The Legend of the Red Reaper - DVD

Content: As a little girl, Aella (Tara Cardinal) was traded to the demon Garnesh (Ray Eddy) by her mother, the fortune-telling witch (Eliza Swenson), in exchange for a bottle of his blood. This allowed her eternal youth and beauty. For Aella, living with her biological father Garnesh meant only endless suffering. She vows to herself that once she grows up, she will become a true warrior, feared by all demons. When she is rescued by the sacred clan of Reapers after forty years of captivity, Aella is trained as a Red Reaper. Now she hunts the demons and protects the humans, even though they shun the Reapers. But she knows that now is the time of the humans and that young Eris (David Mackey) could become the first king of the land. However, this also means that her secret love has no future, which makes Red enormously unhappy. But soon she has entirely different problems. For the exiled demons are gearing up to fight the humans, and Garnesh finally wants the power back that the Reapers took from him...

The Legend of the Red Reaper attempts to tell a great fantasy adventure on a fairly manageable budget. Tara Cardinal, who not only stars but is also responsible for directing and writing, has completed her duties with obvious passion for the genre. And indeed, she also managed to create some pretty good moments, which you can at least enjoy if you have a certain soft spot for fantasy B-movies. But unfortunately, the successful aspects are also counterbalanced by some clear weak points. For example, Cardinal makes use of a stylistic device with which its producer Uwe Boll has already attracted negative attention in some of his machinations: there are some sequences like the one in which Red Reaper remembers her past and the evil Garnesh, which are repeated several times. This not only comes across as somewhat uncharitable, but also very boring in the long run.

The film also has a certain trash factor when it comes to special effects, which is underlined by the occasionally arguably wooden acting of the actors. The fact that the story gets more and more convoluted and overloaded after a successful opening doesn't necessarily increase the entertainment value of the film. Still, the fact that the production clearly shows that a lot of passion and heart and soul was put into The Legend of the Red Reaper adds a certain charm to the whole thing that at least consoles over some of the weaknesses. Admittedly, this doesn't turn the fantasy adventure into a really good movie by any means. But those who like similar works like Boll's The Swords of the King and can also recognize the very special passion that Tara Cardinal has invested in this project, could definitely enjoy this work. But if you value polished dialogue, first-class special effects and a clearly recognizable dramaturgy, you might find yourself tearing your hair out in despair after just a few minutes here.

Picture + Sound: The DVD's picture looks slightly washed out in some scenes. In addition, some scenes are clearly visible that they were shot during the day and were artificially darkened by the use of filters. Exaggerated contrasts and distorted colours become obvious. Only in brighter outdoor scenes can the distortion-free image convince with good overall sharpness and powerful colors. The audio comes across as arguably front-heavy, especially in scenes dominated by dialogue or Red's voice over. Here and there, however, a few decent sound effects ensure that the surround boxes also come into play.

Extras: As bonus material, there is unfortunately only the trailer and other program tips from the provider.

Conclusion:The Legend of the Red Reaper attempts to tell a great fantasy adventure on a fairly manageable budget. Tara Cardinal does manage to deliver appealing B-movie fantasy action quite well in some scenes. But on the other hand there are some wooden dialogues, trashy effects and repetitive sequences, which reduce the entertainment value of the movie. However, if you like similar works such as Boll's The Swords of the King and can also recognize the very special passion that Tara Cardinal invested in this project, you might still thoroughly enjoy this work.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp