Eye Candy #326 - "The Grey Knight"

Grey Knight:  An interesting idea brought down by a low, low budget, and some really atrocious acting.  During the Civil War, a young Union captain (Adrian Pasdar, long before his “Heroes” ship came in) is assigned to track down a group of rogue soldiers, composed of Confederate and Union alike, who are committing atrocities all over the countryside, including crucifying other soldiers.  Seems that something supernatural is in the works, and the rogue soldiers may no longer be on this mortal coil and now have something to do with bad juju from Africa that migrated over with the slaves.  To that end, the captain recruits his old mentor Nehemiah (Corbin Bernsen), now a Confederate commander/racist, to go track down the rogues, some of whom served under Nehemiah whilst they were a-living.  Supporting cast includes Martin Sheen, Billy Bob Thornton, at least two Arquettes (David and his younger brother-sister Alexis), good ol’ Ray Wise, and, if you believe the credits, “Friends’” Matt LeBlanc (proving once again, there is no script that Leblanc can say ‘no’ to).  The problem with the film is this - the budget is about $3.50, so we get no real horror effects.  Plus some of the acting is capital B-Bad - Billy Bob Thornton is embarrassing and Pasdar seems to be channeling Sheen’s performance in “Apocalypse Now” with his incessant narration.  “Grey Knight” is the director’s cut of the film, which is also known as “The Killing Box” and “Ghost Brigade”.  I never saw the original.  Woodchuck sez, “Not completely garbage, but definitely not good.”