From Labyrinth to Everything, Everywhere All at Once, here are the best fantasy movies to stream right now
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Who doesn't love an escapist dive into the world of fantasy cinema? It's still a somewhat under represented genre on Netflix, but the streamer boasts a number of otherworldly gems — then there are some magical gold deposits buried in the luscious grounds of Prime Video and Disney+. From genies trapped in bottles (Three Thousand Years of Longing) to YA dystopias (The Hunger Games) and films that are literally impossible to describe using words (Everything, Everywhere All At Once) there's something for everyone on GQ's list of the best fantasy movies on offer right now.
1/13Dune: Part Two
Sand! Giant worms! Apocalyptic visions! Religious bloodlust! Those weird ear-nose things! If you're looking for a proper 3-hour escape from the humdrum of your daily commute and other boring things like “using your phone” or “cleaning the fridge”, then look no further than Denis Villeneuve’s absolutely essential cinematic masterpiece, Dune: Part Two, which yes is already available to stream even though it was on at the cinema literally yesterday. Dune: Part One is also on Netflix if you fancy doing a back-to-backer. You can watch Dune: Part Two on Apple TV+.
Searchlight Pictures2/13Poor Things
Just when we thought that Barbie would easily be the most visually stunning slice of cinema to come out of 2023, along came Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’ bizarre, fantastical, Frankenstein-like tale of joy, pain and discovery starring Emma Stone as a baby-woman hybrid experiencing the world for the first time (yeah, it sounds weird but just go with it). There are chickens with pug heads. Whippets with goat bodies. And a swirling, colour-saturated visual universe that'll take your breath away – even on the small screen. You can watch Poor Things on Disney+.
Moviestore/Shutterstock3/13Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away isn't a fantasy film in a ‘swords and dragons’ sort of way, but it does transport you into an entirely new, fantastical universe full of spirit creatures, giant mega-babies and an old Granny called Yubaba who flies around like a bat – what could be more fantasy than that? I doubt you've gone this far in life without eating up this 2001 Studio Ghibli classic, but also it's that special type of comfort film that only improves upon repeat viewings. You can watch Spirited Away on Netflix.
4/13Conan the Barbarian
We all know that Arnie started out as a champion power lifter, but what about how he segued into the movies a decade earlier than anyone seems to realise? That was in the 1970 fantasy romp Hercules in New York, and it's terrible: indeed thank god Stay Hungry's Bob Rafelson and Jim Cameron saw something in the broad Austrian beyond his mechanical line-reads, else we might've never had “I'll be back.” Thankfully Schwarzenegger's next horseback charge into fantasy, 1982's Conan the Barbarian, showcased what 12 years of grit, determination and acting lessons can do for one's camera presence, launching him as a bonafide film hero. One of those '80s blockbusters now synonymous with its mainstream movie golden age, of family-friendly swashbucklers, high-octane action flicks and motley buddy comedies. You can watch Conan the Barbarian on Disney+.
5/13Labyrinth
Make no mistake: it might be especially popular in the current moment, with the likes of Harry Styles, Taylor Swift and Shawn Mendes all cutting their teeth in Hollywood, but pop musicians transitioning to the silver screen is no novel phenomenon. Take the androgynous iconoclast David Bowie, he who fell from the sky and took British culture by the nads: he starred in Labyrinth, puppeteer Jim Henson's fantastical collab with Monty Python's Terry Jones, way-back-when in 1986, when the likes of Cher was too making her trade on the big screen. Though a bit of a box office dud, the idiosyncratic picture is widely beloved in retrospect, not least for Bowie's starring turn as The Goblin King. You can watch Labyrinth on ITVX.
6/13Everything, Everywhere All at Once
The multiverse is all the rage, with Everything, Everywhere All at Once being the first major Hollywood text to imprint parallel universes with the prestige stamp. Basically, it all centres around Michelle Yeoh, and the many other Michelle Yeoh's that she inhabits on her consciousness-hopping journey, as she fights to prevent the collapse of the space-time continuum at the hands of her daughter — well, her daughter's parallel world evil twin — portrayed by Stephanie Hsu. The Daniels' alt-universe saga won huge accolades, not least Best Picture at the Academy Awards; more importantly, its success saw Ke Huy Quan reunite with Harrison Ford thirty-odd years after The Temple of Doom. Oh, those wholesome videos. We're tearing up as we type. You can watch Everything, Everywhere All at Once on Apple TV+.
7/13Underworld
A crowdpleasing bit of action-horror from Danny McBride and Len Wiseman, Underworld centres a tremendous Kate Beckinsdale in the midst of a centuries-old secret war between vampires and werewolves (known as Lycans). Aesthetically, it takes a lot of cues from the popular action flicks of the time: the ensemble all wear long leather jackets and jumpsuits like Neo and Trinity from The Matrix, dual wielding pistols and shooting one another to bits with silver bullets. It's fun schlock, and a real relic of that Hollywood era. You can watch Underworld on Apple TV+.
8/13The Green Mile
One of two Frank Darabont adaptations of literary horror maestro Stephen King to be considered a top Hollywood movies of the ‘90s — Shawshank invariably wins out, of course — sees Tom Hanks as a fair (when is he never?) but firm prison guard. His life changes when he meets a new inmate, a hulking enigma by the name of John Coffey (a magnificently disarming Michael Clarke Duncan), whose intimidating stature belies his gentle interior. It also turns out that this guy has magic powers to cure UTIs and return mice from the brink of death, and might just be the second coming of Christ. One of those movies constantly re-run in the late night slot on Film4, now available to stream to your heart's content. You can watch The Green Mile on Amazon.
9/13Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
One of two adaptations of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to be released in 2018 — alongside Disney's “live-action” remake of their iconic animated feature — Andy Serkis' Mowgli takes more cues from the original text. Arguably, it boasts a touch more star power than its House of Mouse equivalent: Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley and Idris Elba led that one, a heavyweight ensemble in its own right, whereas Mowgli used the various voice and mo-cap talents of Christian Bale, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch and Cate Blanchett. Neither holds a candle to the original cartoon — how could you? — but they're eminently watchable interpretations of a literary classic. You can watch Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle on Netflix.
10/13Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Anyone who watched The Rock during his tenure in the WWF would've identified his eminent star man magnetism: few can truly command a crowd like The People's Champion, nor do many boast biceps the size of most men's thighs. Now, of course, Rock The Wrestler is very much second fiddle in the public imagination to Dwayne Johnson, the Hollywood heavyweight, heading up such bulky franchises as The Fast and Furious and, indeed, the Jumanji soft reboot. Welcome to the Jungle follows directly after the 1995 adventure comedy, transporting the likes of Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart into a video game version of the original board game. You can watch Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle on Netflix.
11/13Three Thousand Years of Longing
Look, it's no Mad Max: Fury Road, but George Miller's much-anticipated follow up to the century's preeminent summer movie boasts ambitious spectacle in its own right. Tilda Swinton portrays the wonderfully named British scholar Alithea Binnie, who one might generously describe as being not all there, in that she frequently hallucinates strange demonic entities that speak to her and such. Then, on a trip to Instanbul, she releases Idris Elba — a Djinn, or Genie in Western parlance — from an antique flask, who goes on to regale her with the story of how he got all bottled up. It's a three-thousand year epic portrayed in a tight hundred-and-eight minutes, with visual pizzazz and a fun twofer of performances from the leads. Could've done with more Tom Hardy and flamethrowing cars, but hey, what modern blockbuster couldn't? You can watch Three Thousand Years of Longing on Amazon.
12/13The Hunger Games
We still have no idea why they're called “the hunger games” — that's just the average lunch break hustle to nab a baguette from Pret for us — but Gary Ross' teenage dystopi-phon still stands out as one of the most exciting YA adaptations of the early 2010s (y'know, just after the Potter and Twilight crazes, when YA movies were a dime a dozen for like six years). It was also the launching pad for a young Jennifer Lawrence, portraying the stoney-faced archer Katniss Everdeen, whose emotional capriciousness knows no bounds. You can watch The Hunger Games on Apple TV+.
13/13Suspiria
Does Luca Guadagnino's Berlin-set remake of the Dario Argento giallo — that's Italian for “bloody, synth-scored slashers” — really fall under the fantasy umbrella? According to the Prime Video algorithm it does, and we'll never argue against the inclusion of a lesser watched horror masterpiece in any list which might win it eyeballs. This Chloë Grace Moretz matriarchal gorefest bisected audiences at the mid-rift after it bowed at the Venice Film Festival in late 2018: it's a vastly different thematic proposition to the original text, and comes in at two hours thirty-two — spritely by today's standards, but engorged then. Pulling a Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove, Tilda Swinton shapeshifts between three different roles, one of whom being an eerily credible elderly scientist (under layers of prosthetics, naturally). It has its naysayers, but we reckon it's a bloody good time. You can watch Suspiria on Amazon.
