Bhodie (Jeremy Ninaber) woke from a nightmare. In it, he saw a woman and her red-haired daughter burned at the stake. He himself arrived in the aftermath. While the mother had been burned to death, the daughter was unharmed; she was fireproof. When he reached out to the daughter, she attacked him, which was when he awoke. Bhodie's brother, William (Matthew Ninaber), asked about the nightmare and was unsurprised when his brother lied. The two men were knights on a quest. They sought to fulfill the prophecy that foretold of a Chosen One, a red-headed woman, who would bring the light (in a divine sense) back to the realm. They arrived at a dark tower where a dark ritual was being performed. They sneaked into the fortress in exactly the way plate mail-clad paladins would not. Soon, the battle raged as the brothers fought cultists and sought to save the red-haired woman about to be sacrificed to darkness. And failed. There was only one choice left. William stabbed Bhodie with the sacrificial blade and dumped him into the pool of blood, same as the redhead.
Bhodie awoke in a dark realm where he met the Gatekeeper (Shane Nicely). The Gatekeeper explained that there was only one way to escape: he must capture three stones from three guardians. The keeper offered a deal: allow the keeper to accompany him out of this hell, in exchange for an amulet that would allow Bhodie to respawn. Bhodie accepted and immediately encountered Avalon (Kristen Kaster), the redhead who had been sacrificed; Bhodie recognized her as the daughter from his nightmare. She did not act nobly and denied the light. How could she be the Chosen One? Despite his growing doubts, Bhodie joined forces with Avalon to secure the three stones and thereby bring light back to the world.
The movie is dark and moody. There is virtually no levity to break the oppressive doom. The funniest bits are when Bhodie keeps dying when fighting the witches. Not really funny, just mildly amusing as a gaming trope. Kind of reminds you of Groundhog Day when Phil had the montage of deaths. The fight choreography is generally good. The costumes are quite good, though colorless. Most of the characters are dressed in dark colors that add to the gloomy color palette of the cinematography. As for the three guardians, the first proves to be the biggest challenge, which is weird. Indeed, the next two were relatively easy. Psychological battles rather than physical ones. Meh.
Just okay.
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