The 10 Best Dark Fantasy Movies (That Are Actually Scary)

For many viewers, the haunting imagery, dreamlike fantasy worlds, and dark themes of a brooding dark fantasy are exactly what's needed to soothe a restless spirit in these trying times. When the real world around us is full of scary things, getting lost in a supernatural hellscape where rooting out hidden light and beauty requires a Herculean effort can somehow make it feel just a little less overwhelming. Horror movies are good, but throw in a few gorgeous costumes, some flashy practical effects, and a treasure trove of surrealist worldbuilding, and you've got a recipe for escapism that's sure to take the sting out of the evening news or that pile of bills on the coffee table.

Sadly, solid dark fantasy films are few and far between. The best dark fantasies are rarely box office toppers when first released, ultimately becoming cult classics after years or even decades of fans sharing their fervent obsessions with like-minded individuals. The flip side is that for fans of the genre, there always seems to be a long-forgotten true dark fantasy hidden gem waiting to be discovered — and you don't have to dig through an old pile of DVDs to find them these days.

If you've never seen Jim Henson and Frank Oz's 1982 dark fantasy "The Dark Crystal," it might be hard to wrap your head around what could possibly be so frightening in a film starring puppets — even if those puppets are some of the most artistically gorgeous puppets ever to grace the film industry. But a race of sadistic creatures that uses a hypnotic crystal to drain other beings of their vital essence, which they then repurpose as an anti-aging energy drink, is nothing short of nightmare fuel. A rich, brooding fantasy set on a planet with three suns, the story follows two elflike Gelflings as they race against the Great Conjunction to heal the long-broken crystal and prevent the buzzard-like backbiting Skeksis from forever enslaving their world.

"The Head Hunter" is a marvel of a production filmed with a micro-budget of around $30,000 and a production so slimmed down that everything from the production crew and cast down to the props and costumes could fit into one vehicle. A medieval fantasy-horror inspired by the atmospheric horror of "The Witch" and monster-of-the-week stories from shows like "Tales from the Crypt" and "The X-Files," the story follows a nameless Viking bounty hunter (Christopher Rygh in his feature film debut) charged with killing the monsters that haunt his homeland. 

As a largely wordless Nordic horror film set in a sprawling winter wilderness, "The Head Hunter" is scary for the same reasons "The Blair Witch Project" was, but it adds a few layers of emotional complexity through its themes of grief, loss, and vengeance.

For fans of heavily stylized dark fantasy, Ridley Scott's 1985 film "Legend" has a lot to offer: A young, beautiful couple in aspirational ren faire clothing, luminescent unicorns, a wild-eyed fairy (technically a will-o'-the-wisp) wearing a Sephora's worth of glitter. There's even a super-hot goth vixen glow-up at one point in the film.

Tom Cruise stars in one of his earlier roles alongside an enchanting Mia Sara, better known for starring as Ferris' (Matthew Broderick) girlfriend in the 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." The film also features Tim Curry as the terrifying Lord of Darkness, and Robert Picardo, who would go on to play the Emergency Medical Hologram doctor on "Star Trek: Voyager" as a boy-eating forest hag named Meg Mucklebones. A high fantasy take on the fall of the Garden of Eden, the story follows two young lovers — a princess (Sara) and a forest child named Jack (Cruise) — as their innocence nearly brings about the apocalypse.

Few directors can bring the fear like horror legend Guillermo del Toro, the writer, director, and co-producer of the 2006 film "Pan's Labyrinth." Part gorgeous political drama set in 1944 in the fascist wake of the Spanish civil war, part decadent mythology-infused fantasy, "Pan's Labyrinth" follows the bookworm 11-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) as she takes refuge from the perils of real life in a monster-populated labyrinth seemingly pulled from her inner fantasy life.

Convinced by a faun (contortionist and prosthetic actor legend Doug Jones, aka Captain Saru on "Star Trek: Discovery") that she is the reincarnation of the underworld princess Moanna, Ofelia sets out to complete three tasks so that she may rule her kingdom once more. Although the tale is told through the eyes of a child, monsters like the Pale Man (also played by Jones) make "Pan's Labyrinth" a darkly frightening fairy tale.

