It’s not often these days to find a gem amongst low budget, independent sword and sorcery films, but that’s exactly what you’ll get with A Knight’s War from writer / actor / filmmaker Matthew Ninaber (director of Death Valley, as well as playing the monster / creature in Psycho Goreman and In a Violent Nature), which stars his brother Jeremy Ninaber, who plays the heroic, selfless knight of the film’s title. Also starring Kristen Kaster, whose second film with this team this is. The film has a gnarly, ingrained texture that feels ripped out of the pages of Clive Barker or the darkest session of Dungeons and Dragons ever conceived, and fans of graphically violent and gory horror films should feel just as at home with this as with devoted fans of adventurous, hard-hitting fantasy films.
I grew up in the golden age of sword and sorcery films, stuff like Clash of the Titans, Dragonslayer, the Harryhausen Sinbad movies, all that great stuff, so your whole aesthetic is very pleasing to my eyes and my spirit.
Matthew: Good.
Matthew, I read your director’s statement that went out with the press release for the film, and you mentioned that for inspiration for the film that you’d read “ancient texts.”
Matthew: (Laughing)
That is so vague, but it’s intriguing enough for me to ask you what you read.
Matthew: I jumped into Judaism and learned about Adam and Eve. I found out that some people don’t believe that Adam and Eve were the first people, but that it was Adam and Lilith. Lilith left the garden and all of a sudden started doing all this stuff, like creating demons and Nephilim and it was all so fascinating. She came back to the garden and Adam has a new wife Eve, and Lilith vows to make mankind pay. I thought it was all crazy because I’d never heard of that before. I dove into that, and it was an inspiration for me. I built Lilith into this and made her one of the characters. What would the world look like from her point of view?
You mentioned the Elohim in your PR statement. Would you like to elaborate?
Matthew: I’m not sure if it’s Greek or Hebrew, but I think it means miniature gods. I’m probably completely butchering this. From a theologian point of view, I’m probably going to get destroyed. They were like the angels that came down and had relations with humans and created your Hercules templates and stuff like that.
So Book of Enoch stuff.
Matthew: Yes.
As a sword and sorcery film this was very dark. I tried to describe it to a friend. I said, “If Clive Barker made Edge of Tomorrow or Clash of the Titans, it would look like this.” You have an aesthetic that you create with your team where you design gnarly masks and sets. I saw your previous movie Death Valley and your facial designs are all similar. What’s with the no eye motif with your creatures and monsters?
Matthew: Yes. The no eyes was a punishment the gods had for a crime they brought against humanity. I’ve always thought that good monsters strip away features. In Death Valley we had no eyes for the creature. If you look at Pan’s Labyrinth, there’s the creature with the eyes on his hands. You take a creature that looks human, but you take some things away from it so it still looks human, but it’s not quite human. That’s sort of the thing that scares me. That’s what we did here and we played around with them that way. I love the witches. The costume did such a good job bringing a Renaissance painting vibe to it. But then also, the no eyes on the creatures.
Kristen, this isn’t your first rodeo with Matthew and Jeremy. You were also in Death Valley. Say something about working with them and being part of the journey.
Matthew: Something nice.
You have the most complex character in the film, and you had a lot to work with.
Kristen: Yeah. I definitely did. It was a role that I’ve dreamt about playing since I was a little girl. I felt grateful to have the opportunity to play her. Working with Jeremy and Matt … this was my second time working with them and we’ve kind of become a bit of a family. They’re like the brothers I’ve never had.
Matthew: Or ever wanted.
(All laughing.)
Kristen: I trust them completely. Just in general, they’re great human beings. But also, they’re going to want to get the best out of me in my performance. They’ll make me try harder and to do better. They’ll call me up on my shit. Matthew knows how to get you to be your best. I really appreciate that.
The world that you’ve all fabricated here just looks incredible. Ralph Ninaber was the production designer. Who’s Ralph to you guys?
Matthew: He’s the one that brought us into this world.
Jeremy: He’s our dad.
