Introducing Vermithrax Perjorative.
Disney's PG-rated (hah!) Dragonslayer was one of the scariest Sword And Sorcery films of the time. This was during Disney's low period, so this film, like TRON two years later, took some very un-Disney-like chances.
- Ulrich's stabbing was a quiet, horrific moment, when you thought he was going to survive by the smug smirk on his face.
- Watch Tyrian's expression carefully. The whole "test" was his idea, because he doesn't believe Ulrich can do any kind of magic. But even he believes Ulrich is going to survive the stab wound... until the life fades from Ulrich's eyes, and he slumps forward and collapses.
- The opening scene with the first Virgin Sacrifice. The girl almost gets away, bloodying her manacles. Then a giant claw appears, and you have Virgin Flambée. The whole part, from the panicking, screaming horse stuck struggling to escape (it barely does in time), to the dim, foggy weather, and the intense directing make it deeply upsetting to watch.
- Vermithrax's rather unamused response to Brother Jacobus attempting to exorcise it. This includes a nightmarish Freeze-Frame Bonus that shows Brother Jacobus engulfed in flames.
- The first time you see Vermithrax in the flesh, rising from the Lake of Fire.
- Anytime Vermithrax is about to breathe fire - it gives fair warning, but that inhaling noise... (shudder)
- The baby dragons chowing down on Princess Elspeth's corpse gave many young kids nightmares - thanks, PG rating! - especially the shot of her foot being gnawed off and picked up in one of their mouths, with a bony stump where her foot used to be - and it wasn't even the worst wound on her corpse from the hungry dragonets. Yep, out and out Gorn in a Disney movie.
- Also later when Vermithrax discovers her slain babies, nudging their bloodied bodies with her nose to confirm they’re dead, and turns to Galen with the deadliest, angriest gaze a mother dragon could have. Crosses with Tear Jerker knowing that Vermithrax is more than just a vicious, fire-breathing beast, but an animal trying her best to survive and protect her young, and her reaction is not far off from any other mammal/parent discovering their children horrifically murdered.
- Vermithrax herself being one of, if not the, scariest dragons ever put to screen. She's big, she's nasty and she won't ever stop terrorising the kingdom. And the worst part is, she's also a mother to several vicious baby dragons that are just as monstrous as she is.
