Subgenre Sampler

Show: All FilmsRental Rental DVD Rental Blu-Ray Rental VHSSales Sales DVD Sales Blu-Ray Sales VHS

Lamb (2021): Dir. Valdimar Johannsson
Feat. Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson…; An Icelandic folk horror of haunting, pastoral beauty with Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason playing a couple who live on a remote farm with…
Pinocchio (2019): Dir. Matteo Garrone
Feat. Federico Lelapi, Roberto Benigni, Rocco Papaleo; A new, live–action imagining of the iconic fairytale that focuses on the authentic roots of the Carlo Collodi story. Shot in stunning Italian…
Border (Gräns) (2018): Dir. Ali Abbasi
Feat. Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jörgen Thorsson; Remarkable Swedish black comedy about a customs officer with an extraordinary sense of smell who sniffs out a suspicious–looking traveller with…
Happy as Lazzaro (2018): Dir. Alice Rohrwacher
Feat. Adriano Tardiolo, Nicoletta Braschi, Sergi Lopez…; It's summer at Inviolata, an isolated rural estate, where an extended family of tobacco farmers toil under the rule of a domineering marchesa, and…
Fireworks (Fireworks: Should We See It from the Side or The Bottom?) (2017): Dir. Nobuyuki Takeuchi; Beautifully romantic Japanese anime set during a school summer vacation, based on Shunji Iwai’s 1993 TV series, “Fireworks”. Refreshingly…
Tokyo Ghoul (2017): Dir. Kentaro Hagiwara
Feat. Masataka Kubota, Fumika Shimizu; A live–action adaptation of the manga series by Sui Ishida. In modern day Tokyo, flesh–eating ghouls live among humans, and after…
Arabian Nights (2015): Dir. Miguel Gomes
Feat. Crista Alfaiate; Wildly original and ambitious triptych of films set in modern–day Portugal but structured on the sprawling Arabic fairy–tale collection…
Cemetery of Splendour (2015): Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Feat. Jenjira Pongpas Widner; Mesmerising film in the director's indefinable style, set in and around a rural Thai hospital which may be haunted. A group of soldiers…
Lure, The (2015): Dir. Agnieszka Smoczynska
Feat. Marta Mazurek; Utterly beguiling musical horror set in Poland in the 1980's, following the fate of a pair of mermaid sisters as they struggle to integrate into a…
Beauty And The Beast (2014): Dir. Christophe Gans
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Léa Seydoux, Andre Dussollier…; Opulent re–telling of the fairytale romance that blossoms between the youngest daughter of a merchant who has fallen on hard times and the…
Mood Indigo (2013): Dir. Michel Gondry
Feat. Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh…; Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris star in this wild interpretation of Boris Vian’s cult novel 'Froth on the Daydream' from dir. Michel Gondry.
Blancanieves (2012): Dir. Pablo Berger
Feat. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Angela Molina, Maribel Verdu…; The legend of Snow White is transposed to the bullfighting, flamenco dancing netherworld of the Spanish provinces in this beautiful and beguiling…
Thale (2012): Dir. Aleksander Nordaas
Feat. Silje Reinåmo, Erlend Nervold; An artful, serious–minded horror fantasy based on the Norwegian legend of the Hydra – a seductive, shape–shifting Scandanavian…
Werewolf Boy, A (2012): Dir. Sung-Hee Jo
Feat. Joong-ki Song, Bo-yeong Park, Young-nam Jang; One of a kind fantasy in which a teenage girl is sent to the country for her health, where she befriends and attempts to civilize a feral boy she…
Chinese Ghost Story, A (2011): Dir. Wilson Yip
Feat. Louis Koo, Yifei Liu, Shao-gun Yu…; A lowly scholar falls in love with a beautiful ghost, but in order to win her freedom must do battle with the supernatural. Kinetic remake of the…
Legend of the Millennium Dragon (2011): Dir. Hirotsugu Kawasaki; An impressively animated young–adult fantasy, centred on a 15–year–old school kid who is transported back to medieval Japan, and…
Black Heaven (L'autre monde) (2010): Dir. Gilles Marchand