That’s awesome. Say something about working with your dad. He did a fantastic job with the production design on the film. I kept trying to figure out if what I was looking at was a soundstage or a warehouse or someplace you just found on location. Some of it looked so gnarly and so rad looking. There’s a lot of ingrained texture to the film.
Matthew: Yeah, we have a background in construction. That’s how we pay for our love of movies. It’s a great skill set. You can make anything with foam. That’s what I’ve learned. All those sets are all real, but we built them with foam. I still have the castle in my backyard. My neighbors think I’m crazy. My dad, Jeremy and myself, and Robyn Elliot, our set decorator, really spearheaded building the set from a world-building point of view. We crafted everything. We went into the woods and grabbed vines. All the interior scenes, all the stone walls are built with so many layers of foam. Even the costumes. Everything is about layering. That’s the secret sauce. We would be building our sets, then wash our hands of the paint, and then throw on the armor and go films some scenes. We were filming on weekends because all week we’d be building the sets.
Amazing. Jeremy, say something about playing the knight Bhodie. Astonishingly, you’re not a reluctant hero, which is so common in quest movies. By the end of the movie, you’re like, “Let’s make this prophecy happen! Let’s go!”
Jeremy: Yeah. With Bhodie, I’m definitely not a reluctant hero. Part of his backstory, you find out that he’s a bastard. He has a real earnest desire to be part of a family. He has a half-brother, and he’s blindly trusting his half-brother. He’s vulnerable. Part of Bhodie’s struggle is that he hopes that people will honor their word. He sees the need for people to be good. He wants something more. More for others. He blindly trusts, and that’s a big part of his character.
In Dungeons and Dragons, there’s a scale for characters, and Bhodie is definitely all the way on the scale for inherently good.
Jeremy: Yup.
Say something about the lore for the film. You must’ve had a bible or a quest map for the film. We only see what’s in front of the characters, but it feels as if there was a ton of backstory lore that you guys came up with.
Matthew: I think that was the most exhausting part of it. We went through and wrote the whole world, what’s happened to this world, what’s going to happen, what are the consequences, how far back every character in it would have their arc. We really did have to create a bible for this little snapshot of a world where these characters exist in that moment in time. Our hope is that we can keep telling that story. Each character had to connect so far out, and it was so much work.
Jeremy: It was a lot of world building.
Matthew: But so much fun. You brought up Dungeons and Dragons. A lot of this was just Jeremy and I hanging out and creating our own game and how it connects. That’s one of the most fun things about making movies is creating backstories.
Kristen, in Death Valley you were in a playground with soldiers and a monster running amok, and in this one you’re in a world with knights and demons. Did you feel at home in this world? Was it difficult for you to feel as if you belonged there?
Kristen: In comparison to Death Valley, I think it was more … my character fit really well in that world. I, therefore, felt more comfortable in that world. We had the witches in it, so having more females – other strong female characters – helped.
I’d like to hear from each of you what your favorite sword and sorcery and fantasy films are.
Matthew: The original Conan the Barbarian is at the top. As a kid, watching that, it was the coolest thing.
Jeremy: All you have to be is a half naked buff dude with a big sword. You can conquer the whole world. Arnold was our hero growing up.
Matthew: Also, The 13th Warrior. I love that movie. I don’t think it was rated well.
Jeremy: Yeah, it was not received well. I love it so much.
A Knight’s War reminded me very much of The 13th Warrior.
Matthew: If you watch it, you’re going to start seeing a lot of movies we loved from our childhood. We borrowed and inserted. We got to relive our favorites.
Jeremy: Also, Excalibur.
Matthew: I loved King Arthur with Clive Owen. It had such a good band of guys with unique personalities.
Kristen: I’d probably just say The Lord of the Rings.
Well, hey, I really enjoyed the movie. I hope to see more from you in this vein, if not a sequel.
(Everyone): Thank you!
A KNIGHT’S WAR will have a limited theatrical run beginning February 7, and on February 11 the film will be available to rent or purchase on video-on-demand (VOD). Black Fawn Distribution has also acquired the Canadian rights to A KNIGHT’S WAR with a theatrical and home video release in Canada slated for spring 2025.