The 25 best pulpy movies

Movies don’t come much pulpier than The Beastmaster, which is exactly what one expects in terms of plot. It focuses on a man who can communicate with animals and has to use that ability to fight against a malevolent wizard. The Beastmaster isn’t an example of quality filmmaking, but this is precisely what makes it such a perfect encapsulation of the pulp aesthetic. Like the original pulp novels, it’s the kind of film that is quite a lot of fun while it’s going on — cheap sets and all — but is ultimately rather forgettable. Its lack of pretension is exactly what makes it such a delight.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a truly delightful pulp adventure film inspired by the comic book series. As in comic books, various notable 19th-century literary figures appear, including Allan Quatermain, Mina Harker, Nemo, and Dorian Gray.  Though it wasn’t popular with critics then, there’s still much to recommend to audiences today; among other things, it was one of the last films to star Sean Connery. It is also fascinating to see how the film reimagines some of the most recognizable characters from 19th-century fiction.

Brendan Fraser’s success in The Mummy led to him being quite the leading man in Hollywood, and he particularly excelled at playing in pulpy films of a similar kind, including Journey to the Center of the Earth. Based on Jules Verne’s novel of the same name, it’s very much an old-fashioned adventure movie, for all that, it also features all of the technological innovation that one would expect of a film released in 2008. For all of the special effects, Fraser’s incandescent charm allows this movie to succeed, and few actors could so seamlessly capture the bravura of a pulp hero.

Robert E. Howard was one of the most prolific creators of pulp fiction and characters, so it makes sense many of his works would see movie adaptations. In 2009, Solomon Kane was released, focusing on Howard’s character of the same name, a Puritan who wanders the world, defeating and destroying evil where he finds it. James Purefoy stars as the title character, bringing his usual imposing charisma to the role. This film emphasizes the darkness inherent in the source material, and it doesn’t shy away from the more troubling elements of the hero. 

Flash Gordon is another of those characters whose name is indelibly associated with pulp. In 1980, he saw the big screen in the film bearing his name, which is the type of space opera that has, unfortunately, rather gone out of style. The film is a remarkable bit of fun, with a fast-paced narrative that keeps the audience from ever getting bored. What sets it apart, however, is just how self-aware and self-reflexive it is. Its plot might seem a bit silly and campy for modern audiences, but if one can just lean into the material, it’s still a fun viewing.

Though Steve Reeves and Kevin Sorbo are arguably the names most people associate with the ancient hero Hercules, Dwayne Johnson put his spin on the tale with this pulpy film from 2014. It’s a bit of a revisionist take on the story, and while the central narrative sometimes isn’t as inspired as one might expect, Johnson more than makes up for it with his usual megawatt charm and charisma. Moreover, there are enough action sequences and nefarious villains set on malevolent plans to please any fan of the pulp genre. As if all of that wasn’t enough, it is also a genuinely funny film, thanks in part to the combined talents of Johnson and Ian McShane.

Though the sword and sorcery film waned a bit after the 1980s, it did occur at other points, and one of the key entries in its subsequent history was Kull the Conqueror. Starring Kevin Sorbo in the title role, it draws on the work of Robert E. Howard (famous for creating the other major pulp hero, Conan). It might not reach quite the heights of pulpy art of the Conan movies, but there is still something pleasurable about Kull’s unabashed embrace of the silliness inherent in the pulp sensibility. If nothing else, it helps to explain why Sorbo was one of the most beloved and recognizable pulp heroes of the 1990s.

Few monster movies have had quite the cultural impact of King Kong.  It has been remade a number of times, including most notably by Peter Jackson, fresh off his success with The Lord of the Rings. Still, the original continues to hold a special place in many viewers’ hearts. Even now, its special effects are remarkable, and Kong is a remarkable character, able to evoke terror and pathos in equal measure. Likewise, his home of Skull Island is a location torn right out of a pulpy adventure novel. It’s also a film with a remarkable emotional core, and the moment when Kong falls to his death from the Empire State Building still packs an emotional punch.

