danielemerson First thing I have to say - this was not a movie made for peanuts; this was made for the kind of budget that budget movies spend on peanuts.So we can cut it a little slack on the production and casting. The plot, however, has far too many coincidences to take seriously. And Mike Pipper's bit of Basil Exposition always reminds me of 'Blazing Saddles' and the "authentic frontier gibberish" line.Thank God for Mystery Science Theater 3000, then! They take a potboiler destined for total oblivion and somehow give it greatness and a strangely lovable afterlife.Zap Rowsdower is the kind of hero that those of us without six-pack stomachs, killer cheekbones and effortlessly tousled-looking hair can aspire to be.

MartinHafer If you look at IMDb's infamous Bottom 100 list of the lowest rated films of all time closely, you may just notice that a HUGE number of these films have been featured on "Mystery Science Theater 3000"-- and that is THE reason they've made the list. This does not necessarily mean that these films are the most horrible ones out there and I have been surprised to see that a few of the MST3K films aren't even that horrible. While "The Final Sacrifice" is bad, films like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or "The Room" inexplicably never made the list...and should have instead.My verdict for "The Final Sacrifice" is that the film shouldn't be considered for any list for several reasons. While it does suck, the movie was a student film made by some young folks STUDYING to be filmmakers. It also was not released in theaters. Yes, the acting is bad at times, there isn't a lot of plot and the editing, continuity and direction are poor--but so what? It's what it is--a bad student film and nothing more.

Comeuppance Reviews Troy McGreggor (Malcolm) is an inquisitive teen who just happens to find a map to a mystical lost city called Ziox while rummaging through some junk in his attic. Unfortunately, an evil cult run by the sinister Satoris (Marceau) want the map to aid them in their quest for world domination. As Troy flees from the cult, he runs into a beer-swilling, chain-smoking, denim-jacketed, mulleted, surly drifter inexplicably named Zap Rowsdower (Mitchell). While Zap is an overweight, embittered alcoholic, Troy is a rail-thin, squeaky-voiced dork. As the original odd couple, they must fend off the cult as they continue their Quest For the Lost City. But what's the secret behind the "Bowtie" tattoo? Find out tonight! Originally titled The Final Sacrifice (that's the title under which it was mocked/popularized by Mystery Science Theater 3000), AIP picked it up and retitled it for its VHS release in the U.S. As part of that, they had to get some models to do some posed shots that have nothing to do with the movie, as often happens with VHS covers of the 80's/early 90's. Those people you see on the cover are certainly not Zap and Troy.To have the character of Troy be the hero is an interesting choice - he's unbelievably skinny, wears a nerdy red sweater with a white-collar shirt underneath the entire movie, and his voice sounds like someone puree-ing a dying bird on High. But then to match him with Zap is just...an amazing decision. This guy is Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force ten years before Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He's such a raving alcoholic, there's actually a scene where Troy fights the cult by using a box of empty bottles of Zap's booze he just happens to have in the back of his pickup truck. Some have guns, some have swords, but Zap was on his way to the bottle return to get his five-cent exchanges. Should be enough to put the kibosh on a sinister cult bent on taking over the planet.You know Satoris is evil because he has a black trenchcoat. This movie once again is ahead of the curve as it predates the trenchcoat mafia. That being said, there is an entirely separate credit for "Satoris' Makeup" during the end credits. His minions are guys in black tank tops and executioner hoods. This may remind you of Bad Taste (1987), where the baddies have blue shirts. But it's a clever move because the masks allow some repetition of goons without the viewer knowing. But the question remains why director/co-writer Tjardus Greidanus thought audiences would rally behind a big-eared dweeb and a bloated hobo as the movie's central heroes.It's Canadian, it's low-budget, and it's somewhat mysterious (that it was edited by "The Flying Dutchman" adds to the mystique). You could tell they were trying, and they got this movie out there. That's commendable. It's more than the people who mean-spiritedly ridicule this movie will ever do (except maybe MST3K).While it's not entirely representative of the AIP canon, and we wouldn't necessarily say to go out of your way to pick this up, if you see it somewhere, like a thrift store or something like that, grab it. It's a lot of fun with a group of pals.For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Steven DeNeal What can I say about this film? It is pretty rough around the edges.... and sides... and middle too. Shot in rural Canada, this film tries to tell the story of a youthful hero who discovers a plot by an evil occult to take over the world. What this story really tells depends upon your perspective. On the one hand, you have a weak and whiny hero who remains static through the whole story. On the other hand, you have the other hero who actually does all the work and yet remains barely likable. Or from yet another perspective, you have a supremely evil villain who wears a rather nice rain coat that looks oddly like my own military issue raincoat.Despite all the bad things I can say about it which has already been well documented in previous reviews, I will say that it does have a certain quality that I do like. Myself having acted in a few ultra-low budget films, there is something very familiar about the feel of this one. For example, this is a tale of high adventure and world domination.... that feels like all the scenes were shot within a five mile radius of each other. The acting looks very similar to what I am used to as well, where the director hops on the phone to call up friends and relatives to fill a role.Ultimately, it is a bad film, but it does give me such nostalgia what I actually do watch it occasionally just for the fun of it. Give it a try, but I suggest, before you do, that you leave your brains at the door. It will make more sense that way.