The 1980s and early ‘90s gave us a wide range of fantasy films, fueled by puppets and more advanced stop-motion animation in the wake of Star Wars, to bring to life mythological creatures. Many of these movies were set in other worlds or in times before recorded history. The new era of fantasy films was not bound to Medieval periods, historically accurate armor, or real-world castles.
The castles were fantastical and impossibly large, created with miniatures and matte paintings. We have collected our 10 favorite castles across the fantasy genre from the ‘80s and '90s, before computer graphics advanced enough to realize castles like Minis Tirith in The Lord of the Rings. Each of these castles or fortresses was created by hand, and is fascinating to see brought to life with movie magic.
The Ivory Tower – The Neverending Story (1984)
The Ivory Tower is the most widely recognized castle design on the list. The tower appears in The Neverending Story, and is the home of the Childlike Empress in the fantasy world of Fantasia. The Neverending Story follows Bastian Bux, a child who skips school to read a magic book about a boy warrior, Atreyu, who is searching for an answer to stop The Nothing, a manifestation of the death of imagination, that threatens to consume all of Fantasia.
The Ivory Tower is built within a hollowed mountain in a valley, and the interior of the mountain glows with the light from the tower. The Ivory Tower rises beyond the highest point of the mountain and is crowned in a flower-like top. The tower was created for the movie in the wide-angle shot with a matte painting. As the characters get closer to the tower, a miniature is used to show it from different angles. A physical set was built for the crown of the tower with a closed flower, in which the Empress lives.
Castle Horok – The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)
Castle Horok is a hand-shaped castle in the land of Fantasia, appearing in The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter. The castle’s fingertips shoot blue lasers at anyone or anything that approaches it. Castle Horok was created with a miniature model and a miniature exterior landscape.
Horok is ruled over by Xayide (Clarissa Burt), who wears a shimmering ruby dress with pointed shoulders. The interior design of the castle has a bone motif in the supporting beams of the walls. Xayide’s throne is a half-circle of thorny vines. In the sequel, Bastian returns to Fantasia to assist the Child-like Empress, wielding the Auryn, which allows him to make wishes, but Xayide has a machine that takes a memory from Bastian each time he makes a wish.
The Great Tree – Legend (1985)
The Great Tree in Legend is unlike any other keep on the list. The tree is the home of Darkness, a red demon with massive black horns, played by Tim Curry. It is hundreds of feet tall and sits at the center of a swamp. The exterior of the Great Tree was filmed using a miniature. Of all the interior designs of the castles on the list, Legend’s is the most sumptuous with its massive pillars, Darkness’ giant fireplace, statues lining the walls, and ornate doors. The interior design of the Great Tree draws on Hell-like themes, featuring furnaces and numerous demonic statues.
Legend stars Tom Cruise as Jack, a young man who lives in the forests, and Mia Sara as Princess Lili, who secretly visits Jack. When the goblin soldiers of Darkness cut the alicorn from the male unicorn, the world descends into an ice age. Lili and the female unicorn are taken to the Great Tree, and Jack, with the assistance of the elf child Gump and his fairy friends, crosses the swamp and enters the tree.
Jareth’s Castle – Labyrinth (1986)
The Castle Beyond the Goblin City in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth exists in a parallel world, ruled by the goblin king, Jareth, played by David Bowie. The castle sits at the center of a sprawling maze that reaches for miles in every direction. If we include the labyrinth itself, Jareth’s fortress is the largest on the list. The labyrinth and castle are accomplished with a mix of miniatures and matte paintings.
The majority of the movie is spent within the labyrinth, with our protagonist Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), attempting to solve it within 13 hours to save her baby brother from Jareth. When Sarah reaches Jareth’s castle, she finds the interior is an Escher space, a paradoxical place with pathways and staircases going in every direction, defying gravity.
The Castle of the Crystal – The Dark Crystal (1982)
The Castle of the Crystal is on the world of Thra. The Castle of the Crystal is occupied by the reptilian Skeksis, who wear baroque, aristocratic clothing. The castle interior is similarly baroque, with curtains, tassels, and spiral columns. The castle’s exterior shots were created with a miniature model and miniature landscape.
