the fantasy side of All of Us Strangers does reveal itself more and more, though elaborating on why it’s all surprisingly – and largely – tied to the fantasy genre would mean ruining the pair of amazing scenes the whole movie spends its time building up to. It’s the kind of film that’s just worth taking a chance on and getting swept up in, with so much of it (eventually) hitting incredibly hard.
2
‘The Crow’ (1994)
Beyond being a dark fantasy movie, The Crow is also an action film, a thriller, and a comic book movie all at once. Oh, and it’s also a revenge film, with the person wanting vengeance having been brought back from the dead to get it. It’s that side of things that makes The Crow a work of fantasy, and then despite all the supernatural, violent, and stylish things it’s got going on, the whole film also ends up being surprisingly emotional, too.
It’s not as intense as the comic book series it’s based on, which is more anguished and full-on with how it unpacks grief, or works as something that suggests such a thing can never be fully unpacked. Still, The Crow (1994) doesn’t overly sugarcoat things or get too sentimental, and a pretty good balance is achieved overall (oh, and it’s got an all-time great soundtrack, too).
1
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006)
You’re always going to run into some language that sounds potentially hyperbolic when talking about – or listening to someone talk about – Pan’s Labyrinth, but it really earns that heightened praise in so many ways. It’s a contender for the title of best fantasy movie of the 21st century so far, and it also might well be the best dark fairy tale film ever made.
It’s uncompromising with its violence, both of the fantastical and realistic sort, the latter coming about because Pan’s Labyrinth also functions as something of a war movie, taking place not long after the end of the Spanish Civil War. It’s got a lot going on all at once, and it’s also highly emotional and quite intense on top of being sometimes gruesome with its violence, but so long as you’re not too young, it’s a must-watch. And if you are too young, just wait a few years or something, and pray the world doesn’t end before then or whatever.