1982 Film Was Just Ranked as the No. 1 Forgotten But Perfect Dark Fantasy Movie

Compared to more popular film genres, like action or romance, dark fantasy movies, known for their intense yet magical scenes, are on the niche side. For this reason, several dark fantasy movies don't have that strong of a fanbase, despite being an amazing watch.

In May 2026, the publicationCollider highlighted "five forgotten dark fantasy movies that are perfect from start to finish." Films like 1984's The Company of Wolves, The City of Lost Children from 1995, andBram Stoker's Dracula, released in 1993, were featured on the ranking.

According to Collider, the 1982 Jim Henson and Frank Oz film, The Dark Crystal, is the number one perfect but forgotten dark fantasy film.

The Dark Crystal has a score of 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 66.

Jim Henson Discussed Making 'The Dark Crystal' in a 1984 Documentary

During an interview for the 1984 documentary Henson's Place, Henson, who died in 1990 at the age of 53, noted that he purposefully made The Dark Crystal darker than his usual projects involving puppets, like The Muppetmovies.

"Part of the desire was to create a whole new world. To start all over. And to design everything. And then, I think we had worked with a number of techniques that we didn't think were appropriate to the Muppets, and yet it would be fun to explore these things. And to work with the foam latex. And work with a more realistic kind of mobility of the face and that sort of thing," said the Dark Crystal co-director.

In the interview, Henson also shared one of the aspects he liked the most about The Dark Crystal, which may surprise some fans.

"One of my favorite things in the film is these bugs, you know, the little bugs that go running around in the tunnel floor," said the Fraggle Rock creator. "And those things, I always enjoy, and I watch the film, and I watch for these bugs. And in these great elaborate creations that we made, we spent months working on and have hundreds of thousands of hours of work on it, the bugs were these little things we bought in a toy store, for like a dollar."

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 7:02 PM.