Best Fantasy Movies Of The ’80s

Highlander is by no means a perfect film, but it survives as one of the most impressive fantasy movies of the eighties because of the memorable performances by Sean Connery and Clancy Brown, the killer soundtrack by Queen, and a premise so full of potential it had to lead to exactly what it never should’ve been: a franchise.

The young 16th century Scottish warrior Connor MacLeod dies in his first battle, but inexplicably returns to life. After he’s shunned from his Highland clan for witchcraft, he’s found by Ramirez (Connery), who informs MacLeod they are both Immortals. Nothing can kill them but decapitation, and at some point, they and every other surviving Immortal will be summoned to the Gathering: the final battle between all the Immortals in which only one will survive.

That fantasy Gathering winds up being in eighties New York City with only a handful of Immortals left, including Clancy Brown’s Kurgan–one of the most vile and magnetic villains ever to appear on a big screen.

Highlander is a good action film, but it’s the possibilities of this fantastic world that keep you watching. Who are these Immortals? Where are they all from? How many have there been? What did Connor do between the 16th century and the 20th century?

It was these questions that unfortunately helped spawn far too many spinoffs and sequels for a film with a particularly finite premise–and about as definitive a conclusion as you can get–but in spite of how much of the rest of the franchise deserves to be ignored, 1986’s Highlander is still essential viewing.