Film

Treasure of the Four Crowns

A 1983 adventure film where a ragtag team hunts mystical gems held by a dangerous cult. Shot in 3D with practical stunts and location filming, it's pure pulp: absurd, energetic, utterly unpretentious. For anyone who loves Indiana Jones but wants something weirder and cheaper, made by people who clearly had a blast.

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Raiders of the Lost Ark1981

The template for everything Treasure of the Four Crowns aspires to: charismatic heroes, globe-trotting action, mystical MacGuffins, and genuine danger. Spielberg's precision makes every set piece sing.

But If you've seen it recently, watching a pale imitation immediately after might feel redundant. The spectacle has aged into canon—it can overshadow lesser films.

Raiders of the Lost Ark poster

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom1984

Darker and weirder than Raiders, with genuine grotesquerie and a willingness to go nasty. The same adventure DNA as Treasure, but with Spielberg's resources and Dante's sensibility sharpening every shot.

But The cultural appropriation and racial caricatures are indefensible. It's thrilling and deeply uncomfortable, sometimes simultaneously.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom poster

Conan the Barbarian1982

Another early-80s adventure that prioritizes atmosphere and strangeness over coherence. Milius brings operatic violence and a genuinely alien world. Raw, physical filmmaking with real stakes.

But It's slow-paced compared to modern action. Long stretches of myth-building and philosophy before anything explodes. Patience required.

Conan the Barbarian poster

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The Holy Mountain1973

Both films structure themselves around a mystical quest for sacred objects, but where Treasure is pulp adventure, this is esoteric ritual. One is a postcard; the other is a fever dream. They share the same DNA of seeker-journeys through hostile terrain.

Jodorowsky's surrealist masterpiece: a seeker climbs a mountain collecting disciples, pursuing transcendence. Dreamlike, grotesque, visually overwhelming, absolutely committed to its own logic. A film that reshapes how you see cinema.

But It's deliberately obscure, deeply weird, and contains body horror and religious blasphemy. Three hours without a plot in the conventional sense. Many people find it unwatchable rather than profound.

The Holy Mountain poster
More like this (7)

Quatermass and the Pit1967

British sci-fi adventure with pulpy premise (alien artifact under London), genuine intelligence, and practical effects that create real dread. Proves low-budget can mean imaginative rather than cheap.

But It's a Hammer film from 1967—methodical pacing, flat lighting, theatrical acting. Tone is serious where Treasure is gleeful.

Quatermass and the Pit poster

Krull1983

Released the same year, equally bonkers: a prince battles an alien sorcerer with a magic weapon. Gorgeous practical sets, a genuine sense of wonder, and a complete disregard for narrative coherence.

But The plot is barely there. If you need character arcs or motivated antagonists, this will frustrate you deeply.

Krull poster

The Hidden Fortress1958

Kurosawa's adventure template: a mixed crew, physical action, constant betrayals and reversals, genuine humor. Everything that would become the adventure formula, done with style and invention.

But It's in black and white, nearly three hours, and subtitled. The pacing is deliberate. Not a casual watch.

The Hidden Fortress poster

The Vengeance of She1968

Campy 60s adventure with a cult, lost treasures, and Olinka Berova in impossible costumes. Purely silly, clearly made on a shoestring, but committed to the absurdity.

But The gender politics are prehistoric. The acting is wooden. It's enjoyable only if you love camp, and even then it's an endurance test.

The Vengeance of She poster

The Beastmaster1982

Sword-and-sorcery adventure with a hero who talks to animals, practical stunts, and gloriously earnest nonsense. A little more competent than Treasure but just as weird and unashamed.

But The plotting is thin, the dialogue is clunky, and Marc Singer's performance is aggressively flat. It works only if you surrender to its sincerity.

The Beastmaster poster

The Pirate Movie1982

A pirate musical adventure from 1982: absurd, colorful, packed with physical comedy and genuine stunt work. If you want the era's DIY energy in a different key, this delivers.

But It's a musical, and not a good one. The songs are teeth-clenching. Even fans of the era often find it unwatchable.

The Pirate Movie poster

Aguirre, the Wrath of God1972

Both follow teams pursuing legendary treasures into hostile terrain. Treasure treats it as fun; Aguirre treats it as the lens through which to examine how gold-hunger destroys human beings. One is carnival; the other is apocalypse. Same journey, different meaning.

Herzog's masterpiece: conquistadors pursue El Dorado downriver into madness. Handheld, naturalistic, obsessively focused on delusion and descent. Real locations, real danger, real acting—a fever dream that feels documentary.

But It's a slow tragedy of ego and obsession, not an adventure. Klaus Kinski descends into actual madness onscreen. There are no victories, only mounting horror.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster

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