In
a fantasy world roughly based on Medieval Europe, the monarch and his men-at-arms
expect to hold a monopoly on murder. Therefore, when a mythic savage continues
to kill with impunity, it is rather bad for business. A detachment of the king’s
guard has been dispatched to hunt down the half beast-half outlaw, but winter
is coming and its coming for them in Titus Paar’s massively Grimdark Legend of Dark Rider (trailer here), which screens
during 2016 HollyShorts Film Festival.
The
Captain of the Guard clearly resents his posting to the snowy provinces to
track what he assumes is a Medieval analog equivalent of an urban legend, so he
intends to take out his frustration on the locals, starting with an unfortunate
barmaid. However, the mysterious and hirsute (even by the local Nordic
standards) Vlademir has a story that will stop the abusive soldier dead in his
tracks.
It
turns out Vlademir might be the person to survive an encounter with the Dark
Rider. Admittedly, it was more of a distant gander, but that is more than
anyone else can say, especially the captain. After all, his boorish behavior
and disrespectful talk about the Rider is bound to generate some massively bad
karma.
Legend is obviously a proof
of concept short, but it is an insidiously effective one. Paar sets the hook
quickly, while pulling off some remarkably fast and economical world building.
Granted, we are probably expected to use Game
of Thrones as an unofficial foundation, but most viewers will be
immediately intrigued by the Rider legend and quickly primed to root for a
revolution against the oppressive social order, even before the revelatory
ending.
