Best Portuguese fantasy movies
A curated collection of popular fantasy movies from Portugal.
Espectros da Terra (2019)
Flores (2017)
Flores (2017)
In a natural crisis scenario, the entire population of Azores is forced to evict due to an uncontrolled plague of hydrangeas, a common flower in these islands. Two young soldiers, bound to the beauty of the landscape, guide us to the stories of sadness of those forced to leave and the inherent desire to resist by inhabiting the islands. The filmic wandering becomes a nostalgic and political reflection on territorial belonging and identity, and the roles we assume in the places we came from.
Ice (2016)
Ice (2016)
The lives of two women intersect.
O mistério da boca do inferno (1989)
O mistério da boca do inferno (1989)
The secret history of a curse upon an astrologer and esoteric initiate, who was a Portuguese poet and essayist: Fernando Pessoa.
The Sword and the Rose (2010)
The Sword and the Rose (2010)
Manuel bids farewell to his routine and boards a 15th century vessel under pirate law. Treason on board triggers a series of terrible events our protagonist overcomes while keeping his moral principles intact.
Autophobia (2022)
Autophobia (2022)
A girl appears in an empty room only in the presence of a mirror, she looks at it and finds herself covered in blood, meanwhile her real body is normal. She touches the mirror and everything changes.
The Curse of Marialva (1991)
The Curse of Marialva (1991)
A Visigoth count conquers a small village town from the Moors in the Lusitanian mountains, only to loose his possessions through the mysterious workings of a woman from parts unknown.
The Flesh (2010)
The Flesh (2010)
A debate arises between Jesus Christ and a beautiful nun about her nightlife and whether the scriptures address any punishment for her sins.
Sombras Brancas (2023)
Sombras Brancas (2023)
At the age of 71, a highly regarded writer, José Cardoso Pires, suffers a major stroke and loses his memory and the ability to relate to the rest of the world. Everybody seems to defy the famous author to write another novel that recounts this adventure telling his "last story", the most conclusive of his career, the one of his accidental journey to the clear shadows territory.
The Old Man and the Demon Sword (2024)
The Old Man and the Demon Sword (2024)
In the remote village of Pé da Serra in the mountains of Portugal, a monk arrives wielding a demonic sword. Before long, the mystical weapon ends up in the hands of the town drunk António da Luz (who plays himself). Together, the drunkard and the sword will have to learn together to fight the encroaching evil.
O Fauno das Montanhas (1926)
O Fauno das Montanhas (1926)
This film is the pearl of his pioneer work in Madeira Island and captures the most of his methodology: good stories taking the most of Madeira's natural scenery, and provoking the audience with some ironic and "double-sense" scenes. The film tells the story of an English girl travelling with her father, a botanic, and a guide from madeira in the deep mountains of the island. The girl has some mental disturbs and is always scaring about an attack from the native man, appearing as a half-man/half-monster.
Tiaga (1981)
Tiaga (1981)
Tiaga tells the story of a poor old woman, played by Isabel de Castro, to whom a good wizard offers the gift of youth to reward the help she provided him. A version of “Faust” seen through the female eye and featuring some unusual moments, such as a shot of a black goat while José Afonso sings, as well as nightmare sequences in which Tiaga is chased by the devil.
Trails (1978)
Trails (1978)
Parallel tales of young couples desperately escaping cruel false fathers, each couple on the run across different regions of the country and during increasingly contemporary time periods.
Iratan e Iracema (1987)
Iratan e Iracema (1987)
The adventures of a couple of unruly siblings who, one fine day, decide to go out of their way to school and get involved in fanciful adventures in extraordinary worlds based on traditional Portuguese fables that evoke, for their strangeness and surrealism, Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.
Snow White (2000)
Snow White (2000)
Monteiro moved far away from the visual opulence defined by his earlier films with his inspired adaptation of radical Swiss writer Robert Walser’s anti-fairy tale. Carefully restricting the image track, Monteiro maintains an almost totally black screen in order to focus instead on the voices of Snow White, the Prince, the Queen and the Hunter, engaged in an extended debate about love, free will and the events leading up to the fateful attempt on the maiden’s life. Despite its visual austerity, Snow White is haunted by the arresting images with which it begins – infamous black-and-white photographs of Walser lying dead in the snow after his heart attack outside a Swiss asylum at the age of seventy-eight, a strange realization of the “death of the author” so central to postmodern literary criticism.
Renaissance (2015)
Renaissance (2015)
The story of a couple who can not get rid of the pain of losing a daughter, until one night that they are confronted with the dark and sinister paths of guilt and penance.
Super Natural (2022)
Super Natural (2022)
A group of performers – some with, some without disabilities – explore the island of Madeira, where the rich flora and fauna, artificial intelligences and underwater beings all make collective mischief.
O Tarzan do 5º Esquerdo (1958)
O Tarzan do 5º Esquerdo (1958)
Luisa and Manuel begin the existence of married, having only their dream and hope. He judges himself a Tarzan in the jungle of life, able to face all the threats, next to his companion.
Má Sina (1996)
Má Sina (1996)
In an empty theatre, a woman is watching an American film - "Ma's Sin" - which tells the weird revenge story of a middle-aged wife, driven mad by jealousy and a deep feer of dying. During the screening, the viewer's fantasies embodied in male characters harass her. Thus she will live the double adventure of the projected motion picture and of her own mental film. But as the lights turn on, she leaves the theatre, apparently unaffected.
The Donkey-Eared Prince (1980)
The Donkey-Eared Prince (1980)
In the time of King Leonardo, a war and the plague that accompanied it depopulated Traslândia. Ignoring these tragic events, Queen Isménia, Princess Camila and lady-in-waiting Narcisa, coming from a distant kingdom, arrive in Traslândia, when the war approaches the end.
The Siren's Song (1983)
The Siren's Song (1983)
Siren's Song is inspired on a story by Júlio Dinis, in an place populated by characters taken from Greek mythology.
Atlântida: Do Outro Lado do Espelho (1994)
Atlântida: Do Outro Lado do Espelho (1994)
On an isolated Portuguese island, a nameless man makes a mental journey which brings him into contact with the strange and menacing world without peace and harmony.