Devil’s Knight (2024) Review

Directed by Adam Werth, period horror Devil’s Knight takes us to a land where monsters terrorize the people and knights adorned in fine armor serve their regents. Co-written by Werth and Victor V. Gelsimino, with the latter also playing the part of mercenary Renzo, we’re presented with a group of traveling companions sharing a campfire while tales are told of brave exploits.

A one-eyed stranger arrives and begins to tell the story of King Samuel and his monster troubles. The wonderfully named Bone Devil, a beast that can fly and kill with a mere swipe of its claw, has the kingdom in an uproar after defeating King Samuel’s Yeager. They had been sent out to find and kill Bone Devil, however, only one man returned to tell the king of the massacre.

It just so happens that a group of mercenaries are nearby, and after they defeat and behead another monster, King Samuel, played by Kevin Hager, hires the sell-swords to kill Bone Devil. The ragtag group is led by Sigurd, played by a chiseled John Wells, who embodies the part of a hardened beast-killer with convincing ease. In fact, the large cast of mercenaries each own the characters they play, and while there were a few questionable accents for the period this film is set in, the excellent costumes and props really sell the feel of ye olde worlde times.

As the film progresses we’re introduced to several interesting characters, with the most memorable being the devious, plotting Monsignor Mostella, effortlessly played by Greg Tally. Daughter of King Samuel is warrior Princess Sabine (played by Sarah Nicklin who appears to have put in the work learning how to handle a sword) and is the finest sword in the kingdom. The princess wants nothing more than to go out and fight just like the men, but this sort of behavior is frowned upon in such times.

As the mercenaries go out hunting for Bone Devil, the story takes us back and forth from the camp fire story-teller, to the castle, to the mercenaries, with a quick pace that I very much appreciated. Devil’s Knight is an entertaining film with not a drop of fat to be found as movies of this nature can suffer, as they tend to be padded out with wasted dialogue or pointless scenes. Not here.

The cast is large and Werth does his best to give lines to as many as possible (no small feat) without it appearing too obvious. And speaking of lines; one of my favorites was when one of the characters from the campfire complaining about the story not moving along fast enough says “I hate exposition,” which cracked me up, demonstrating the filmmakers weren’t taking things too seriously. It was moments like this that made this film a joy to watch.

Eric Roberts appears briefly to offer a few lines during the introduction of the mercenaries, and the always great Kevin Sorbo plays Captain Baldur, a character that only really comes into play during the third act. Angie Everhart (Last Action Hero) and Daniel Baldwin are also featured, along with too many fine actors to mention here. The strongest part of Devil’s Knight was the storytelling, with some pointers drawn from Game of Thrones as main characters are killed when you least expect it, which I found rather effective.

Produced by Michael Mahal, Devil’s Knight was made with a budget that puts so many films to shame, a mere $500k. The impressive castle that features prominently in Werth’s effort, is titled Newman’s Castle, and it’s thanks to details like that, with practical effects rather than a reliance of CGI, that round off this movie nicely. A fantastic watch, some cheesiness here and there, solid acting and directing, Devil’s Knight is well worth going out of your way to see if horror is your thing.