Feat. Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Louise Bourgoin, Melvil Poupaud; An innocent young man becomes entangled with a suicidal beauty and is lured into a "Black Hole" – an eerie cyberworld of avatars with deadly…
Goemon (2009): Dir. Kazuaki Kiriya
Feat. Yosuke Eguchi, Takao Osawa; The dir. of CASSHERN helms this visionary medieval spectacle, based on a 16th century bandit whose Robin hood–style exploits are steeped in…
Micmacs (2009): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Dany Boon, Andre Dussollier, Jean-Pierre Marielle…; The dir. of AMELIE and CITY OF LOST CHILDREN stays true to form(ula) with his visual chutzpah lavished upon another idealised scenario that this time…
Ricky (2009): Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Sergi Lopez, Alexandra Lamy, Mélusine Mayance; Intriguing fusion of kitchen–sink drama and magical realism by the mercurial Ozon with a young baby afflicted by an alarming physiological…
Storm Warriors, The (Storm Riders II) (2009): Dir. Oxide Pang, Danny Pang
Feat. Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Simon Yam; The Pang brothers helm this flamboyant, effects–heavy sequel to the OTT Hong Kong hit, delivering a mixture of wushu and wizardry with…
Thin Match Man, The (L'uomo fiammifero) (2009): Dir. Marco Chiarini
Feat. Francesco Pannofino, Marco Leonzi, Gabriele Manfredi; Modern fairy–tale about a house–bound boy determined to find the thin–match man, a figure his mother once created who lights the…
Treasure Hunter, The (2009): Dir. Yen-ping Chu
Feat. Jay Chou, Chiling Lin, Eric Tsang…; Madcap fusion of Indiana Jones and martial arts mayhem, with Mandarin popstar Jay Chou leading the charge as a protector of relics on the hunt for a…
Woochi: Goblin Wizard (Jeon Woochi : The Taoist Wizard) (2009): Dir. Dong-hun Choi
Feat. Dong-won Kang, Yun-seok Kim, Su-jeong Lim…; Mayhem is unleashed in contemporary Seoul when Taoist wizards do battle with time traveling goblins.
CJ7 (Cheung Gong 7 hou) (2008): Dir. Stephen Chow (Chiao)
Feat. Stephen Chow (Chiao); Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow turns his directing talents to the family–friendly fantasy, playing a dirt–poor father who surprises his…
Krabat (2008): Dir. Marco Kreuzpaintner
Feat. David Kross, Daniel Bruhl, Christian Redl; Faustian fantasy centred around a teenager who is lured into joining an elite circle of black magic practitioners in 18th Century Germany. A…
Rosario + Vampire (TV Series) (Rozario To Banpaia) (2008): Tskune accidentally gets on a bus to a school of monsters.
Tears for Sale (Charleston and Vendetta) (2008): Dir. Uros Stojanovic
Feat. Katarina Radivojevic, Sonja Kolacaric; The sombre title belies what is in fact a joyously bawdy Balkan fairytale that blends fantastical folklore, striking burlesque visuals and ample…
Dororo (2007): Dir. Akihiko Shiota
Feat. Ko Shibasaki, Satoshi Tsumabuki; Electrifying action fantasy based on a manga comic by the grandfather of Anime – Osamu Tezuka (ASTRO BOY), in which an abandoned samurai's son…
Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest (2006): Dir. Michel Ocelot; Exotic story–book style adventure set in the Arabic world and following childhood friends Azur and Asmar as they become rivals on a quest to…
Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno) (2006): Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez…; A stunning, sinister netherworld fantasy that parallels an equally compelling story of uprising against a fascist military unit in WWII Spain, this…
Death Trance (2005): Dir. Yuji Shimomura
Feat. Tak Sakaguchi; Another insane, neo–samurai fantasy from the VERSUS camp involving the battle over a mysterious coffin that, if opened, could destroy the…
Great Yokai War, The (Yôkai daisensô) (2005): Dir. Takashi Miike
Feat. Chiaki Kuriyama; The latest cinematic mash–up from dir. Miike (AUDITION) is a family–orientated adventure in which a shy young boy from a broken family…
Princess Raccoon (Operetta tanuki goten) (2005): Dir. Seijun Suzuki
Feat. Zhang Ziyi, Joe Odagiri; Wacky musical rumpus stars Zhang Ziyi as a 'raccoon dog' who falls in love with a prince banished to her enchanted forest. A fanciful swansong for…
