Warriors of Light - DVD

Movie: When Sarah (Hallee Hirsh) has yet another fight with her mother Maggie (Elaine Hendrix) and storms out of the house with her best friend, she has no idea what nightmare is in store for her that night. For Sarah is in possession of an antique necklace with magical powers, which the sinister Matthias (Brad Dourif) is after. To get his hands on the jewel, he turns the people around Sarah into zombie-like demons who kill anyone who gets in their way. Sarah seems lost, but then young Jacob (Jordan Matthews) shows up, the only one who can destroy the creatures. But to truly defeat Matthias, Jacob, whose parents were killed in the house where Sarah now lives, must face his past. And that turns out to be harder than expected.

Warriors of Light is a somewhat conflicted affair. On the bright side first: the story is finally not based on a comic book, book series, or video game; the film is not a remake or a sequel. Brian A. Metcalf has implemented a more or less own idea and has used means of the fantasy and horror genre. In times when fresh ideas in horror and fantasy films have become a rarity, this is a very positive quality. Furthermore, Metcalf, who earned his spurs working on visual effects for films like The Passion of the Christ, has definitely managed to create some effective effects with minimal resources. The zombie demons look quite fearsome and some of the fight sequences are worth watching.

But unfortunately, despite all the good ambitions, the film has to contend with some problems that significantly diminish the overall positive impression. First of all, there are the actors. While Brad Dourif plays the role of the villain in an amusingly over-the-top way and newcomer Jordan Matthews gives a passable performance as the quiet warrior, the rest of the cast remains shockingly pale. In particular, Emergency Room fame Hallee Hirsh and American Pie actor Thomas Ian Nicholas, who also served as a producer on the film, deliver rather wooden performances and are thus not really sympathetic to the viewer.

The second problem is that Metcalf was clearly trying to do too much, which simply couldn't be done on the low budget. Convoluted storytelling, a mythic tale, demonic warriors, and more are just too much of a good thing. As a result, Warrior of Light at times feels like a half-baked genre mash that also makes for some unintentionally hilarious moments with its thin dialogue.

As the story and also the production have quite some potential, the less successful moments are all the more disappointing. Still: the positive aspects are enough to at least give it a look as a genre fan. Because worse than the big-budget production The Legend of Aang is this fantasy spectacle all.

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for the test, no evaluation can be given about the final picture and sound quality.

Extras: Apart from trailers, the DVD has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Warrior of Light is a fantasy horror film with some nice ideas and a lot of potential, but due to the low budget and some weaknesses in the staging it could only be exploited to a limited extent. However, some good effects and well-done moments are enough to at least give it a look

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp