(1956) Boris Andreyev, Shukur Burkhanov, Andrei Abrikosov, Natalya Medvedeva, Nelli Myshkova, Sergey Martinson.  A wonderful Russian fantasy about a legendary warrior who fights to save his people from an assortment of horrible monsters including a dragon, a wind demon, and other legendary creatures.  There are many great scenes and the special effects, for the time, were very well done...

(1936) Harry Baur, Roger Karl, Charles Dorat, Germaine Aussey, Ferdinand Hart, Jany Holt.  It is a time of great persecution of the Jews by the Emperor (marvelously played by Baur) in Prague.  A rabbi has promised that the Golem—whose body is now hidden and dormant—will return for justice if things reach a breaking point...

(1967) Hae Hwang, Ae-ran Jeong, Mi-ae Kang, Do Kum-Bong, No-shik Park.  This Asian chiller has all kinds of grisly stuff:  Acid thrown in the face, eyes being gouged out, the horror of drug addition, vengeful ghosts, etc.  The plot is pretty simple, a former geisha girl takes her life because she’s essentially lost her husband to the wanton lure of a servant girl.  But like in any good Asian ghost story, revenge is a must!  So...

(1948) Kirby Grant, Eddie Parkes, Jean Mowry, Joe Giles, Calvin Thomas.   This film was intended as a safety film, but it also comes off as a fantasy.  Grant plays a farmer whose life is saved from a tractor accident by his guardian angel (Parkes) who then meddles in his life, protecting him from his own stupidity...

MEET MR. LUCIFER (1953) Stanley Holloway, Peggy Cummins, Jack Watling, Barbara Murray, Gordon Jackson, Charles Victor, Ernest Thesiger.  In this unique fantasy, Holloway plays an aging actor who hates television and what it’s done to his stage career.  When he carelessly dies in a stage accident, the devil gives him a chance to return to the living...

WINTER OF THE WITCH (1969) Hermione Gingold, Anna Strasberg, Roger Morgan, Jack Manning, narrated by Burgess Meredith.  In this critically acclaimed film, the life of a gnarly old witch is disrupted by the unannounced arrival of a boy and his mother. Their presence makes life hell for her and forces her to struggle with the realities of the modern world...

(1959, aka The Day the Earth Froze) Urho Somersalmi, Anna Orochko, Ivan Voronov, Andris Osins, Ada Voytsik. A superb Finnish fantasy epic about an evil witch who steals the sun and causes just about everything on the Earth to freeze. Also featured are magic harps, fields of snakes, a wizard, and a...

(1954) Giuli Chokhonelidze, Konstantin Russu, Nodar Shashigoglu, directed by Sergei Parajanov.  A young shepherd is given a magic woodwind instrument to help him conquer his foes.  This movie is filled with dark fantasy and has its fair share of creepy moments.  Look for evil wizards, storm demons—even flying sheep...!  

(1940) Vlasta Burian, Antonin Mikulic, Meda Valentová.  A fine fantasy-comedy (7.1 on IMDB) with a tiny touch of horror.  There are many plot elements: clandestine marriages, secret children, castle ghosts, hush-hush love affairs, etc.—all woven together by great script-writing, resulting in many uproarious moments.  The scene where the town doctor visits the Baron’s castle...

RIP VAN WYK (1960, aka RIP VAN WINKLE) Jamie Uys, Wynona Cheyney, Willem Loots.  This movie has little to do with the Rip Van Winkle story.  It’s actually a time travel movie. Set in 1859, Uys hurtles 100 years into the future.  He awakens, un-aged, in 1959—a strange, modern world.  The film gives a very interesting perspective about how someone from the past would react to all things modern—automobiles, radios, TVs, clothing, etc...

THE STOLEN AIRSHIP (1967, Widescreen Edition) Hanus Bor, Jan Cizek, Cestmír Randa, Jan Malat, Michal Pospisil.  A marvelous science fiction epic and a group of children who make off with a futuristic airship from a county fair.  They then set out on a series of amazing exploits, all set against some of the most amazing stop-motion animation you will ever see...

Armchair Fiction features the best in classic horror and fantasy short story collections.  Here it is…part one of the greatest collection of H. P. Lovecraft works ever put together, "H. P. Lovecraft, the Ultimate Illustrated Weird Tales Collection."  This incredible collection features the very best horror tales of H. P. Lovecraft, complete with their Weird Tales illustrations and publishing dates...  

When Hugo Gernsback founded Amazing Stories in 1926, he included the works of the great H. G. Wells.  Gernsback reprinted many of Wells’ best science fiction short stories.  So in this collection, in the exact chronological order in which they appeared, is the complete run of the Amazing Stories-H. G. Wells science fiction short story legacy, all with their wonderful original illustrations...

(1937, aka THE STORY OF THE FOX) Romain Bouquet, Claude Daupihn, Raine, Sylvain Etkine, Robert Seller, Leon Larive. Tale of the Fox is without a doubt one of the most unique fantasies ever filmed.  With production beginning in 1930, this is one of the best examples of early stop-motion animation with puppets you will ever see...  

THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE (1935) Anton Walbrook, Dorothea Wieck, Theodor Loos, Erich Fiedler. A magnificent horror-fantasy film!  The setting is Prague in the 1860s.  Walbrook plays Balduin, a handsome young student.  Into his life walks a beautiful singer named Julia. But hovering over her life is the sinister Dr. Carpis, a Satan-like figure who’s more of a human shadow than a flesh-and-blood being...

ONCE IN A NEW MOON (1934) Eliot Makeham, Rene Ray, Morton Selten.  A dead star approaches Earth.  As it passes by, some kind of gravitational pull breaks off a small chunk of the Earth and hurls it into space, where it becomes a new small moon of sorts.  There’s a little coastal town on that chunk, but it takes a while for the villagers to figure out what the hell’s going on...

(1946) Vladimir Druzhnikov, Yekaterina Derevshchikova, Tamara Makarova.  Simply put, this is a brilliant, beautiful-to-look-at fantasy of the highest order.  You will be enchanted with the dreamlike quality of this film.  It’s like watching a sublime painting that’s come to life.  A wonderful music score enhances the splendor of this classic film.  It is a simple tale of...

Armchair Fiction features the best in classic horror and fantasy short story collections.  "Allison V. Harding, the Forgotten Queen of Horror” features some of the best horror tales of the 1940s and 1950s.  Who was Allison V. Harding?  Not much is known about her personal life, but the one thing we do know is that you almost couldn’t pick up an issue of Weird Tales from 1943 through 1950 and not come across one of her stories...