WFG RATING: B

A Mahal Empire production in association with Collywood Films, Stag Mountain Films, and Wicked Monkey Pictures. Directed by Adam Werth. Produced by Michael Mahal and Sonny Mahal. Written by Victor V. Gelsomino and Adam Werth. Cinematography by Michael Su. Edited by Miguel Amodio.

Stars Kevin Sorbo, Eric Roberts, Daniel Baldwin, John Wells, Robert Standley, Angie Everhart, Kim Kelly, Sarah Nicklin, Ben Stodder, Kyosuke Mukai, and Wesley Cannon. 

From the makers of Arena Wars comes this medieval action-horror film that has minimal CGI and has some pretty wicked action. 

It’s 18th century France. The Kingdom of Remeny, led by King Samuel, is under attack from a monster known as the Bone Devil. Samuel is worried as his soldiers are beginning to dwindle due to the creature wiping them all out in the Lupine Forest. With no other alternative, King Samuel asks a band of elite monster hunters known as the Lost Blades of Veroca to take care of the threat. 

Led by Mathia Brennus, the group includes the tough-as-nails Sigurd, the powerful Holger, the wily Renzo, the sage Hideo, and Mathias’ daughter Joan, who poses as a man named John. Samuel and Mathias were once rivals who have respect for each other and the Lost Blades will do what it takes to take on the Bone Devil. However, unbeknownst to King Samuel, the Monsignor Mustela has been using the blood of another monster, the Hook Beast, with ulterior motives to take over the kingdom for his own nefarious needs. 

Mahal Empire, the company behind genre indie greats like Death Count, Night of the Tommyknockers, and most recently, Bloodthirst and the awesome Arena Wars, a pretty good medieval tale of warriors hellbent to stop a monster in order to save a kingdom. The film feels like an amped up version of Dungeons & Dragons, but without the dragons and replaced with a gargoyle-like monster in the Bone Devil. While the top billing goes out to Kevin Sorbo, Eric Roberts, and Daniel Baldwin, they are actually second fiddle with Roberts having a mere cameo.

The real stars of the film are the Lost Blades themselves, notably John Wells as Sigurd, who tells the story of his time with the group in flashbacks as we see him tagging along a band of merry bandits (with Baldwin playing one of them). Other standouts are Robert Standley as the Lost Blade leader Mathias and Kim Kelly as the cross-dressing Joan. It is explained that women cannot serve in an army and this is even seen as deaf ears in the form of Princess Sabine, played by Sarah Nicklin. We see Sabine training with a sword only to get scolded by her mother the Duchess, played by a wonderful Angie Everhart. 

The film’s kill score and use of practical effects works well here. Thankfully, we don’t have to resort to CGI for the creatures of the film. Instead, Ben Stobber sports a pretty amazing looking suit as the Bone Devil and we even have Holger’s actor, Wesley Cannon, doing double duty as he also plays the Hook Beast, a monster who at first sporadically appears before the third act practically has him teaming up with the Bone Devil against the Blades. Some of the deaths are pretty gruesome, from disembowlments to a woman possessed by the Hook Beast’s blood killing a man by ripping his heart out and eating it. There is quite a nice twist that starts the aforementioned third act and the finale may leave room for a possible sequel, which I would be all for. 

Devil’s Knight is a wild fun at times gruesome medieval horror action tale, like watching an amped up adult version of Dungeons & Dragons with a pretty good cast, great practical effects, and some insane action. If D&D is your thing and want an upgrade, then this is your film. 

Special Thanks to Sonny and Michael Mahal for allowing me to check out the film! The film is now available to rent on Amazon Prime and AppleTV+