Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness

Plot synopsis:
Two thousand years ago, Nhagruul the Foul, a sorcerer who reveled in corrupting the innocent and the spread of despair, neared the end of his mortal days and was dismayed. Consumed by hatred for the living, Nhagruul sold his soul to the demon Lords of the abyss so that his malign spirit would survive. In an excruciating ritual, Nhagrulls skin was flayed into pages, his bones hammered into a cover, and his diseased blood became the ink to pen a book most vile. Creatures vile and depraved rose from every pit and unclean barrow to partake in the fever of destruction. The kingdoms of Karkoth were consumed by this plague of evil until an order of holy warriors arose from the ashes. The Knights of the New Sun swore an oath to resurrect hope in the land. The purity of their hearts was so great that Pelor, the God of Light, gave the Knights powerful amulets with which to channel his power. Transcendent with divine might, the Knights of the New Sun pierced the shadow that had darkened the land for twelve hundred years and cast it asunder. But not all were awed by their glory. The disciples of Nhagruul disassembled the book and bribed three greedy souls to hide the pieces until they could be retrieved. The ink was discovered and destroyed but, despite years of searching, the cover and pages were never found. Peace ruled the land for centuries and the Knights got lost in the light of their own glory. As memory of the awful events faded so did the power of servants of Pelor. They unwittingly abandoned themselves in the incorrect belief that the Book of Vile Darkness could never again be made whole.Now, the remaining pieces have been discovered, and an ancient evil is attempting to bring them together and restore the relic and the evil it brought. But at the same time a potential new paladin has been named to the Knights of the New Sun to attempt to renew their power to fight this evil. But, to do so, he may need to go against all that he has held dear, risking more that just his own soul in his quest to destroy the evil that surrounds him at every turn.

Tags: violence

Review:
and for what it is, it is pretty good.Don't expect Oscar winning performances, but most of the acting is acceptable and some is actually pretty good; the fellow playing the Vermin Lord does a very good job of quietly understated evil.The effects and creatures are comparable to D&D:WOTDG (the second movie), but it moves faster and there is more action, and more variety in spell use with better imagery, and better fight scenes.Gladly lacking the first D&D movie's lame humor and misplaced modern sensibilities about egalitarianism, and the slow-paced and stilted wordiness and failed melodrama of the second, this one is a bit more stark and grim than the others, with more actual fighting.It is also more in line with actual D&D material, 3.5e I believe though the version I am more familiar with was new 30 years ago.
Alright, given the reviews and the ratings on IMDb for "Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness" then I was fearing the worst of this movie, especially because the prior two movies were not all that great.
(Should be noted that I found the second movie "Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God" better than the first movie.) Despite the critique, bad reviews and overall poor ratings, I decided to give it a go because I am a big Dungeons & Dragons fan (been playing it for some 26 years or so), and if bad came to worse I could always turn it off and find something else to watch.And having seen it now, I honestly do not understand the critique, the bad reviews and the general moaning there has been about this movie, because in my opinion, "Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness" picks up the prior two movies, slaps them around and then shows what D&D should be like.In this third movie we follow a party of less than lawful-good characters here in a party out seeking the three parts of the Book of Vile Darkness.
Sure, there was the devoted of Pelor (the good guy in the movie) thrown into the midst of a vermin lord, goliath, assassin and a sorceress - all of whom are less than your average lawful-good hero.
So as a D&D player it was such a blast to have a group of anti-heroes starring as the main characters for a change.This movie is a blast to anyone well traversed in the D&D universe, because there are some really great aspects to the world; such as you have your iconic D&D items - a vorpal sword (although it is beyond me why it wasn't put to use), a bag of holding, and of course the holy symbol of Pelor.
Personally I was well in favor of the vermin lord, because it was nailed right on the money as it is described in the actual Book of Vile Darkness (D&D 3.5 accessory as published by Wizards of the Coast).The effects in the movie were actually quite alright and worked out well enough.
And for fans of the D&D world (and those who own the Book of Vile Darkness 3.5 accessory) there are some really nice touches in terms of spells being used in the movie; spells that were taken right out of the rulebook.Storywise, well the movie was pretty straight forward, fairly much like participating at a D&D gaming session, so it was alright.
The story was somewhat predictable though, but still it was adequate entertainment.Sure, "Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness" might not have had the same kind of budget and famous Hollywood actors to use as baiting in people, but the ones that they did hire for the roles did adequate jobs with their roles.
I will say that these creatures all looked alright in my opinion and worked out well enough.If you are a fan of the Dungeons & Dragons game and were discouraged by the previous two movies which were, well, let's just say below average, then you definitely have to treat yourself to "Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness" because it is actually quite good.I know this review is written with my pro-D&D goggles on, but I just don't see there is any leverage to the complaining and moaning that the movie has been getting.
The plot is OK, love story is more realistic than in many many other movies, even the characters are believable.