The Dark Crystal is unique in that all the characters are puppets. The protagonists, Jen and Kira, are Gelflings, an elf-like race that has been nearly wiped out by the Skeksis. The Gelflings were brought to life with a mix of actors in costume for wide, fully-body scenes, and puppets in close-up scenes. In The Dark Crystal, Jen and Kira journey to The Castle of the Crystal to return the lost shard of the Dark Crystal and make the crystal whole again.
The Black Fortress – Krull (1983)
The Black Fortress of Krull is a mountain-like castle that is an interstellar vessel and the dwelling of the Beast. The Fortress comes to the titular planet, Krull, and the forces of the Beast take Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) captive, whose child is prophesied to rule the galaxy. The Fortress transports with the rise of the sun each day to a new location on Krull, and Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) embarks on a quest to discover the location the Black Fortress will transport to next so that he can intercept it.
The interior of the Black Fortress is organic and alien. The walls of the passages are smooth and irregular, and the geometry can shape-shift, with floors and walls moving like the fortress is alive.
Castle Shadizar – Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Conan the Destroyer is inarguably the lesser of the Conan movies, but the sequel is more ambitious with its special effects and its settings. The second Conan movie sees the Sumerian, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, adventure to multiple castles. The first, Castle Shadizar, belongs to Queen Taramis (Sarah Douglas). The castle of Shadizar sits on a mountain, overlooking a plain. The castle’s exterior shot was accomplished with a miniature, positioned in the frame, in line with a physical mountaintop. The shot is an impressive use of camera tricks, with the actors on horses riding toward the foot of the mountain to further the illusion that the castle is real.
Shadizar’s interior is made of a grey marble and has a mausoleum atmosphere. Conan is tasked by Taramis with escorting Princess Jehnna (Olivia d’Abo) to the Castle of Thoth-Amon, a powerful wizard, to retrieve a key to then gain the horn of Dagoth. The Castle of Thoth-Amon sits in the center of a lake, and is made of crystals.
Castle Berkubane – Red Sonja (1985)
Castle Berkubane is controlled by Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) in 1985’s Red Sonja, starring Brigitte Nelson as the title character and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Kalidor. The castle was filmed using a miniature. It is located in a dark land, covered by volcanic clouds, similar to Mordor in The Lord of the Rings. Red Sonja and Kalidor travel to Castle Berkubane to retrieve a talisman that has been stolen by Queen Gedren, and which will overload within days if exposed to light for too long. Gedren powers the talisman within the castle by setting it in a room filled with hundreds of candles.
The castle interiors are red, and the throne room is the most detailed set in the movie, with stairs leading up to Gedren’s throne and a gold lattice structure behind it. Red Sonja was a bit of a step-down from the Conan movies, but it still captures some of the atmosphere and mix of ‘80s exploitation and whimsical fantasy movies from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Nockmaar Castle – Willow (1988)
Nockmaar Castle is the massive, black stronghold of Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) in Ron Howard’s Willow. Nockmaar is a stone castle set in a barren, cold wasteland. Of all the castle sets on this list, Nockmaar is the most impressive and complete external set, with portions of the outer wall constructed for the assault in the final act. Its walls tower over the actors. The film begins and ends at Nockmaar.
The story follows Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) on a quest to protect the infant Elora Danan (who is prophesied to destroy Bavmorda). In his journey, Willow meets Madmardigan (Val Kilmer), a great but braggadocious swordsman. Bavmorda's general, Kael takes the infant in a battle at the castle Tir Asleen, and in the climax, the heroes travel to Nockmaar to face Bavmorda and her army.
Castle Grayskull – Masters of the Universe (1987)
Castle Grayskull is located on the planet Eternia, at the center of the universe. At the beginning of Masters of the Universe, Skeletor takes Castle Grayskull, imprisoning the Sorceress, who guards it. He-Man and his friends, Man-at-Arms and Teela, are forced to flee using a cosmic key, and find themselves stranded on Earth, with the key missing.
Grayskull’s exterior was filmed with a matte painting. The design of the castle was drastically changed from the 1980s cartoons, where it is a stone castle built on the skeleton of a giant, dead creature. In the movie, it is portrayed as a tower, hundreds of feet tall, overlooking a technologically advanced cityscape. The castle still maintains the skull motif, and the interior throne room is set within the dome of the skull, with one of the eyes positioned behind the throne, which opens at the end of the movie. Grayskull’s throne room is a physical set with statues lining the walls and large openings in the floor, with matte paintings filling the openings, showing the levels below.
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