"Knight Chills" is a goofy low-budget movie that seems geared towards a very small target audience. It's all about a group of table-top role players (Dungeon & Dragons is the type of game they play in the movie though the actual game is never named). Being one of those gamers myself probably has something to do with why I enjoyed the movie to any degree.

 

John is a young man who takes his role playing very seriously, and the others think he's a little weird despite being players themselves. When even other geeks pick on you for being geeky you're really in it deep. When John has had enough, tragedy strikes (accident or suicide attempt? You decide!) after which the other players are struck down by a mysterious horse-mounted black knight. A maniacal role player confusing reality with fantasy or something from another plane of existence?

 

Yeah, I agree it's a pretty silly story. That's why I say it's more for a small target audience. I don't think a lot of people could appreciate something so steeped in the world of role playing.

 

Some of the prejudice that role players typically come up against is worked into the story, and I'm surprised there isn't more of a triumph of players over haters at some point. Being both a Christian and a role player I'm well acquainted with different viewpoints on the matter but obviously have a worldview that incorporates both. To some it may seem that the reactions of the haters are over-exaggerated, but if they are it's not by much. The movie doesn't really focus on this struggle, though, more so it uses it to move elements of the main plot along.

 

It's important to say that this doesn't demonize players, although it does work in different types of people. John is overly serious about it, a couple of the guys are jobless losers and jerks, and one or two are druggies. However, we also have a college girl whose main issues are being judgmental and gossipy, and an employed and respectable married couple of parents. In other words it kind of shows that losers and troubled people do play D&D but not all players fall into such categories.

 

This is a very low budget movie. The acting is often rotten though not all of it sucks completely. The guy playing the game master, who is also the family man I mentioned and the person of most interest to the police when people start dying, is actually pretty good. The guy playing John is a little overboard but not bad. I also like the girl playing John's unrequited love interest. Others are pretty much either entirely bad or, at best, have some scenes they pull off OK and others that lack.

 

The action sucks... bad. I  have created better action scenes than these just by goofing around. Granted I've had some training and experience, but the point is that it seems like it wouldn't have been hard to do a LITTLE better job with these scenes. They tend to be stiff and unconvincing and that's being kind with my criticism.

 

Another criticism is that the suspense takes a while to get going. If you're not into the role playing element of the movie you may easily get bored, and quite possibly you'll be so unimpressed with the action that follows that you won't think it worth the wait.