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.