Action Movie Fanatix Review: Night of the Templar

They Had Their Time…
Now It’s His!

Starring: Paul Sampson, Udo Kier, Norman Reedus, Billy Drago, David Carradine, Max Perlich, Ingrid Sonray, Sofie Norman, Mary Christina Brown

Director: Paul Sampson

2012  |  101 Minutes  |  Rated R

“You will have your ten lifetimes of excess, but then I will come for you… all of you.” – Lord Gregoire

I was contacted by Bill Meeker at Frisco Kid at the Movies to participate in the Night of the Templar blog tour that he was organizing.  I love participating in things like this where people from all over the net come together with a similar purpose for a week.  I told Bill I would for sure review the movie but planned to do something else fun to go along with my review.  Well, my creative juices seem to be running at an all time low and I couldn’t think of anything original to do other than to simply review the film.  Hopefully my review is an entertaining enough read without the peripheral article to go with it.

Night of the Templar is an interesting story to say the least.  Crusader Knight Lord Gregoire is double crossed by some of his most trusted men.  Prior to his death he vows revenge on the those that wronged him.  Now, centuries later, the ancestors are gathered in an ancient castle and one by one they will meet their destiny.

Night of the Templar is told in two parts.  The first is in flashbacks to the events that happened centuries ago.  The second is like a slasher flick where the one doing the slashing is probably more protagonist than antagonist.  The viewer isn’t asked to hope for the miraculous survival of the victims, we are simply asked to revel in their demise.

As a big The Walking Dead fan I was ecstatic to see Norman Reedus involved in Night of the Templar and his brash Henry Flesh (what a name) didn’t disappoint.  From the minute he arrived on screen he had me smiling… and a little bit disgusted.

I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed Paul Sampson’s character, both as Lord Gregoire and the “event coordinator” Jake.  His back and forth with Norman Reedus was very entertaining and I got a little chuckle out of his mocking of the princess (in her mind) Ashley.

I don’t know what kind of dirt Paul Sampson has on crazy bad guy extraordinaire Billy Drago but it must be something good to get him to dress in drag for the entirety of his time in the movie.  It’s either that or Billy Drago just likes playing loony bad guys.  Either way, this is right up there as one of his craziest.

Udo Kier and David Carradine’s characters are pretty insignificant – a priest and shopkeeper respectively – up until the final act when everything comes together.  And that is really the fun of Night of Templar, finding out who all of these characters really are in respect to the original story of Lord Gregoire… and then seeing them hacked up.

Why Paul Sampson chose to make a movie about a resurrected Templar knight with a cross dressing Billy Drago and a weirdo priest is anyone’s guess.  I have to assume, though, that he set out to make something a little bit goofy and a lot a bit fun.  This seems like an example of when a writer/director simply sets out to make a movie that he, and those like him, would want to watch.  Mission accomplished.