The Dwarves of Demrel

source: The Dwarves of Demrel

I'm a huge fan of fantasy dwarves/dwarfs, so when I found out about this movie I was so excited. This was absolutely incredible and wonderful. I'm not sure why a lot of people disliked it... maybe they expected another epic fantasy movie like Lord of the Rings or something, but it doesn't have to be "big" to be a good story. You can tell an insane amount of passion, heart, and soul went into production and I was mesmerized the whole time. I sincerely appreciate the directors for making this film, as it's now one of my favorites.

I like a fantasy film that doesn't have fifteen minutes of exposition in the beginning. The world is set throughout the film. I wish there could be more films by this team, as it has great potential to be its own series.

I just watched this movie and it was excellent. Its such a simple story, 3 dwarves stuck in a mine trying to get back home to their families and the terrible things they must endure to get home. Its mostly 3 dwarves talking, you really see the different characters clash with each other and eventually work together for their mutual benefit. Their is a real sense of isolation and despair although always with a glimmer of hope that they will manage to get out safely. The world building is fantastic. I would love to know so much more about the world around them but it was great to just focus on 3 simple dwarf miners trying to do their job and get back home. Highly recommended if you enjoy a movie heavy on atmosphere, not so much if you are looking for action. Its a slow build and the ending is open to interpretation. A solid 8 out of 10 from me.

Some marketing dingbat decided to release this to certain markets as "Dragon Mountain", which brought some negative reviews. The true name "Dwarves of Demrel" carries far more integrity to the movie, since that's what this is about: three dwarves trapped in collapsed mines. This is a slow-burner of a movie that at its best presents some decent drama and character presentation... and at its worst makes no sense at all. The creature offered no explanation other than "scary mystery element" that would have been better left out of the movie. The human character's presence is undeveloped and unexplained. The first 3/4 of the movie involves development of what really gets down to resolution in the final quarter. It is the final quarter that pulls this movie out of the trash bin. I give this a "mediocre" 5 for effort, since it had a pretty decent final 15 minutes. But there was just too much of this movie that consisted of barely-audible dialog and gaping plot holes. With a little more effort this could have been a sleeper classic, but they just didn't quite get there. Those who rated this 8 stars and above have, I think, significantly lowered their bar on what makes a movie great. This is an interesting watch with real potential, but they missed that bullseye by a couple of rings.

What did I just watch? It was three dwarves wrapped in a mine sitting around talking trying to figure out how to get out and nothing else happened. Why did they even bother making a Dungeons & Dragons movie with no conflict no spells no weapons... With the exception of a Miner's pick that the dwarf used to try to get himself out, failing miserably at that. On top of this a dwarf can see in the dark. They can both see in the dark and in the infrared Spectrum. Gary gygax wrote this every edition of Dungeons and Dragons. What this means is I am very confused why for over half the movie they worried about their stupid Lantern and in the end of the movie dramatically lighting their last three matches like they can't see in the dark. Do your research more carefully before you make a movie. Although I hate to admit that Jeremy Irons movie of Dungeons & Dragons was better than anything... It was at that was in the fold better than this movie. How did this even get approved for the big screen or even straight to DVD? Again nothing happened I want to hour and a half I spent watching this refunded.

Three beards are trapped inside a mountain because of a mine collapsing. They have to find a way out but they're running out of rations and light. Various tunnels lead to dead ends but they find generators inside with little juice left. Some creature is living inside the caves and a woman appears, heavily masked and covered as she's not able to breath inside the caves as the dwarfs are. A very talky film, claustrophobic and frustrating. A mundane story, well acted and leaving one wondering.

Dragon Mountain is a one location film that is way too underlit for comfort and is way more about dwarves than anything else. Production design is top notch with detailed costume design and effective practical make up. The acting i found to be quite good. The cast seem to get the steampunk vibe going on and perform with appropriate tone for the most part. If you are looking for a story told through stories off screen, then Dragon Mountain has you covered. The majority of the dialogue revolves around the dwarf miners discussing themselves, their lives they have back home and other stuff. To be honest, I wasn't really that invested in the characters and so the whole thing got really boring, really fast. There is nothing else to this film apart from a few moments of suspense to break apart the monotony of these verbalised bios. It's a unique approach which I appreciate in of itself, considering the genre and the obviously low budget, but I just didn't gel with it that much. Dragon Mountain was tedious for me, but praise where praise is due. It's a distinctive film for sure, and for some, I can definitely see it being a good watch.

This is an original and currently fairly unique addition to fantasy. Real people's lives, not stupid adventurers with no substance. I know they put dragon in the title for marketing but it _hurts_ it, takes it away from it's slow building core. Everything about this is done well. Not big. Not flashy. Reliable. How many more Dwarven descriptions can we fit in? I want more of this world, but somehow without losing the charm...

I was recommended to Kickstart this movie by the creators of the Mythica movies. They said it was made by friends of theirs. Since the Mythica movies are fantastic movies (one friend said the best Role Playing movies he's ever seen) I decided to kickstart this. I finally got around to watching this movie last night. I feel asleep 3 times during the movie. Its so boring. I think the higher than 1 star reviews were written by the developers because the movie is dumb. Its a few dwarves that spend the movie talking to each other about nonsense in the dark in a cave underground probably to help the low budget. I've seen lots of low budget films though that were good but this one is really bad. The dwarves are hoping for a rescue the whole movie. They find a creature. The creature gives them eggs to eat (I'm assuming its own eggs but that would mean its murdering its babies). You see the creature once. The dwarves complain a lot. There is really no plot line at all. They don't even get rescued at the end. The lights go out and its totally dark and the dwarf that got the eggs tell them they have to remember how to get the eggs in the dark. That's about it. One of the Dumbest movies I've ever watched. Real waste of the money I invested. Just a couple of dwarves whining about everything and not even much of that. Not a lot of speaking even in the movie. No plot line at all. Cool dragon glides over the mountain at start of movie nothing ever done on that rest of movie. The one Dwarf worked for the humans that want the dwarves to mine for goodies. The humans are automating so they can get rid of the Dwarf miners and not pay them. The one human they find in the mine says they dug too deep. Sound familiar? Couple of lines right out of Lord of the Rings movies. In this one they revealed some weird monster that gives them eggs instead of the Demon from old world in Lord of the Rings. This movie is a waste of time. Don't waste the 2 hours of your life watching this dribble of nonsense. Leaves itself open for a sequel to rescue them but I would never kickstart anything from these guys ever again.