Promise, The (Wu ji) (2005): Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Hiroyuki Sanada, Dong-Kun Jang, Cecilia Cheung…; Visually exquisite, if utterly frivolous Golden Globe–nominated romantic epic from the director of FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE relays the story of…
Shinobi (2005): Dir. Ten Shimoyama
Feat. Joe Odagiri, Yukie Nakama; Set in an ancient Japan complete with magical trappings, this action epic posits a forbidden love story between members (Odagiri and Nakama) of two…
Devilman (2004): Dir. Hiroyuki Nasu
Feat. Hisato Izaki; Clunky live–action manga adaptation saddles a dorky teenager with the fate of mankind, forcing him to adopt the characteristics of a…
Elfen Lied (2004): Dir. Mamoru Kanbe; Anime TV series adapting the earlier part of a manga of the same name by Lynn Okamoto that was considered edgy in its time due to being pretty dark…
House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu) (2004): Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau; The dir. of HERO follows up with an equally watchable oriental spectacle, inserting the same cartwheeling martial arts action, complete with torrents…
Hero (2002): Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Jet Li, Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Maggie Cheung…; Though no doubt diminished on the small screen, this ancient Martial Arts spectacle from the dir. of RAISE THE RED…
Amelie (2001): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz; A charming romantic comedy stamped with the purely cinematic style of dir. Jean–Pierre Juenet, who here remixes intricate set pieces, editing…
Shaolin Soccer (2001): Dir. Stephen Chow (Chiao)
Feat. Stephen Chow (Chiao), Richard Ng, Vicki Zhao; With an astounding mix of Eastern fantasy, CGI effects and the game of soccer, Hong Kong’s one–man comedy machine Stephen Chow kicks one out…
Tom Thumb (Le Petit Poucet) (2001): Dir. Olivier Dahan
Feat. Nils Hugon, Catherine Deneuve, Said Taghmaoui; Ambitious, enjoyably dark rendering of Perrault’s classic fable, "Le Petit Poucet" told with trademark French twistedness and aplomb, kids will…
Amazon (Amazone) (2000): Dir. Phillipe De Broca
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Arielle Dombasle; Convoluted sci–fi adventure has jewel thief Belmondo stumbling upon an alien visitor in the guise of a twelve year old girl. Almost…
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000): Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi…; A fantasy–fuelled, Chinese feudal melodrama laced with jaw–dropping combat sequences (arguably the best ever staged), this represents a…
Princes and Princesses (Princes et Princesses) (2000): Dir. Michel Ocelot
Feat. Arlette Mirapeu, Philippe Cheytion, Yves Barsacq; French animation compilation made up of six episodes from director and animator Michel Ocelot's silhouette animation television series Ciné si. The…
Afterlife (1999): Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Arata Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima; Original, intriguing conception of what happens after life – a panel of students challenge a succession of deceased persons to choose one…
Bird People In China, The (Chûgoku no chôjin) (1998): Dir. Takashi Miike
Feat. Masahiro Motoki, Renji Ishibashi; Visually rich and accomplished drama set around a parallel journey by a businessman and a yakuza gangster to a remote Chinese highland in search of a…
Storm Riders, The (1998): Dir. Wai Keung Lau
Feat. Sonny Chiba, Aaron Kwok; The big Hong Kong hit of '98 – a super–extravagant 'flying swordsman' fantasy that ambitiously distils a popular Manga comic book series…
Open Your Eyes (Abre Los Ojos) (1997): Dir. Alejandro Amenabar
Feat. Eduardo Noriega, Penelope Cruz, Chete Lera; A surrealistic nightmare unfurled with Hitchcockian precision and irony, Eduardo Noriega plays a young–man–who–has–everything…
Sex and Zen Pt. 2 (1996): Dir. Chin Man-Kei
Feat. Loletta Lee, Tat-Wah Lok; A creepy polygamist meets his match in the 'mirage woman' in this twice–as–smutty, half–as–funny sequel to the outlandish…