Brendan Fraser solidified his place as one of the most beloved actors of his generation when he appeared in The Mummy. As its title suggests, it focuses on Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell as he finds his life, fortunes, and love life caught up in a horror adventure featuring a mummy from ancient Egypt named Imhotep. Though it has elements of horror, this iteration of The Mummy is far more of an adventure film and is, in that sense, a bit of a throwback to the pulp adventure novels and stories of an earlier era. The fusion of the present and the past creates an enduring appeal. 

If there’s one genre that continually dips into the pulp sensibility, it would be film noir. This group of films, which flourished during the 1940s and into the 1950s, produced many great films, including Touch of Evil. At the center of the film is the conflict between Charlton Heston’s Miguel Vargas, a prosecutor from Mexico, and Orson Welles’ Hank Quinlan, a corrupt sheriff. Baroque and seedy, Touch of Evil explores the dark, sinister, and seamy side of the American border, and the performances (particularly that of Welles) and the cinematography create the sort of nightmarish dreamscape that is so often associated with the noir sensibility. 

Kiss Me Deadly, the film based on the novel by Mickey Spillane, follows Mike Hammer as he gets slowly drawn into a world of criminality after he picks up a hitchhiker. It is, in some ways, the perfect illustration of the pulpy sensibility that so often simmered beneath the surface of most film noir films (and the novels and short stories on which they were based). What’s more, Kiss Me Deadly distills many of the concerns and anxieties that percolated American society as the Cold War continued to present many Americans with a world that contained many perils and dangers. 

When it comes to modern films that are a clear homage to the pulp fiction of a past era, it doesn’t get much better than Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.  Focusing on the title character, played by Jude Law, the film is a technological marvel, making the most out of its special effects. At times, these come close to overshadowing or overcoming the plot, but this was often the case with many of the original pulp stories, which were often more about sensation than the finer points of plot and characterization; this seems entirely fitting.

Nowadays, Star Wars  has become such an enormous and successful brand that it’s sometimes hard to remember its scrappy beginnings in the 1970s. However, the original film’s story about a young man who slowly becomes embroiled in the larger conflicts of the Empire is a plot straight out of the pulpy serials that were such a favorite of George Lucas (most notably Flash Gordon). Lucas’ genius was his ability to take these stories, add elements of the epic hero’s journey, package them in an easily exploitable way by the blockbuster mentality, and then take over Hollywood.  

The 1980s and early 1990s were something of a golden age for pulp stories of various kinds, and most of these were at least implicitly nostalgic in outlook. This is the case with The Rocketeer, which focuses on a pilot discovering a jetpack that Nazis had stolen from Howard Hughes. While it didn’t perform nearly as well at the box office as some had hoped, there’s no question that this film does deserve the critical love it received. There’s an innocence and a joy to its approach to the material, making it a quasi-magical experience to watch, even after so many decades. 

The Shadow is one of those characters who has had a long history and association with pulp, having emerged in the 1930s. In the 1990s, he was the star of his own film, in which he was played by none other than Alec Baldwin. Like so many other superheroes, this version of the character operates a double life as a playboy and a vigilante. Baldwin is well-cast in the role, and, just as importantly, the film is quite simply gorgeous to look at, showing once again just how flexible and dynamic pulp as a sensibility can be in Hollywood filmmaking.

If Edgar Rice Burroughs is known for one character today, it’s Tarzan, who has appeared in numerous comic books, movies, and TV series. Arguably one of the best-known and beloved, however, is Tarzan the Ape Man, which starred swimmer Johnny Weissmuller in the role of Tarzan. With his handsome good looks and sense of innocence, Weissmuller is perfect as Tarzan, which may help explain why he would go on to reprise the role in several subsequent films. Though it has many of the prejudices of the moment of its production, there’s no question that Tarzan the Ape Man remains one of the best adaptations of Burroughs’ work. 

