Last night, Kelly and I set out to see a showing of Knights of Badassdom as part of a series of fundraisers for Long Island’s I-CON convention. The film was first introduced at Comic-Con in 2011 but was shelved until late last year when it was released in Israel (Ironically, at another convention named Icon). The movie was recently released in the United States and is currently being shown in theaters nationwide through Tugg
Knights of Badassdom features big players such as Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and Summer Glau (Serenity) among others as teenagers out for a weekend LARP outing. Things go horribly wrong when a make-believe spell summons more than the group bargained for. The film leads up to A bloody confrontation with Abominog, the demonic monster played by Douglas Tait (Freddy vs Jason, Star Trek, etc..)
Much of the film poked fun at the LARP subculture, but did so without being offensive to it. Characters pretending to be in a medieval setting spoke in what could best be described as Faire Speak. Subtitles translated the geek-speak into the witty modern-english equivalents. Even those in attendance who were not familiar with LARPing and Dungeons & Dragons were entertained by the films antics.
The film walked closely along the line of being too niche specific, but I don’t feel that it ever crossed over. The ending could have been done a bit better, but overall, the film was funny, fast paced, and entertaining.
For More Information
LARP is the Acronym for Live Action Role Playing. It’s an interactive real-life adaptation of table-top Role Playing Games such as Dungeons & Dragons or Vampire: The Masquerade.
To find out more about upcoming events supporting I-CON, The northeast’s largest convention of science fiction, fact and fantasy, visit www.iconsf.org