City of Lost Children (1995): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro
Feat. Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet; Visual wonderstuff from the unique genius pairing of the creators of DELICATESSEN, this is as good a follow up as one could wish for. While…
Accion Mutante (1993): Dir. Alex de la Iglesia
Feat. Antonio Resines, Alex Angulo; A deformed terrorist group strike out against pretty society in this wildly irreverent satire that takes a gleeful turn into futuristic…
Bride With White Hair 2, The (Bai fa mo nu zhuan II) (1993): Dir. Ronnie Yu, David Wu
Feat. Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, Christy Chung; Above–average sequel to the martial arts blockbuster continuing on directly from its cliffhanger ending, with the viciously insane Lin, now…
Faraway, So Close (1993): Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz, Nastassja Kinski; WINGS OF DESIRE sequel is again about an angel who finds himself sucked back into humanity. This discusses politics and philosophy more directly than…
Kung Fu Cult Master (1993): Dir. Wong Jing
Feat. Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Chingmy Yau; Extraordinarily over–the–top martial arts epic in which Jet Li procures invincible powers while negotiating the restless hordes from…
Les Visiteurs (Visitors, The) (1993): Dir. Jean-Marie Poire
Feat. Jean Reno, Christian Clavier; Beleaguered, not to mention slobbish, medieval knights Jean Reno and Christian Clavier are plonked down is present–day Paris to duel over…
Window to Paris (1993): Dir. Yuri Mamin
Feat. Agnes Soral; A constantly inventive comic fantasy about a group of luckless Russkies who find they can enter gay Paris from a window in their appalling St.…
Bride with White Hair (1992): Dir. Ronnie Yu
Feat. Leslie Cheung, Brigitte Lin; In a remote China of superstition and legend, vicious clan skirmishes result in an eye–popping frenzy of acrobatic martial arts. Resplendent…
Delicatessen (1992): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro
Feat. Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Karin Viard…; Two former Ad–men splash down with an audacious, darkly comic masterpiece set in a vegetarianist, post–apocalyptic future. Consumed with…
Chinese Ghost Story 3 (1991): Dir. Ching Siu Tung
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Joey Wong, Jacky Cheung; Spirited retread of the first movie, in which the evil Tree Spirit is back with yet another ghost played by Joey Wong. It takes place 100 years…
Erotic Ghost Story 2 (1991): Dir. Lam Ngai Kai
Feat. Charine Chan, King-Man Chik, Yiu-Wah Kwok; Sequel mixes up similar ingredients, but story is unrelated to the first.
Volere Volare (1991): Dir. Maurizio Nichetti
Feat. Maurizio Nichetti; From the director of THE ICICLE THIEF comes another enjoyable comic fantasy inter–relating real and fictional worlds. Nichetti himself plays a…
Chinese Ghost Story 2 (1990): Dir. Ching Siu Tung
Feat. Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Jacky Cheung; The original cast return for another surreal, big–budget fantasy that delivers as much as the first one, with more of a comedic slant. This…
Erotic Ghost Story (1990): Dir. Lam Ngai Kai
Feat. Amy Yip; Buxom starlet Amy Yip lets it all hang out with other 'foxes' in this Eastern spin on the WITCHES OF EASTWICK. Generous nudity and dry ice steam up…
Kurosawa's Dreams (1990): Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisho, Martin Scorsese; Opinions vary wildly over this sequence of eight re–enactments of Akira's very own dreams – stunning photography and subtle use of…
Chinese Ghost Story, A (1987): Dir. Ching Siu Tung
Feat. Leslie Cheung; The first of a marvellous trilogy of outrageous fantasies set in Ming Dynasty–era China, in which student Leslie Cheung falls in love with an…
Girl Who Lived Twice, The (1987): Dir. Francois Villiers
Feat. Julian Sands; Julian Sands stars in this fantasy/drama about an Indian girl's obsession with finding her alleged rich husband of a past life. Shot in Nepal.