Disney poured a great deal of money into John Carpenter, the film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (arguably most famous for also creating the character of Tarzan). It's peak pulp, focusing as it does on a 19th-century American who finds himself transported to Mars, where he becomes embroiled in its conflicts. At some points, the translation from Burroughs’ story doesn’t work as well as it should, but there’s no doubt that the film was an audacious move for the studio, and the performances and visual effects are both well worth watching in their own right. 

The Wachowskis have consistently proved to be two of the most visionary directors working in Hollywood. Jupiter Ascending clearly owes much to their earlier venture, The Matrix, though its space opera trappings are also reminiscent of Star Wars.  Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum are superbly cast as Jupiter, a young woman swept up in a titanic conflict not of her making, and Caine Wise, the warrior who becomes her companion. With its camp villain (played by Eddie Redmayne) and its (sometimes incoherent) plot, this is pulp science fiction as only the Wachowskis could make it.

For fans of sword and sorcery movies, the 1980s was something of a golden age. Conan the Barbarian leans into the pulp associated with this particular subgenre of fantasy, particularly since it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. Its violence marks it, as Conan is willing to kill anyone who gets in the way of his quest for revenge. However, there is a certain brutal beauty to these scenes, and there’s no question that Schwarzenegger was born to play this type of role, his Conan the epitome of male rage and violence.

If there’s one character who is synonymous with adventure, it would have to be Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones. In the first film, he sets out to find the Ark of the Covenant while fending off (and often beating up) the nefarious Nazis who try to beat him to it. It’s the perfect adventure film, and it owes a significant debt to the many pulp novels and stories which preceded it. It’s also perfectly cast, and even now, Harrison Ford remains the only person to ever truly embody the true nature of Indiana Jones. 

Based on the graphic novel of the same name, 300 tells the story of the 300 Spartans who set out to defend their homeland — and the rest of Greece — from the enormous Persian force mustered by the powerful emperor Xerxes. It has all of the pulp aesthetic of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, with lots of sweaty bodies, stylized violence, and horrific monsters (all of which are on the Persian side). Whatever extreme liberties it takes with history, there’s no question that 300 remains one of the most fascinating depictions of ancient warfare and the clash of civilizations hypothesis.

For many people, The Maltese Falcon is the very definition of film noir. It’s easy to see why this would be the case, focusing as it does on the private investigator Sam Spade. As a mode of filmmaking, noir itself owes much to the pulp sensibility, and this film has almost all of them, with its wisecracking detective, its femme fatale, and its slightly melodramatic plot. Of course, one of the main draws of The Maltese Falcon was and will probably always be Humphrey Bogart, whose turn as Sam Spade became instantly iconic and also set the mold for many of the actor’s subsequent roles in noir. 

Many of the most notable pulp films have their roots in graphic novels and comic books, and Sin City is no exception. Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller (who also co-directed the film with Robert Rodriguez), it has all of the traits one associates with the pulp sensibility, from a black-and-white cinematography (with splashes of color) to its brutal violence and hardboiled characters. It manages to call back to an earlier period of pulp films and comics while remaining firmly rooted in the cinematic aesthetics of the mid-2000s, bringing together both the vivid and the dark in equal measure.

Quentin Tarantino is, arguably, the one director working in Hollywood today whose aesthetic and body of work most exemplifies the pulp aesthetic. As its title implies, Pulp Fiction is the epitome of this particular sensibility, filled as it is with explicit violence and quippy language. Among other things, the film is notable because it constantly calls attention to its own status as a film. It’s thus no wonder that it has become not just one of Tarantino’s best films but also a significant influence on both film lovers and subsequent directors. 

Animation has long struggled to be seen as anything other than as fare for children. This is precisely what makes Heavy Metal such a fascinating film. Told as a series of vignettes focused on a malevolent orb known as the Loc-Nar, it shows its impact on various people. There is an undeniable pulp aesthetic at work in the film, in keeping with its source material (the magazine of the same title). Indeed, some of the segments in the film are downright trippy, but this is precisely what makes it such a fascinating film and an indication of just what animation can accomplish when freed from its rigorous attention to a young audience.