Knights Of Badassdom

Even removed from the context of its Comic-Con debut, there are plenty of meta wheels within wheels in Knights Of Badassdom, which concerns a group of Dungeons And Dragons-loving cosplay enthusiasts, all portrayed by several actors who star in exactly the sort of fare that would be worshiped by Dungeons And Dragons-loving cosplay enthusiasts. As established by the opening line of the trailer (intoned by a Don LaFontaine impersonator, apparently), Knights takes place “in a world, within our world” where “they’ve created a world… unlike any other world,” and that world within our world is inhabited by Games Of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten, Firefly’s Summer Glau, and Patrick Stewart, all of whom would cause the sort of characters they play to totally freak out if they ever met themselves. But speaking strictly of those characters' world within that world, the medieval-themed horror-comedy imagines a scenario where a goofy role-playing game becomes horrifying reality when Steve Zahn accidentally summons a succubus from hell, which is a premise slightly less fantastic than the idea that people who look like Ryan Kwanten and Summer Glau would be really into D&D. Fittingly for a film that seems to be throwing such a knowing wink at its audience, Community’s Danny Pudi is on hand to offer appropriately nerdy commentary.