Wings of Desire (1987): Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander…; Wenders ambitious and hypnotic film centres around two angels who can listen into human thought in pre–unified Berlin. This rich and surreal…
Life Is A Bed Of Roses (1983): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Ruggero Raimondi, Fanny Ardant, Geraldine Chaplin; Ambitious fantastical oddity from dir. Resnais was made as a tribute to era–defining French directors Melies, L'Herbier and Rohmer, weaving…
Zu Warriors (Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain) (1983): Dir. Tsui Hark
Feat. Biao Yuen, Moon Lee, Brigitte Lin…; A renowned fantasy film, in which four medieval warriors search the universe for twin swords with which to defeat a powerful demon, which threatens…
Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians, The (Tajemstvi hradu v Karpatech) (1981): Dir. Oldrich Lipsky
Feat. Michal Docolomansky, Rudolf Hrusinsky, Vlastimil Brodsky…; Cult oddity based on the Jules Verne novel The Carpathian Castle, a sci–fi horror story about a campy count who haunts a house overlooking a…
Legend of the Mountain (Shan zhong zhuan qi) (1979): Dir. King Hu
Feat. Shih Chun, Hsu Feng, Sylvia Chang; A scholar translating Buddhist sutras visits a monastery filled with various mysterious characters, in this soothing spiritual drama with elements of…
Magic Flute, The (1975): Dir. Ingmar Bergman; An immaculately delivered version of Mozart's operatic fairytale, filmed on a special replica of the original 18th century stage. At its simplest,…
Arabian Nights (Il Fiore Delle Mille e Una Notte) (1974): Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Tessa Bouche; For the final part of his “Trilogy of Life”, Pasolini interweaves several of the tales of the ‘Thousand and One Nights’,…
Donkey Skin (Peau d'âne) (1970): Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Delphine Seyrig…; A vibrant, whimsical and genuinely fantastic adaptation of Perrault's classic 17th century fairy tale in which a Princess (Deneuve) disguises herself…
Cremator, The (1968): Dir. Juraz Herz
Feat. Rudolf Hrusinsky, Vlasta Chramostova; Widely considered one of the greatest films of the Czech new wave, a blackly humorous fantasy horror following the increasingly deranged impulses of…
Juliet of the Spirits (1965): Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Giulietta Masina; Perhaps the female flipside of Fellini's 8 1/2, he again infuses stylised flashbacks and fantasies into the real world of a gregarious housewife who…
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953): Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka; Stories by the 18th century writer Akinari Ueda are woven into an odyssey of civil–war misfortune, in which two peasant–potters and their…
Les Enfants Terribles (The Strange Ones) (1948): Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
Feat. Edouard Dermithe, Nicole Stephane; A poetic drama–fantasy from the pen of Jean Cocteau (who also directed several scenes), that centres round the narcissistic,…
Belle Et La Bete, La (Beauty and the Beast) (1946): Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Jean Marais, Josette Day; Cocteau brings a fine sense of fantasy to the old fable, creating a luxuriant atmosphere unique to his film–making. A true classic.
Munchhausen (1943): Dir. Josef von Baky
Feat. Hans Albers; This adaptation of the Rudolph Raspe novel about the extraordinary tall–tales of a German baron is a genuine oddity, both historically and…
Les Visiteurs Du Soir (1942): Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Arletty, Marie Dea, Fernand Ledoux…; Two of the Devil's henchmen are dispatched to a fairytale–like 15th century castle with an eye to corrupting its inhabitants, especially a pair…
L'Atalante (1934): Dir. Jean Vigo
Feat. Michel Simon, Jean Daste; A recently restored master work from the French film archive combines lyrical romance with inspired touches of fantasy.

Main menu

Section navigation menu

Subgenre Sampler