I was most interested to find out that filmmakers were rebooting the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, based on the popular role-playing tabletop game, the original 2000 film and its 2005 straight-to-DVD sequel, Wrath of the Dragon God, were both absolutely crap, I decided to watch this straight-to-DVD third film in the original series before the new movie. Basically, Nhagruul the Foul was an evil sorcerer who spread despair throughout his mortal life. As he neared his end, he sold his soul to the demon lords of the Abyss. When he died, his body was turned into the Book of Vile Darkness: his skin was turned into pages, his bones into the cover, and his blood uses as ink for its pages. Anyone who opened the Book and read its page became evil. The kingdom of Karkoth was consumed by evil until the Knights of the New Sun, a group of warriors, arose and saved the people using amulets given to them by Pelor, the God of light. They channelled the God's power using the amulet and light overcame darkness. It was the purity of their hearts that allowed them to wield such power. The Knights destroyed the ink, but pages and the covers of the Book were recovered and hidden by followers of Nhagruul. As people began to forget that Nhagruul existed, the power of the Knights dimmed. 2000 years later, a young knight named Grayson Azriel (Jack Derges) is recruited into the Knight order. But as with all Knights through the centuries, the power of the amulet is not granted to him by Pelor. While talking to his father Ranfin (Anthony Howell) about his failure, all the Knights are killed, and his father is abducted. Grayson joins a crew working with the barbarians, hoping to find and save his father. They crew are looking for the horn that will lead them to the cover of the Book. The crew is made up of Shadar-kai sorceress Akordia (Eleanor Gecks), human assassin Seith (Lex Daniel), Goliath barbarian Vimak (Habib Nasib Nader), and human Vermin Lord Bezz (Barry Aird). The horn is guarded by a wyvern (a type of dragon), Grayson slays the monster and saves Akordia and they fall in love. The group are hailed as heroes in the nearby town of Little Silver Keep. As Grayson and Akordia spend the night together and Vimak spends the night with a plethora of women, Seith steals the town's treasure. The Mayor (Dominic Mafham) discovers the robbery and will not allow the group to leave. Grayson tries to settle the argument of the treasure, but Bezz kills the mayor, causing a fight to break out with many townspeople killed. When the group set up camp for the night, Grayson poisons Vimak and places his body and the treasure in a bag and throws it into the nearby lake. Seith wants the horn and threatens Grayson, but he is killed by Bezz. The remaining three are led by the horn to encountering an undead child called a Slaymate and are forced to let it feed on their negative to prove themselves free of decency and thus worthy of obtaining energy of the Book. The Salymate feasts from the morally bankrupt Bezz. The creature is calmed by Grayson's unlawful deeds which are enough. But Akordia fails the test when her burgeoning feelings for Grayson poison the creature. The Slaymate summons a Helmed Horror (Lloyd Pitts) to kill them before disappearing. Bezz is stabbed through the chest, Akordia and Grayson fight and eventually defeat the Helmed Horror, and finally retrieve the cover of the Book. Akordia and Grayson are captured and taken to the stronghold the evil Lord Shathrax, who is extracting ink for the book from the pain of the purest Knight: Grayson's father. Grayson rescues his father, but they discover they are trapped because the stronghold is a collection of floating islands in the Shadowfell. As they are about to be captured again, Grayson's father suggests suicide, but Grayson insists that a pure knight never loses hope. As a result, the power of Pelor is granted and placed into his amulet. They defeat their enemies, but Bezz launches a sneak attack. Bezz plans to use Grayson's pain as ink for the book, he knew all along Grayson was the purest knight. But Akordia returns Grayson's amulet, and they manage to defeat Shathrax and his followers. Despite their feelings for each other, Akordia and Grayson part ways because of their different natures, while Bezz escapes as a cloud of insects. The cast are all lame, the film is filled mainly by inane chatter accompanied by a confusing and absurd script, and the attempts at special effects and makeup are wasted, I didn't even care about the characters or story, just as bad as the other two films, a low quality, boring and pointless medieval fantasy adventure. Poor!
Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness
(2012 TV Movie)
Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness
9 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers