Knights of the Vampire Treatment

Knights of the Vampire: A Brief synopsis

“King Richard has ordered his most loyal Knight Templar; Prince Valten to return Princess Alys, (a Princess betrothed to him from a young age) to her Father’s kingdom in France. The king has assigned twelve Teutonic knights as guides to assist Valten on his vital mission. The Knights decide to take a short cut through the mythical and haunted Black Forest in Germania and it is there they face deathly battles with unspeakable evil that not only threatens them but the destiny of mankind……”

113 pages (20,580 words)

“KNIGHTS OF THE VAMPIRE"

FADE IN:

THE WORDS APPEAR ON A SCROLL

MAN (33) (V.O.)

During 1191, at the time of our third crusade against the marauding Saracens in Palestine. My King; Richard the first went within a whisker of Jerusalem’s sacred walls, we failed!

(beat)

We retreated and suffered famine, disease and desertion and went from 100,000 strong to 5,000. King Richard made a truce with Saladin and we regrouped in Messina to rest and prepare to fight for another day. – or so I thought!

(pause)

Tonight my King has bestowed upon me a most vital mission, a mission that will bring me face to face with the destiny of mankind

(beat)

I ask for your protection, on a journey to my darkest fears and to my salvation, whatever it may be.

In šāh’ Allāh (إن شاء الله)

Inspiring and motivating soundtrack for KOTV

The following tracks by Linkin Park has almost been a constant soundtrack in my mind. When I think of a trailer and the ending for KOTV, these two songs come to mind. "In the end" is primarly for the trailer and "What I've done" as the end credits track as Valten says "To be Continued" CUT TO: Directed by Kuldip Judge - CUE chorus for "What I've done" - Awesome combination


Linkin Park - In The End
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Linkin Park - What I've Done
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"Teardrop" by Massive Attack to be performed by Princess Alys

The paintings of John Waterhouse have been a longtime inspiration for KOTV. The emotion, beauty, detail in the precision of his figures gives me a look, feel and atmosphere for the film.

Massive Attack - Teardrop
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Mood Board - Knights of the Vampire

 

 

Mise en Scene: Location/Settings in the opening sequence

There are various locations throughout the narrative but we begin our journey in Messina, Sicily. In 1195 this was a legitimate base for the crusaders who were on there way back from the failed 2nd Crusade. The Christian Knights were morally wounded after Richard had forged a truce with Saladin. I could've centred the narrative around Richard but I was rather more intrigued with leaving him on his historical path to his ultimate kidnapping and demise and allow Valten the adventure. The film begins in Messina Cathedral, a gathering point for the crusaders. where some remain and recuperate and some disperse. It is the evening, Valten and Richard have bathed and are now in their evening bathrobes. I can imagine their hair slightly damp after months of dirt and blood having been spattered on them. This is the scene where we allude to a homosexual union between the two characters or rather Richard's longing for Valten. Valten is aware of his masters passion for him but his denial in not only borne out of his religious faith but denied as he is not homosexual. Homosexuality has been part of many ancient civilisations from Greece to Roman empires so it is nothing new in that period There have been many historical accounts which have suggested or implied that King Richard was homosexual, which for me is a great character trait that may contradict Richards Anglo Saxon masculinity as a man amongst men. For me his sexual desires have no beaing on his ability to fight like a man. Ronnie Kray was no less menacing because he was gay. I like this aspect of historical speculation as it hasn't been shown or speculated on before and why can't a male hero of a narrative have a preference for sexual union with another man. Valten's rejection of Richards very tender touch to his bearded face is a powerful image for any English king , let alone Richard the Lionheart. This may be a controversial representation of a former monarch but so what!. This scene also allows a contemporary audience to recognise that homosexuality is NOT a new phenomenon and even the most powerful men in the world could've had such passions and found them equally hard to suppress then as they do today due to religious and monarchical traditions.

As his life's love rides off into the sunset with the band of (initially scary) Teutonic Knights we learn more about Valten in the 1st Ten pages. The most loyal knight to King Richard, well respected and listened to by young German knights. Valten is submissive in front of his King but dominant in front of others and he allows little nonsense from Princess Alys, another historically true character that was actually betrothed to King Richard. Whether she found herself in Messina or not, attempting to seduce the most vibrant and powerful King is another matter. I had a quite radical idea for the opening the other day. The first 10 pages are a pre-title sequence setting the scene for the narrative and introducing most of the main/major characters. The title sequence itself was going to be a montage of key images from the rest of the narrative inspired by the central aspect of the 'Book of Hozzenlorren' being opened and pages flickering with essentially ancient images to help cement the storyline. The superimposition of the knights on horseback, dissolving through forests, maps of Europe, Crucifixes appearing alongside images of Vampires and passages of the Bible all blended together to create a tapestry. My new radical concept (which i haven't seen done before) is to have more visual sequences of the Knights riding on horseback and the Princess travelling in her Carriage across various terrains with various dissolve transitions. With Valten keeping an eye on the carriage and back and forth between the party, following the lead of the Lazarus as he takes them towards France. I wanted.............Princess Alys to sing one of the most atmospheric and filmic songs of all time - the one and only "Teardrop" by Massive Attack. Princess Alys is a blonde, pale and angelic beauty who would sing the song as a performance and this would act as a diegetic soundtrack over the visuals. The titles would fade in and fade out and as they approach the Black Forest, indeed "Black flowers blossom" would happen on route in a CGI Esq way. The black flowers that are wilted and dying come back to life as the group passes which implies the supernatural and positive energy that passes with the group. This would indeed by a nice touch. Princess Alys would perform the whole song whilst looking out the window onto the beauty of Europe and the busyness of knights around her.

The Antagonist: MIRCEA

Mircea has an amazing back story, one that is essential to the prequel; Knights of the Vampire: Helgar the Horrible. Mircea is the embodiment of evil. Essentially a bully, a psychically very strong man and a former Knight Templar from the Kingdom of Mircea who wanders into the Black Forest some 20 years before KOTV and spreads his vulgarity, deviancy and madness upon the residents of the Black Forest. It is the crimes that him and his band of deserters that destine him to a life of eternal misery in the Black Forest. God comes onto him in the form of a young girl in a yellow cloak. She speaks with the deep, booming voice of god and denounces Mircea and his band of cannibals to a life of hell within the confines of the forest for forever time. There punishment of eating only any wandering animals at night is all they have festered on in 20 years until 13 young Christan knights wander into the forest by accident.

    Mircea was always a Predator-like figure in my mind. Big, scar running down his left eye with a patch. A history of violence on his face.  His white surcoat dirty and unrecognisable after 20 years, indeed he could do away with that and where a black cloak like any self respecting Vampire would. Mircea's cannibalistic acts in the name of God are his curse and he cannot escape it until an opportunity arises in KOTV. Mircea, the desolate one, reigns supreme in his small black forest empire, imprisoned by daylight, he can never leave without his flesh burning in the light. A prisoner of his own making, bitter and twisted over time and at the mercy of his own sins.

My Protagonist : Valten Van Helsingborg

Any Medieval epic needs a central character that looks, sounds and feels like a crusading warrior. The Knight Templar vehicle aside I was more intrigued in creating a character of such loyalty and devotion to his King that he was more like a brother than a servant to King Richard the First. I chose the name VALTEN as it is a strong name, it is an old name and one isn't entirely sure whether it is the name of the Antagonist or the Protagonist. His background had to be uniquely British, indeed he was initially Prince Cameron of Clyde, a Highlander type of figure, a loyal Scot to an English King but it didn't feel quite right. Through Valten's various battles alongside his King meant Valten had accumulated vast swathes of land in England and indeed his own Kingdom. It soon came to pass that if I was going to tell the original story of Vampires I needed the original Vampire slayer in some form. The one and only VAN HELSING. This brought about some unique difficulties, I didn't want to directly have a member of the Van Helsing family but I wanted to go as far back as I could and develop the concept of an ancestor with a similar sounding name. I chose HELSINGBORG, as with history and families over time, parts of names can often be dropped, indeed names do evolve. From blacksmith, to Mr black or Mr Smith. With Helsingborg being Swedish and having the name Van pre - Helsingborg gave it a Dutch origin. As with many points in this fictional narrative I decided not to let the historical or cultural idiosyncrasies become a noose around my neck. This is a fictional tale and some artistic, creative and artistic license is required.
In my mind Valten is an ancestor of the infamous Dr Van Helsing, rather in the same way Hammer films for years had Peter Cushing play variants of Van Helsing as Lord, Mr, Dr and others.
   To mention Peter Cushing is to mention the genius that played such a charismatic version of Van Helsing. indeed Peter Cushing is the definitive Van Helsing and Vampire Slayer. A man who was so iconic, visually striking yet nimble in frame and pose. A delicate man, not a brash, alpha male man of physical strength, rather the opposite. His duels with another icon of mine; Christopher Lee, continues to give me pleasure whenever I come across such classics from Hammer and Amicus starring them two. So Valten is not the muscle head hero, he is and has a strong frame. A white Bruce Lee with a brushed torso and impeccable physique
     From the very first inception I had Aragon from the LOTR trilogy as the visual stimulus for his movement and presence.Vigo Morteson could've been perfect but as the project grew and Vigo aged others stepped into the role.Christian Bale I could see playing Valten, he certainly has the range, charisma and the box office to do the project justice, but he could also be easily suited to playing King Richard?

Recently I have also come across a very dynamic and striking actor called Michael Fassbender. Watching his performance in 'Hunger' gave me the confidence that he has the physical posture and dynamism for the role. Again he is getting bigger as we speak I think he has suitably swayed Hollywood by gaining the role of Magneto in the film of the same name. At the moment Michael has the edge as I want someone who can grow into the role and establish it not only in KOTV but also in the rest of the trilogy

Origins

Knights of the Vampire began its amoebic life on a Central Train from Birmingham New Street to Sutton Coldfield. Fresh from my Honeymoon around Italy I was struck by a small nugget of brief history in the Metro News. From what I can remember it was a short article about crusading knights and their adventures across Palestine. It speculated that these Christian Knights may have indeed committed acts of cannibalism, not out of spite or oppression of the enemy but rather borne out of the need to survive. It struck me that these glorious Christian knights, subject of such romanticism in art, literature and film must have had a savage instinct that we more commonly would have associated with the enemy. So it was this pebble that I picked up and ran with over the coming months.

Soon a synopsis and a treatment began to emerge containing all the mythologies I love regarding Knights stories, and with the premise of cannibalism, I thought it would be interesting to look at Vampires and there possible association with Christian Knights. Having vegetated and gestated Hammer Horror films as a child (in the late 70's) I was seduced with the idea of writing a horror screenplay with all the ingredients I love in films. I admire directors such as Spielberg who in the Indiana Jones series had a mastery of interweaving historical and religious mythologies into his narratives with such romantic zeal, which is still highly seductive today. I saw the Last Crusade in the week and watching the sub plot of the Holy Grail fully immersed in the narrative and the Nazi obsession with hunting down religious relics reminded me of the power of incorporating real history into story lines. Such films have galvanised my interest in history and helped shaped my views of the world more so than any encyclopedia Britannica.