Just Watched Book of Vile Darkness Spoiler Free

[Julian Grimm]

Our game was held due to the new D&D movie being on SyFy. To be honest, I actually enjoyed the first two movies. No, they weren't Oscar material but, they were popcorn munching fun. My favorite so far has been Wrath of the Dragon God which I felt had more to do with D&D than it's predecessor. Again, not classic cinema but fun.

Book of Vile Darkness had the makings of being the best one yet. We sat glued to most of it and, with me being the more hardcore D&D fan, I pointed out nods to the game. The plot was interesting and even with the TV14 rating, was fairly dark in tone. It was more character driven than the first two and I really liked the characters and the actors playing them. Overall, so far so good.

Then came the ending.


I'm not going to give it away but it came out of nowhere and was anticlimactic. We sat there in silence and for the first time in years I actually said an ending sucked. Now, I have seen some bad endings but could usually get why they were written that way. I know several people who are not writers that could have done a better job than this. I really wish they would have changed the ending to be less forced and not chopped the story when it was getting really good. I'm hoping the DVD will have an alternate ending or at least explain why they did what they did.

Overall, I would still recommend it but be warned that you will be disappointed with the ending of the film. Anyone else see it or have thoughts?

[DeadReborn]

I agree with you about the first two movies. I didn't think they were that bad either. I grew up watching as many bad horror movies as I could get my hands on, so I've seen far worse. A movie has to be really bad for me not to get some enjoyment out of it. I'll check out this one when it comes on Netflix.

[Hal G]

Grrrr, I missed it.

[koralas]

I agree the first movie wasn't as bad as most say, but it was still pretty bad, it had good potential, but just never developed properly, and, at least in my opinion, I hated Jeremy Iron's portrale of Profion. Last night was the first time I saw Wrath of the Dragon God, and it was pretty good, bits and pieces that I didn't like but most movies are like that with me. Overall it was well done, good story development, good characters, and decent acting. The Book of Vile Darkness was pretty good, and I think the ending was rushed, not necessarily bad in concept, but rushed in production.

[Julian Grimm]

I'm hoping the DVD version has an alternate ending or at least an explanation of the ending. After thinking about it I think I can see what they tried for however, it was a poor execution. I wish we had a spoiler tag here so I could go in deeper about what I felt was off about how it ended.

[dachda]

Grrrr, I missed it.

Check SyFy listings. It is on tonight, 9pm Pacific and Friday night the 30th.

[Lord Dynel]

I have it DVR'd from the other night, but haven't watched it yet. Planning on doing so some time this weekend.

[cuchulainkevin]

I thought the characters were better looking, better acted, and more engaging than the other two films. The special effects were about what I expected, some were decent and others just cheesy. I thought that undead child was creepy and effective but they followed it up with 'glowing red man' who made me laugh.

The assassin-thief guy was lame and the blue warrior guy was generic. I thought the Necromancer, the knight, and the warrior chick was alright (as a character- not a concept, that Shadair Kai nonsense- can I say this? I HATE what D&D 2E did to drow, but jeez, I'd take a drow pc over a Shaidar Kai pc in my game any day of the week). I know, Old Man Says...



It was ok for a night of free tv viewing. I thought the 1st one was much worse, for example.

But it also reminded me of how far modern D&D is removed from 1st edition. Not to go all Edition Wars, but the default concepts from 4E remind me of some guys "super kewl" house campaign from the 90's.

[nightstorm]

It looks stupid and boring. But the main character is HOT!!! Ok I guess I'll watch it.

[Hal G]

I missed it anyone know when it is airing again?