Reading Time: 3 minutes
Director, writer, and co-star Matthew Ninaber has wanted to tell the story of A Knight’s War for years; dating back to his childhood days, pretending to be a knight fighting off otherworldly being as all young Canadian lads are wont to do. This lifelong desire has finally come to fruition in 2025, with his brother, Jeremy Ninaber, getting tapped to star in his medieval horror caper.
A Knight’s War tells the story of a brave knight, Bhodie, who is sent to the realm of the fallen (also referred to as the realm of the Gods) to retrieve the corrupted soul of the chosen one, a woman named Avalon (Kristen Kaster). What she is chosen to do exactly is slightly unclear. But we should assume it’s some form of saving humanity and ensuring us some form of endless peace and prosperity.
Once in the realm of the fallen, Bhodie makes a deal with the gatekeeper of the realm, launching him into a perilous journey through the realm, battling against witches, demons, and barbarians.
The action comes fairly swiftly and is often furious enough to be adequately engaging. The main draw of the film is the marriage of knights and demons. It feels like a winning formula. Medieval horror should a subgenre ripe with examples. Sure, Game of Thrones dabbles in this realm a bit, but doesn’t fully lean in the way A Knight’s War does.
While understanding that its main draw as a cinematic experience is the blending of horror elements with medieval imagery, A Knight’s War is competently committed to both. The micro budget DIY nature of the film is quite impressive considering the believability of the set and costume design, or the clarity of the film’s spookier set pieces. Despite being filmed partially in Ninaber’s backyard, with homemade sets, and a small production team the film carries a grandiose enough quality worthy of the story it intends to tell.
Despite a general effectiveness as a film, A Knight’s War is a text that would probably be better suited for a video game. The story reads like one that should be enjoyed with a controller in hand or at a keyboard. The action and violence invite participation.
In his quest back to the real world through the realm of the Gods, Bhodie and Avalon are provided with a necklace that provides them 100 additional lives to use in their battle against the various nefarious beings that inhabit the realm. This plot device lends itself to a fairly fun, although slightly uninspired montage of deaths in battle that allows Bhodie and Avalon to learn new ways to defeat their enemies; pulling from both video game sensibilities and films that opted to use the device with a bit more flare.
Still, it remains entertaining watching Kaster and Ninaber navigate the hellish landscape as Avalon and Bhodie. Both bring a sure-headed confidence worthy of the warriors they portray. Unfortunately, some of the supporting performances leave a bit to be desired, making some questionable performance choices. Although none detract or fully detract from the cinematic experience.
We’re not here to get bogged down with notions of a knight’s chivalrous code or the potential futility of religious prophecies. Ideas like this can lurk somewhere in the film’s existence, but they’re never the point of what we’re meant to be watching. There are more demons for our heroic knights to behead. Everything else is secondary.
A Knight’s War was released in limited theaters on February 7, and is available to rent or purchase on video-on-demand (VOD) now.
