10 Movies To Watch If You Love Playing Elden Ring

For those untarnished by Fromsoft designer Hidetaka Miyazaki's newest creation, "Elden Ring" is an action role-playing adventure and the spiritual successor to "Dark Souls," "Bloodborne," and Miyazaki's other infamously difficult and bewitchingly obtuse video games. In a departure from his past titles, "Elden Ring" focuses on exploring an open world called the Lands Between and the challenging combat against the wretched horrors that lurk in every corner of the map. Your character, "the Tarnished," has been summoned to the Lands Between to collect all of the Great Runes, restore the Elden Ring, and become the Elden Lord. If that sounds easy, well, there are well over 100 unique bosses and legion upon legion of monsters that would beg to differ.

"Elden Ring" is not the kind of game that holds your hand in any way. As the adage for these types of games goes, "death is a mechanic," and you will learn how this world works by trying and dying over and over and over again. The going won't be easy, but there is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction when everything finally clicks and you start defeating bosses by the skin of your teeth (yes, in "Elden Ring," your teeth probably do have skin — it's just that kind of twisted game).

But maybe you've already hacked and slashed your way through enemy after enemy and claimed your place as Elden Lord. Perhaps you're still grinding across the Lands Between, searching for those fabled Runes. Either way, if you have become entranced by the breathtaking beauty and gruesome horror of "Elden Ring," the following 10 movies capture much of its spirit.

Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal" is a 1982 fantasy film that deviates from the classic family-fodder that Henson is known for with dark themes and some horrifying creatures. 

"The Dark Crystal" tells the story of how two elf-like creatures, called Gelflings, try to save the world from the tyranny of the Skeksis and restore the titular dark crystal to its former glory. Similar to how the great lords of "Elden Ring" were corrupted and became twisted versions of themselves, the Skeksis were originally creatures called urSkeks, but their greed for power and everlasting life drove them to break the crystal and split themselves into two separate species, the urRu and the Skeksis. Say the word "Skeksis" to anyone who grew up in the '80s and you're almost guaranteed to see them shudder at the memory of the gnarled and sickly visages of those bird-like overlords. 

Henson's use of puppets gives the film a realistic feel that the animation of the time could not replicate. The Skeksis are so detailed and have such gravitas that, to this day, they remain nightmare fuel equal to that of any Elden Lord.

As we saw in "Midsommar," group trips to Sweden seem to be cursed. "The Ritual" offers more evidence for that theory. While it begins with a similar premise, "The Ritual" is a darker experience that shows how one man comes to terms with his part in his friend's death.

In the film, five men decide to go backpacking through the Swedish countryside to honor their friend Rob, who was killed during a robbery. During their trip, they travel through a forest, where they find disturbing signs that something ominous is happening. Tensions are exacerbated by the creepy setting, and the group begins to turn on itself. Conflicted and lost in the woods, the men trudge on, searching for civilization while something seems to be hunting them. As you might expect, things only get worse as the group finally finds its way to a small town, where the inhabitants are much more than they initially seem.

From the hanging bodies of sacrifices to the grotesquemonster itself, the film visually echoes "Elden Ring" at many points. The creature is a terrifying figure that looks something like a gigantic moose with two human bodies melted together for a head. You can see it slipping quietly through the trees in the background of some shots, and you'll eventually get a good look at it towards the end of the film. The helplessness of most of the characters and their inability to defy either the monsters or its worshippers makes us yearn for the endless deaths we endured on the Tarnished's journey.

Perhaps the least well-known film on this list, "Krull" is a fantastic science fiction-fantasy film from 1983. Set on the planet Krull, the story follows Prince Colwyn and his compatriots as they try to rescue Princess Lyssa, who was kidnapped by an alien creature called the Beast. Armed with a monster-slaying throwing star called the Glaive, Colwyn searches for the teleporting spaceship-slash-fortress where the boss monster lies in wait. 

The film features some fun characters, including a mage who isn't particularly good at his job, a group of bandits that includes a very young Liam Neeson), and a badass cyclops named Rell, but my favorite is the Widow of the Web. A seer woman trapped in the middle of a giant web that is patrolled by a vicious crystalline spider, the Widow is the key to finding the fortress. However, like so many "Elden Ring" characters, she has a tragic ending that will make your flesh crawl if you think about it too much.

With high-flying fire horses, plenty of swashbuckling action, and an end boss bigger than most buildings, "Krull" is an exciting adventure film with many obvious parallels to "Elden Ring," and one that holds up surprisingly well after so many years.

If you enjoy swinging a giant greatsword as you barrel through the Man-Serpents that surround Volcano Manor, then perhaps you'll like watching young Arnold Schwarzenegger fight dastardly snake cultists in "Conan the Barbarian." 

This sword and sorcery film covers Conan's origin story, in which a raiding party led by Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) kills Conan's parents and enslaves the Cimmerian when he's still just a boy. Pressed into back-breaking labor, Conan eventually grows up into the beefcake he was always destined to be. Impressed by his physique, a man buys Conan and trains him as a gladiator. The warmasters of Khitai also teach him the art of killing, and educate him in their philosophy and literature. In a surprising act of charity, Conan's owner then sets him free, and the barbarian ventures out into the world to find the vengeance he so desires. 

During his adventure, Conan gains insights from a witch, befriends some less-than-savory characters, and promises a king that he'll rescue his daughter from the Doom's snake cult. There are plenty of funny moments, such as the moment when Conan fights off a hungry vulture with nothing but his teeth, or the way that Thulsa Doom uses snakes as arrows, and yet the movie still feels epic, covering a lot of story in a short time.

Within the first few minutes, "Elden Ring" will show you a whole new world of pain. You'll be squashed flat by giants. You'll be mauled by bats. You'll be set aflame by torch-bearing soldiers — and let's not even talk about the Tree Sentinel... 

As if that's not enough, you'll also suffer your share of embarrassing deaths as you roll backwards off of cliffs, succumb to the poison that you forgot to heal (usually near the end of a brutally tough boss fight), and cause your own demise in any number of other humiliating, infuriating ways. 

Some of these deaths are so hilarious and unforeseen that, as Gita Jackson at VICE observes, it feels a whole lot like watching "Jackass Forever." It's not hard to imagine Johnny Knoxville sitting atop a cliff laughing as he pulls a lever that drops three wolves out of the sky on top of an unsuspecting Tarnished. Wait, maybe that's how those got there...