I usually find many annoyances in films, even the best ones, but whats very weird, nothing really annoyed me in this one.I have played D&D games, and many other RPGs, but I don't think thats of any relevance, this is a decent movie for all who like these sword & magic fantasy flicks.For a low budget movie, even the CG effects are very successful.
And there's some more eye candy in the form of a Gothic hot chick ;D I had somewhat low expectations for this one, and I was very positively surprised, so 8/10 for this one, and thanks to other who have commented, wouldn't have watched it without you.If you are into this kind of movies, try it, you might be surprised too....
The tone was a much darker take than previous entries in the serious, and that turns out to be a vast improvement.I am puzzled by a lot of online reviews / summaries of this film, which describe the plot inaccurately, and even list characters and actors that are not in the movie.
Keep in mind it's a low budget movie but its much better than the 2 previous ones.You can actually see people LOOT the corpses after battles and the spells used are truly recognizable if you have played DnD 3.5As i said don't expect anything special but for a fan of this genre that's into Dungeons and Dragons universe it will be an enjoyable movie.Acting is more than OK on a couple of Characters but pretty bad on the main guy.For the people unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons the rating should be like 2/10 so don't waste your time..
It is a shame that market constraints for this kind of film are so limited, I would love to see this at a longer running time, and explore these themes as novels are able to do, but given the constraints this production does create an intriguing moral predicament for this knight, and maintains an interesting atmosphere that adds much resonance to the story.
I had very poor expectations going in, but was pleasantly surprised by a story that focus on characters that aren't your normal "do good" heroes.The acting is okay and the effects are on par with the effects you can see on new television shows.
The script is better than many of the big budget movies of today, but it's not Lord of the rings.
The story is somewhat predictable, but enjoyably.A few nods to the game can be found throughout the movie, but you could easily get the same enjoyment out of the plot without having ever played the game.If you like fantasy give it try..
Having followed the Book of Vile Darkness promotion a year past, I knew that the movie was in production for quite some time, along with its source material (the D&D 4th Edition Book of Vile Darkness for those wondering), and there are several references in the movie that will appear more than anything as name dropping or inside jokes - which can be a good thing, provided that you know what is being referred to.
The inclusion of shadar-kai and a goliath instead of the typical elves and dwarfs is also a nice touch, and in line with this, it breaks with many typical fantasy tropes.As mentioned above, knowing the source material beforehand can be a boon in the case of this movie, especially since the Book of Vile Darkness in its previous edition was suited only for people aged 18+ because of its...
well, "vile" contents, along with a focus on playing evil characters that is unheard of elsewhere in typical D&D, where the player characters are usually the heroes - and the main character in the movie faces some of the same moral quandaries that are mentioned directly in the D&D source material.
There is also the fact that the main characters mention a red dragon at some point in the movie that is clearly not a dragon, but a Nhagruul Dragonspawn, and is thus again tied to the Book of Vile Darkness supplement for D&D 4th Edition.
It is strange that this isn't mentioned at all in the movie, however.The acting isn't the best that one could want (maybe except for the Vermin Lord, who fits the bill perfectly) and some of the lines are somewhat illegible at times, but I would praise the story in that it both manages to feel somewhat "realistic" (in-universe at least) while staying interesting and entertaining.All in all, I would consider this movie a success, in that it was both entertaining and thought- provoking, the latter of which especially with the aforementioned moral quandaries in mind.
I have read a number of reviews of this movie that seem to judge the film simply by its limited budget.Personally, I have watched this move over and over several times and I rate it the best of the three.
That speech has resonated with me since I first saw the film, and you to may also find yourself reflecting of how many of the under-people you would like to liberate from the celestial grind wheel.If you're a fan of this genre (fantasy) you will very much enjoy this film which benefits greatly from being set in an evil-aligned adventuring party.Strongly recommended 'over a beer' viewing..
Each party member is a different race, the enemies are not well defined, and magic items mentioned are either not shown off (vorpal sword) or seemed to be added for one scene-- which starts to bog down the movie.The dialog is fairly bad, the assassin is less "the professional" and more standard socio-path.
It looks like a child's Halloween attempt.The movie is better than the first, and about even with the second as they have different faults..
I'm giving it a pretty high rating because they kept this thing together and I was surprised as it's my favourite of the three Dungeon and Dragons films.
It is a fantasy B-movie and it does have some flaws but as for as taking the biggest nerd game of all time and making into a fun and enjoyable file...
It also helps if you fall in love with Eleanor Gecks 10 minutes into the film :pMy main point here is that I was expecting to see a very bad film but after I started watching this on my phone there was never really a dull moment.
As one can expect from a less-than-a-mediocre direct to video low budget sequel filmed in Bulgaria, this one aims to cash in on the popularity of the Dungeons and Dragons title.
I watched it expecting cheesy fantasy action with a dumb plot, bad acting, and blatant appeals to fans of the game like Wrath of the Dragon God did.
It started with a Hollywood crapfest, filled with special effects, comic relief and known actors, but having no story, continued with something that felt more like a D&D plot, but was acted abysmally and finished with this, which has a good storyline, interesting characters and is truly entertaining.
But hold your horses, not all is rosy.The first thing that you notice is that the plot is complex: characters are evolving constantly, there is no clear delimitation of good and evil and there are several chapters of the story that are each strong on their own.
He totally acted and looked like a young William Sadler in this.Of course, there are some painfully bad scenes as well, however not that many.
The spells were original and entertaining, the fights were few, but decent, and again, there was a story and characters that I could feel and root for.
The budget was low, but if Grayson and his dad would have been played by better actors, I think this would have been a good movie, one that people would have been glad to see and recommend.
The "knight" of the group, Grayson I could not truly get behind due to his immaturity throughout most of the quest (nothing personal against the actor himself, his character was just simply annoying).
Overall, The Book of Vile Darkness has seemingly pleased most D&D fans with its effort to return to the essence of the D&D world and all its game-play and story-telling elements.
Fans of fantasy and adventure movies may well enjoy watching this every now and then for a change of pace..
By far and away the best of the Dungeons & Dragons movies, and the only one that is halfway decent.
That is saying a lot though, because the first Dungeons & Dragons gets my vote as the worst fantasy film ever made and among the worst movies in general; the second is a little better but is rather mediocre.
Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness isn't great but compared to the previous movies it's certainly watchable.
There are definitely far cheaper-looking movies than Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness, the costumes are decent enough and the scenery is great.
The music is dynamic enough and at least has a pace to it, the characters have a likability generally(they're not too bland and none of them are anywhere near as irritating as the one played by Marlon Wayans in the first), and the dialogue while ropey at times is still an improvement over the script-writing of the previous two movies, being thought-out and cohesive and there is little misplaced humour or tedious melodrama.
What Dungeons and Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness also has over its predecessors is that it is more loyal in spirit to what makes Dungeons & Dragons as an overall franchise work so well with the odd referencing, which the first two movies did not.
Overall, the definitive Dungeons & Dragons is yet to be made and this movie doesn't really do the franchise justice, but it is not a bad movie at all and a significant improvement over the second and especially the first.
The plot and formula is very loyal to the D & D world, and it was cute to see some stereotypical elements being thrown in :) The lead actor makes for a perfect Paladin, and the rest of the characters portrayed their D & D roles quite faultlessly.The ending could have been better and could actually have been engineered for a sequel..
The acting is surprisingly decent, given the budget, but it's still pretty terrible.
well, as stated, I think they simply used the campaign notes instead of writing an actual script.This movie has a lot of "so bad it's good" value to it, especially if you're a gamer.
I liked this movie a lot more then I thought I would.
I've been a D&D enthusiast for many years so I might be somewhat biased but trust me, like you, I think I have an idea of what makes a bad movie.
This movie has a great story, a surprisingly dark tone, and a solid cast.
Using CGI to off set the terrible plot, bad acting, and poor non-CGI effects this movie is not very good.
Pretty Good, especially compared to the Previous Movies.
Still, the movie was good, if not great.
The first Dungeons and Dragons movie was completely embarrassing.
The second was a decent movie, although the characters seemed a bit generic.
Although a bit lacking in monsters, in other respects, it actually felt like a DnD game.The ending seemed anti-climactic.
Unlike the previous two D&D movies, this one has several things going for it:non-standard plot: goodie-good knight going bad it's not something you're likely to see everyday.
Unlike the complete muppetness of the first two movies, this one actually makes good use of basic D&D quest structure, roles in an evil party (also something you won't commonly see in D&D sessions) and interesting uses for D&D items (kill someone, stick his body in a bag of holding and throw it away ...
He changes between scenes following the needs of the story and not a real play of character.the ending is terrible!!!
Dungeons & Dragons 3 – Book of Vile DarknessD&D has grown adult, and the third movie is finally mature and courageous enough to dare using protagonists who are antiheroes at best, or hellbent villains at their worst.
To give an example to readers:The wizard of the group, actually a wizard by base class and vermin lord by prestige class, is really inspired by a class which the supposedly evil Book of Vile Darkness allows roleplayers to create.
Seemingly it is based on the outdated 3,5 or 4th edition of the game-books.The Shadakai Witch then, just to mention one special aspect, is able of healing magic, as is shown in the movie.
It makes this movie outstanding among roleplayers, as 'good-guy charades' are considered a more proper, but actually only more stupid, moralist & hypocrite way to make use of Dungeons & Dragons.
This movie had action, violence, evil, a good-looking main character and actual plot that follows true DnD lore with a minor artifact of power.My only gripe with the movie...
the main character goes from like a level 4 warrior to a level 30 paladin and obliterates all the bad guys in the last 2 minutes of the movie.
I was expecting a conclusion made like the introduction was, telling us how Grayson destroyed or hid the book parts again, but apparently the future of the book is irrelevant for the movie called The Book of Vile Darkness..
Great Movie BUT Terrible ENDING !.
I Don't like the HERO actually he look so dumb.Haven't watch "Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness" first two movies.
I have seen lots of good movies BUT terrible endings?