Knights of Badassdom (2013)

Live-action role players conjure up a demon from Hell by mistake and they must deal with the consequences.

Director:

Joe Lynch

Writers:

Kevin Dreyfuss (screenplay), Matt Wall (screenplay)

Stars:

Ryan Kwanten, Steve Zahn, Peter Dinklage

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
D.R. Anderson	...	Eddie #2 / Johnny #1 (as Dan Anderson)
W. Earl Brown	...	Randy
Michael Carpenter	...	Guy Elf
Kevin Connell	...	King Kerry
Sean Cook	...	Winston
Peter Dinklage	...	Hung
Khanh Doan	...	Andie
Michael Gladis	...	King Diamond
Summer Glau	...	Gwen
Basil Harris	...	Eddie #1
Brett Gipson	...	Gunther
Tom Hopper	...	Gunther
Ryan Kwanten	...	Joe
Margarita Levieva	...	Beth
Joshua Malina	...	Travis

Storyline

In a valiant but pointless attempt to cheer up their freshly-dumped friend and former Dungeons and Dragons legend, Joe, two enthusiastic Live Action Role Players--Eric, a 27-level Grand Sorcerer in the making, and Hung, a medieval Master Rogue--drag their sad companion to a large-scale LARP campaign in the middle of a forest. However, things will soon spin out of control, as a malevolently cryptic dark incantation from the pages of a seemingly innocent prop book of spells, inadvertently summons a demonic succubus bent on destruction. Now, try to stop a slaughterous extra-dimensional being with several foam sticks and a handful of plastic swords.

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Plot Keywords:

demon | summoning a demon | ritual | what happened to epilogue | gem | 

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Taglines:

Let the Game Begin.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence, language throughout, some drug use and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 August 2014 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Los juegos del desmadre

Filming Locations:

Spokane, Washington, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,449, 26 January 2014, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$86,796, 7 February 2014

Company Credits

Production Co:

IndieVest Pictures, North by Northwest Entertainment

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The world premiere was held on September 24th 2013, at the "Icon" festival in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

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Goofs

Only Ronnie could read the language in the book but yet somehow Eric was still able to read from it. Eric should have never been able to read from the book hence the creature should have never been summoned.

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Quotes

Eric: And Guinevere the fearless, who's plus-three ass of perfection should keep the memory of she who should not be mentioned at bay.
Gwen: Plus-three? Clearly you underestimate my endowments.

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Connections

References Mortal Kombat (1992)

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Soundtracks

At the Gates
Written by Brendan McCreary
Performed by Brendan McCreary

User Reviews

Promising Start, But Doesn't Know Where To Go...

Knights Of Badassdom exists in a mystical confluence, equal parts Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Animal House, Galaxy Quest and Friday 13th but never quite rises to the brilliance of its forebears.

Having just been dumped by his girlfriend, wannabe doom metal singer Joe (True Blood's Ryan Kwanten) is 'kidnapped' by his two best friends - hardcore LARPers Eric (Steve Zahn) and Hung (Game Of Thrones' Peter Dinklage) - to the site of their next big event, The Battle Of Evermore.

Joe is reluctantly talked into joining the Live Action Role Playing game - helped by the presence of the lovely Gwen (Firefly's Summer Glau) - but, unfortunately, in his quest for authenticity Eric has purchased a magical tome off eBay that turns out to be a long lost book belonging to the famous Elizabethan sorcerer John Dee.

When Eric reads a page at random as a mock spell, he unknowingly summons a succubus from Hell that proceeds to feed on the souls of the LARPers.

Soon after that Joe and Gwen realise that people are dying for real and take up arms to strike back at the monstrous demon and try to save their friends.

Knights Of Badassdom starts very promisingly, with plenty of loving nods to both LARPing and Dungeons & Dragons (this certainly isn't a mockery of geeks), but once the horror aspect enters the mix, the film doesn't really know where to go.

Now, I'm pretty certain that I read a ways back that this release of the film was not the director's vision of the story but a cut put together by the producers. This might explain the feeling that after a while the story is just spinning its wheels.

What starts off as belly-laughing funny (very much in the style of The Big Bang Theory, but with more swearing) that had me thinking this might one day equal The Holy Grail as geeks' go-to game quote movie eventually lapses into mildly amusing, by-the-numbers fare.

There are plot holes a-plenty and a lot of undeveloped characters (for instance, what was the deal with the redneck paint-ballers and their major hate-on for the LARPers? Outside of explaining why the police didn't turn up at the camp site when the slaughter began, they were totally redundant to the plot), which again suggests to me to retrospective re-cutting of the film for whatever reason, making do with what footage was on-hand.

Don't get me wrong, it's good and certainly clever in parts, but there's an inescapable feeling that it could have been much better. There are some great characters, and great "in-story" world-building by the LARPers, but it all degenerates into a big slug-fest with a rubber-suit monster.

Depending on your mood - and your attitude to random absurdity in movies - the climax of Knights Of Badassdom will either have you smirking at its ridiculousness or reaching for the remote control to turn off the television.

It's such a shame because I genuinely believe this could have been - if done right - a cult classic. As it is, I fear it will simply be swept under the carpet as a missed opportunity and promptly forgotten about.

Of course, the film's biggest mistake: not enough Dinklage.