Death Knight is a low-budget comedy horror romp about a reanimated, cursed medieval knight (Nelson DePasquale) brought to life in present-day New Jersey. The incident begins when Grandpa (Liam Mitchell) takes delivery of an authentic suit of armor for his hobby store. His granddaughter Kara (Morgan Lennon) is dismayed, as the store is failing. She sees the purchase as frivolous and wasteful, given the financial crisis. When a musician (Paul Pallotta) from a visiting metal band pops into the store, he steals one of the two green gem amulets that came with the armor, causing it to rise as the fully fleshed-out Knight to retrieve the amulet.
The Death Knight finds the metal band, takes the amulet, which imbues him with power and makes him invincible, and then he kills everyone he sees. Afterward he heads out into town, fully powered up, to continue his killing spree. Kara and her Grandpa believe the other amulet can be used to track the knight, so she puts it on and tries to find him and stop him.
The Knight has a grand time out, learning about cars and discovering the high-energy thrill of metal music. It is, however, unclear what his motivation would be to kill every person he encounters. He’s been cursed to live on through endless incarnations by a magic spell that he thought would save his life when he was mortally wounded in battle. He was controlled by a witch who meant to use him as her puppet.
“… The Death Knight takes the amulet and kills everyone he sees. “
Death Knight is goofy shoestring-budget fun splashed in stage blood. Set your expectations accordingly. Everything about the film is commensurate with that indie DIY aesthetic. The cinematography is snappy and well done, and the performances are sufficient for what this is, which is to say, a bit cheesy and amateurish. There’s even a rudimentary set of special effects showing off the the supernatural features of the green amulet.
The in-universe logic is… well, there isn’t any. The script drives the action purely to set up the scenes of death and mayhem. It’s worth noting that Death Knight has an intensely New Jersey vibe. There’s a particular brand of snarky smirk unique to the garden state. The aura of the film is Clerks, but with a mindless killing machine on the loose. It is even organized in chapters like Clerks, such as “Deadly Delivery,” “Headbanger,” and so on. There are also comedy gags like the friendly neighborhood dealer taking orders on his phone. The end result is something like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but with one of the time-jumping historical figures as a murderous psychopath.
If you know what you’re getting into, and you enjoy rude, bloody, funny mayhem done for its own sake, then Death Knight could be your jam and you should give it a spin. And… who knows, if it does well, it could be set up for a sequel.
"…rude, bloody, funny mayhem"