Another Guillermo del Toro tale, "Crimson Peak" weaves del Toro's signature dark fantasy horror into a dreamy gothic horror tale set in the end days of Victorian England. The story finds American heiress and aspiring writer Edith (Mia Wasikowska) marrying into the rapidly decaying household of too-close-for-comfort British siblings Lucille (Jessica Chastain) and Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston).

After settling into their ancestral home Allerdale Hall, Edith is plagued by waxy red ghosts (played by iconic prosthetic actors Doug Jones and Javier Botet) and eerie red snow, the byproduct of a red clay mine underneath the estate. In characteristic del Toro style, the spirits are absolutely horrific — and yet somehow, not even the scariest part of this story.

Released in 2020, "Gretel & Hansel" was a casualty of the pandemic, a beautifully rendered dark fantasy horror that likely would have been a hit with audiences if the world hadn't been too busy hunting for lockdown toilet paper to watch it.

Directed by horror director Oz Perkins, son of "Psycho" star Tony Perkins, and told through the eyes of Gretel (Sophia Lillis of "It" and "It: Chapter Two"), the reimagined dark fairy tale follows Gretel and her brother Hansel as they become lost in witch-infested woods. An atmospheric and haunting retelling that features Borg Queen Alice Krige as its witch, "Gretel & Hansel" is a satisfyingly unsettling variant of the Brothers Grimm tale.

When it comes to nightmare fuel, it doesn't get much worse than the 1990 film "The Witches." A delightfully disconcerting adaptation of the 1983 Roald Dahl dark fantasy children's novel of the same name, "The Witches" finds an 8-year-old boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher) stumbling onto a conspiracy wherein demonic witches plan to turn the world's children into mice.

What makes this film so freaky is the appearance of the witches, who peel their faces off like uncomfortable pantyhose to reveal ghoulishly hideous visages attached to the gnarled, bald heads they hide underneath their wigs. This little slice of childhood trauma was penned by Allan Scott, the Scottish screenwriter who would later co-produce "The Queen's Gambit," and directed by Nicolas Roeg, the visionary filmmaker who influenced the likes of Christopher Nolan and Charlie Kaufman.

Easily one of Disney's most disturbing productions, "Return to Oz" is a steampunk fever-dream sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" starring a very young Fairuza Balk in her first on-screen role as a truly adorable Dorothy Gale, which would earn her a Saturn Award nomination. Upon its release, critics considered the film weird, bleak, creepy, and generally too scary for kids, particularly compared to its technicolor source material. But those elements are precisely what has made "Return to Oz" a cult classic, particularly among Gen-Xers who fondly remember being bloody terrified.

Frustrated with Dorothy's insistence that Oz is real, the young girl's aunt dumps her into a mental asylum where they use electroshock therapy on her. While attempting to escape, she finds herself in a post-apocalyptic plagued by terrors like the freakish-looking Wheelers and a princess (Piper Laurie) who decapitates her victims and wears their heads like Balenciaga.

A stop-motion film based on a Neil Gaiman novella, "Coraline" is a story of a young girl who gets lured into a pocket universe while her parents are too busy working to pay attention to her. Starring Dakota Fanning as Coraline, the story follows the child as she and her family settle into an old Victorian home. 

Through her exploring, Coraline stumbles onto a mysterious tunnel that leads to a world where near-perfect replicas of her parents with black buttons for eyes. Unlike her parents, they always seem to have time for Coraline. A dark fable that pokes at the sort of existential fears that haunt children, "Coraline" is simultaneously a visual delight and psychologically terrifying warning about the notion that what seems too good to be true probably is.

Much to the delight of geeky English Lit majors everywhere, "The Green Knight" was conceived as a dark fantasy adaptation of the 14th-century Arthurian chivalric tale "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Infused with influences from the likes of "Willow," "Barry Lyndon," and "Ladyhawke" and filmed entirely in Ireland, the tale recounts the epic journey of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) as he travels to face off with the titular Green Knight, who is one of King Arthur's monstrous foes. 

Particularly dreamy are the creative, anachronistic medieval costume designs that won costume designer Malgosia Turzanska a Seattle Film Critics Society award along with a handful of nominations, including those from the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards and the Costume Designers Guild, among others.