Due to the upcoming Netflix series, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman has been on everyone’s mind. Because of the elaborate world-building, metaphors, and several complicated characters, readers have sometimes found Gaiman’s writing to be a little opaque. The only genre that allows viewers to escape is fantasy. These movies contain compelling protagonists, intricate plots, and expansive imaginative settings. The fantastic fantasy films listed below are perfect to watch following The Sandman.
1. Doctor Sleep (2019)
Director- Mike Flanagan
Years after surviving the bleak winter at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining (1980), Dan Torrance is still plagued by the unpleasant recollections of the past, thus it seems sense that he has developed into an alcoholic and a nomad. However, after successfully suppressing his uncommon talent for years, Dan decides to employ “The Shining” as the local hospice’s kind “Doctor Sleep.” Before he realises it, he connects with Abra Stone, a young girl with significantly more advanced shining powers. However, the semi-eternal psychic vampire Rose the Hat and her roving band of followers known as The True Knot, who prey on the helpless and thrive off the effervescent essence of suffering, are drawn to their close telepathic connection. Dan is now once more invited to spend one final winter with them by the hungry and restless spirits of Colorado’s snow-capped purgatory in the mountains.
2. Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Director- Andrew Adamason
Due to World War II bombings, four siblings from the same family are forced to leave their hometown. The kids are brought to their home by a mother and a professor. Lucy, the family’s youngest member, discovers a wardrobe to hide in while playing hide-and-seek. She repeatedly enters the wardrobe and emerges in the Narnia region. The four kids enter together one last time after entering twice together already. In addition to battling wolves, they come across talking animals, a wicked white witch, and Aslan, a majestic lion.
3. Push (2009)
Director- Paul McGuigan
Nick Gant swears revenge on Division, the clandestine government organisation that dabbles in psychic warfare and experimental medicines, after his assassin father is brutally murdered. He assembles a group of rogue psychics committed to eliminating Division while hiding in Hong Kong’s underground. Nick searches for a missing girl and a stolen suitcase that might hold the secret to achieving their shared objective along with Cassie, a teenage clairvoyant.
4. Last Night In Soho (2021)
Director- Edgar Wright
Creative, wide-eyed Eloise, who is fixated on the Swinging Sixties and everything related to fashion, has huge aspirations to become a designer. To study at the famed London College of Fashion, the budding young designer relocates to bustling London with this in mind. She has no idea, however, how much the huge city can be like. Indeed, the thin lines between reality and fiction begin to blur as jealousy is stoked by brilliance and the repulsive past seeps in. At this point, the dream is suddenly in danger from terrifying visions. Now, a persona that is ferociously skilled, effortlessly beguiling, and rapaciously ambitious emerges, drawing euphoric Eloise into a glittering realm of light and shadow. Success always has a cost, though.
5. The Prestige (2006)
Director- Christopher Nolan
In London at the turn of the 20th century, a magician’s assistants include Alfred Borden, Robert Angier, and his devoted wife Julia McCullough. Robert accuses Alfred of being responsible for Julia’s accidental death during a performance, and the two grow distant. Both become well-known magicians who compete with one another on stage by ruining the act of the other. When Alfred pulls off a successful trick, Robert gets fixated on learning Alfred’s trade secret, which has tragic results.
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Director- Peter Jackson
A long-lost antique ring has been discovered and, in a surprising turn of events, has been given to a young Hobbit named Frodo. Frodo must embark on a perilous journey to the Cracks of Doom after Gandalf learns that the Ring is actually the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron. He does not, however, travel alone. In addition to Merry, Pippin, and Samwise, the three Hobbit pals Gandalf, Legolas the elf, Gimli the dwarf, Aragorn, and Boromir also accompany him. The Fellowship of the Ring must traverse mountains, snow, darkness, forests, rivers, and plains while battling evil and peril at every turn. The only chance for the Dark Lord’s rule to cease is for them to succeed in their mission to destroy the One Ring.
7. Coraline (2009)
Director- Henry Selick
After moving into a new house, Coraline finds herself lonely and bored. She discovers a walled-off passageway that, over the course of the night, becomes accessible. She stumbles onto a universe that appears to be a different version of her existence, with the exception of one minor detail: everything is better. And everyone has eye buttons. Coraline learns that this parallel dimension is a ruse to draw her in so that her Other Mother can essentially “eat away her soul” when her “other mother” offers to let her remain forever if she lets her sew buttons. She must use her tricks to save her parents from the Other Mother and get home safely. Of course, she will also need the assistance of a sassy talking cat.
8. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Director- Guillermo del Toro
In Spain after the Civil War, in 1944, rebels are still engaged in mountainous battles with Falangist forces. Ofelia, a young and creative girl, travels to the country with her pregnant and unwell mother Carmen Vidal to meet and live with her violent and sadistic stepfather Captain Vidal in an old mill. Ofelia encounters a fairy during the night, and the two of them travel to a pit in the middle of a maze where they see a faun who claims that Ofelia is a princess from a subterranean country.
He also says that although her father is waiting for her, she must first complete three difficult, hazardous, and gory tasks. In the meantime, she befriends Mercedes, a servant and the sister of a rebel who is actually supporting the organisation. Ofelia strives to do her tasks in a harsh, dangerous, and evil world while yet managing to see her father and the king.
9. Constantine (2005)
Director- Francis Lawrence
John Constantine, a reticent occult detective and the reluctant hero of humanity, must engage in an endless conflict between the forces of good and evil in order to make peace with God and earn his place in Heaven. However, sending rebellious demons to the depths of Hell hasn’t quite cut it, and when cynical LAPD officer Angela Dodson requests John’s assistance in solving the mystery surrounding the mysterious death of her devout twin sister Isabel, the talented supernatural investigator will finally have the chance to make amends. The odd pair must work together to uncover a nefarious scheme and avert the coming apocalypse as their fates become irrevocably intertwined. Constantine is a fantasy film drawn into a mystical plan combining demonic and angelic powers. Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book series “Hellblazer.”
10. The Seventh Seal (1957)
Director- Ingmar Bergman
The land is in ruins due to the plague when Swedish knight Antonius Block and his squire Jöns get home from the Crusades. According to Block, everyone is living in fear because they believe that this is God’s retribution and that the world is coming to an end. When Death arrives for Block, the knight challenges him to a game of chess because Block has lost faith and is seeking explanations. The countryside is desolate, and although many people look for solutions, none seem to be discovered. Block finally makes it home and thinks he has the upper hand, but Death will prevail.
