The Dark Crystal (1982)

I have to admit that I just watched this movie for the first time last week.   I don't know how I lived through the 80s without seeing it as a child, but I never did.  So my review is based on a one time viewing as an adult.  This will color how I feel about this movie.  All of the other creepy 80s movies I've written about I saw as I child.

Another World, Another Time... In the Age of Wonder. 

There are three kinds of beings in the movie the Skeksis (vulture looking evil creatures), Mystics (weird looking hunchback wizards) and gelfling (elf type creature).  The dark crystal is a large, power-giving crystal that is used by the Skeksis to regenerate themselves.

Jen is a gelfling that was raised by the Mystics after all of the gelflings were killed.  One day he is told that he needs to find a crystal shard that had broken off of the dark crystal and return it to its rightful place therefore returning balance to the universe.  He is successful in finding the shard and finds another gelfling, a girl named Kira.  Together they fight huge crab like creatures sent out by the Skeksis.  They return the shard but Kira dies helping Jen.  When the crystal is restored the Mystics and Skeksis merge into a new kind of creature.  They revive Kira and balance is restored in the universe.

Creepy factor

All of the creatures are super creepy looking.  I don't know why they thought this would be okay in a kids movie.  It's not what I was expecting from a Jim Henson movie.  These are not the muppets.  I think the Skeksis look an awful lot like the creatures from "The Village."  Do you think M. Night Shyamalan's was inspired by Skeksis?

 

At one point in the movie the Skeksis try to suck the life out of Kira and some other creatures.  Again, not quite appropriate for children.

Lessons  learned

-Stay away from crystals.  No good can come from them.  They either turn you evil or you get hurt trying to fix them.
-Vulture are evil whether in real life or fiction.