While there are several franchises and big-budget fantasy movies released in the 21st century, there are also cult fantasy movies released since 2000 that deserve as much recognition. The biggest thing to note about cult fantasy movies is that they don’t have to take the safe route when telling their stories, and by releasing something different, they live longer in fans’ minds than many sanitized big-budget blockbusters. While Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Lord of the Rings seemed to steal all the attention away from the smaller cult fantasy releases, it is never too late to revisit them or discover these films for the first time.
From journeys to magical places to the discovery of fantastical objects, here are five of the best cult fantasy movies released since 2000, all of which deserve more attention.
Terry Gilliam directed some of the most respected cult fantasy and sci-fi movies of all time, with titles like 12 Monkeys, Brazil, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen to his name. However, his 2009 release remains best known for its tragic behind-the-scenes story rather than for its fantastical plot and dynamic visuals. This was the movie Heath Ledger was making when he tragically died one-third of the way through filming. However, Gilliam finished it by bringing in Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp to star as different versions of Ledger’s character.
That said, the movie deserves more attention for its striking visuals and inventive plot. The film stars Christopher Plummer as the immortal Doctor Parnassus, with Tom Waits playing Mr. Nick (the Devil). Parnassus is in a competition with the devil to claim five souls before the Devil does, so Parnassus can save his daughter’s soul. The movie struggled when it was released, and it ended up with mixed reviews. However, its practical sets, painted backdrops, and Gilliam’s hand-built surrealism make it one of the most visually dynamic fantasy movies in an era that was moving more toward CGI.
The Fountain was a hard movie for most mainstream movie fans to understand, much less get behind, when it came out in 2006. Directed by Darren Aronofsky, this was more along the lines of his complex movies like Pi and Mother! than his mainstream releases like Black Swan. The movie stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz as paired characters across three interwoven timelines.
The three time periods see Jackman play a 16th-century Spanish conquistador, Tomas, searching for the Tree of Life on behalf of his queen, Isabel; a present-day oncologist, Tommy, desperately trying to cure his wife Izzi’s brain cancer; and a 26th-century traveler, Tom, journeying through space in a bubble toward a dying nebula. The movie bombed when it was released in theaters, and critics dismissed it. However, the movie built a cult following, framing the fantasy as a deep look at what fate means.
Mandy is a horror movie, but all the horror in this cult classic is based in the realm of magical fantasy. Directed by Panos Cosmatos, this is one of Nicolas Cage’s late-era hidden gems that has made him one of the most beloved cult-favorite actors working in Hollywood today. He plays lumberjack Red Miller, a man looking for revenge when his artist girlfriend Mandy Bloom is abducted and murdered by the “Children of the New Dawn” cult.
This leads to a revenge plot, as the second half of the movie sees Red tracking down the entire cult and killing them in the bloodiest way possible. The chainsaw duel is one of many scenes in this movie that stand out. The movie was a box office flop, but it received an unusually high 91% Rotten Tomatoes score, which is impressive for a bloody revenge film. With a hero fighting with a battle axe and the cult as actual demonic biker creatures, this is one of the most unusual fantasy horror movies released since 2000.
The Fall might be the most beautiful fantasy movie released since 2000, and it is one that almost no one today has heard of or remembers. Directed by Tarsem Singh, Lee Pace stars as a 1920s Hollywood stuntman named Roy Walker who tells a six-year-old hospital patient named Alexandria a fantastical story about a masked swashbuckler, an Indian warrior, an escaped slave named Otta Benga, an Italian explosives expert, and Charles Darwin with a pet monkey named Wallace, who are all pursuing revenge on an evil ruler.
The movie has a similar setup to The Princess Bride, with the fantastic story being told as the real plot of the movie, and its visual design was unlike any other movie in the 21st century. The production took four years in over 20 countries, and no CGI was used, with real landscapes and handmade costumes used throughout. On top of the visuals, this is a fantasy movie that explains why fantasy stories are so important. The Fall is a fantasy masterpiece.
Matthew Vaughn found a lot of success with movies like X-Men: First Class and the Kingsman movie franchise. However, his best movie might be a fantasy film based on a Neil Gaiman novel called Stardust. Charlie Cox (Daredevil) stars as Tristan, a young man who seeks to bring home a fallen star to win the love of his crush. However, when he finds the fallen star in the form of a woman (Claire Danes), he has to protect her from an evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who wants to use the star to remain eternally young.
The movie was a modest success, but with Vaughn moving on to bigger projects and Cox taking on the role of Daredevil for Marvel, it is a movie that has been largely overlooked since its release. However, this is a film that deserves to stand the test of time as one of the best fantasy films of the 2000s. It is a genuinely funny movie with great romance and always feels epic. It even has Robert De Niro as a sky-pirate, the great Peter O’Toole, and Ian McKellen as the narrator. Stardust is a perfect fantasy film.
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