Devil's Knight

"Devil's Knight," Mahal Empire's latest, is a burning, twisting tapestry of the medieval world, smeared with blood and fire and love, tangled in the echoes of steel clashing and fate bending-alive, all at once, in a medieval crescendo that smashes through time. You watch it, and you feel it in your teeth, in your bones. The film moves like a furious jazz riff, one of those nights Kerouac himself would chase, alive with the roar of battle, the haunting silence of a hero's solitary stare.

Every character seems carved from some ancient, forgotten place. They don't walk so much as roam, driven by curses, oaths, and whispered legends, finding their paths through dark forests and kingdoms that feel so real you'd swear you could taste the cold iron in the air. Mahal's vision here isn't merely historical; it's mythological. Each scene unspools like a painter's masterstroke, a Van Gogh under midnight's ghostly light.

The cast? It's a kaleidoscope of grit, rawness, and aching humanity. These are characters cut from the bone, fierce and flawed, their stories swirling in the ancient dust of their world. You follow, entranced, as alliances shift, and swords slice through the very fabric of trust, betrayal, love, and loyalty. Mahal Empire has given us a film that grips tight and refuses to let go until you're breathless, teetering on the edge of some forgotten castle's cliffside, gasping for one more glimpse, one more taste of the adventure and danger.

Devil's Knight? Man, it's medieval jazz-a soulful, dark symphony, beautiful, brooding, wild. An experience as raw and ragged as a knight's rusted armor, and all you can do is feel it, man, feel every beat of that relentless, glorious heartbeat.

Michael Mahal and Sonny Mahal are two of the hardest-working and most prolific producers in independent horror. They've mastered the art of crowd-funding, and as the saying goes, nobody does it better. Their latest project, Devil's Knight, is another hit in their growing catalog of films.

Coming hot off last year's Bermuda Island, Devil's Knight, directed by Adam Werth, takes us to medieval times, where monsters roam the land. The settings in this movie are elaborate and authentic, showing that the Mahals spared no expense in making their biggest production to date.

The movie opens with a group of trackers on a mission to kill a creature, setting the mood with a tense campfire scene that quickly turns into a bloodbath. The lighting and choreography in this sequence are excellent, with splatter effects that horror fans will appreciate. It's a strong start to the movie, promising bloodshed and action that only ramps up from there.

In Devil's Knight, the people live in fear of the monsters roaming the countryside. King Samuel (Kevin Hager) of Veroka hires an elite group of global monster hunters, known as the Lost Blades, to hunt and kill the ancient Bone Devil, whose reign of terror threatens the Kingdom of Remény. The Lost Blades are a ruthless, efficient group, and we get a taste of their skills early on. But, as in any good story, there are deeper layers-conspiracy and betrayal lurk behind every corner, and no one can be trusted in the Kingdom of Remény. The plot is rich with intrigue, and the writing by Vincent V. Gelsomino and Adam Werth is tight, giving the audience exactly what they want: monster action and political drama.

The Mahals know their audience well and have once again gathered a fantastic cast and crew to bring their vision to life. Tom Devlin's creature designs are terrifying, perhaps his best work yet, and the practical effects are top-notch. Fans of classic sword-and-sorcery films will find much to love here, with beautiful women, heroic knights, magic, beasts, and carnage galore. What sets Devil's Knight apart is the balance of power between good and evil-neither side stands out as predictable, which keeps the audience on their toes.

The film's technical aspects are worth noting as well. Vanessa Giacoletti's makeup, Joanna David's costumes, Terence J. Rotolo's stunt coordination, Tyler David Gilbert's score, and Michael Su's stunning cinematography all come together to create an immersive world that's both beautiful and terrifying.

Overall, Devil's Knight is another solid entry from the Mahal Empire. They continue to deliver films that please their core audience, and with four more projects in the pipeline-Alien Horde, Cursed Waters, Alien Storm, and Bikers vs. Werewolves-it's clear they have no plans of slowing down. I'm personally excited for what's next. Cheers to another great movie!

"This could have been so much better" was what my overall initial thought process was throughout this entire fantasy movie. It tried and for a low budget production it ticked most of the boxes, yet somehow I couldn't help but feel disappointed and unsatisfied with the Final Cut. Devil's Knight by Adam Werth is predictable and half-baked most of the time. There were some scenes I had to scratch my head at and the the action scenes were badly edited and cheorgraphed. Felt like I was watching a power rangers episode from the 90's. This definitely isn't one of Mahal Empire's best films. Arena Wars is better.

I have loved Angie Everhart and enjoyed Kevin Sorbo and others but I have to say this was easily the worst plot and worst acting I've seen from the lot of them. It's not horror. It is horrendous.

I was even happy to see Angie killed after she butchered the accent and acting! Eric Roberts was his typical arrogant part, but Sorbo must have been desperate.

In the middle of a massive war, the King of a small kingdom sends out for a group of professional monster hunters to help deal with a slew of monstrous creatures living in the woods that have been trouble for other hunters over the years and set out to finally kill the fabled creatures.

Overall, there's a lot to like with this one. One of the better aspects featured here is the strong and impressive setup that allows for a lot of solid period-set action. The main setup of the war throughout the kingdom involving a slew of creatures attacking their soldiers and holding the King under such duress that he sends for a group of monster hunters to stop the creatures leading to them working their way through the kingdom to finally take it out gives this a strong overall starting point. While we get tons of excessive characters and brief appearances along the way, the fact that there's a lot of great work here in getting the different relationships established not just within the Kingdom with the Royal Guard and the rest of the guards but also the monster hunters gives them some personality for later on. That provides the film with plenty of exciting battle scenes featuring the different groups battling the monsters or other threats in the area. Initially introduced fighting a horde of rebellious hooligans in a local bar and handling everything cleanly, their struggles against the different creatures in their struggle to get to the final creature terrorizing the local woods. This has some great action and bloodshed in the confrontations ranging from numerous sword battles against the creatures slicing them to pieces which offers up the gruesome make-up work on the various kills and the creature costumes used here with the different creatures shown to be distinct and memorable enough to be quite likable. These are all that work nicely here although there are some factors here that bring this one down. Among its biggest issues is the series of random, useless characters brought on board simply because the origin status requires a series of cannon fodder characters to be slaughtered. This has way too many people here that serve no purpose being either background characters in random scenes or just getting served up to the creatures to be slaughtered which leaves everything so cluttered that it takes a while to figure out what's going on. Taking so many one-shot figures or recurring characters that we're trying to keep track of in regards to what their purpose is in the kingdom as the simplistic main story here would have provided this with a lot to like only for the cluttered first half to make it a bit more troubling having these extra moments that aren't necessary here. The other factor with this one is the last act that manages to add in more than necessary here to be quite a confusing addition to the storyline. Slaying the main monster far too early than necessary and returning for a feast in celebration, it includes a rather bizarre storyline about the group getting taken prisoner after a duel and then forced to defend the castle from a secret monster held captive by a traitorous member of the cabinet that has a lot to like but it's tacked onto the film as if from a different movie entirely by just inventing problems for them to deal with for no reason. Combined with the somewhat obvious low-budget limitations present at times, these really hold it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.