Synopsis In 1714 Captain Zachariah Zicari stops a group of possessed townsfolk from using a powerful amulet that would have released the ultimate evil, the Leviathan. Fast forward to 2014 and the... In 1714 Captain Zachariah Zicari stops a group of possessed townsfolk from using a powerful amulet that would have released the ultimate evil, the Leviathan. Fast forward to 2014 and the amulet is again in the wrong hands. Can Captain Z save the earth? I can honestly say, I don't know of any other movie with atime traveling pirate that fights against dimension hopping demonspossessing hillbillies. One of those movies that you hear about andcannot imagine anything but a fun time. We start with a flashback to 1714 where Zilai's Captain Zacharia stopsthe demon cultists only to be sucked into a portal and disappearing. Now in the present, the location is now the small town of Riverwoodhere the center of tourism is a museum to Captain Zacharia, betterknown as Captain Z thanks to the ditsy Heather who cannot pronounceZacharia and instead just says Z. Thanks to local hillbillies, anamulet is found in the river that brings forth the demon cultists andCaptain Z! The demons want to finish a ritual to bring forth Leviathan,yet Captain Z steals the amulet and escapes, running into Rudzinski'sGlen Stewart, a scholar that specializes in oddities including CaptainZ. Madison Siple rounds out the trio as the previously mentionedHeather, a ditsy worker at the museum that can play an important partin bringing forth Leviathan thanks to her crimson hair. Aleen Isley isthe primary antagonist as demon Vepar in hillbilly Bobbie's body. As usual with Rudzinski films, the dialogue is full of puns andsarcasm. There is also plenty of self-aware jokes, some of which mockthe movie itself Heather commenting how a certain incident in themovie felt like a scene right out of a movie. Another prime example ofself-aware comedy includes Vepar in Bobbie commenting on how its amazedthat people speak Latin aloud without knowing what it means, comingright after Bobbie unknowing unleashing the demons in that clichémethod. It's obvious a lot of characters beganas a stereotype before being properly fleshed out into somethingbetter. This movie was heavy with CGI effects, some of which worked but othersat times just stuck out. Yet for an indie movie on a tight budget, Ithink they did a great job with the effects. The practical effects werealso well done, especially with the make-up of the demon-possessedhillbillies. The horns were perfectly accomplished, not looking likeprosthesis at all. One of the main issues I had with the movie is that there were a fewtimes the color of the scene would switch between takes, taking oneither a bright green hue or a washed out white. There many scenes likethat, I'm guessing they tried to use as least amount of those scenes aspossible. They did do a great job of the audio mixing, especially giving thedemon-possessed hillbillies unique echo-y voices. Overall this is a highly enjoyable and unique trip. I picked it up at a conventionbecause I was a fan of the filmmaker's other work not really knowingwhat to expect. It's like a low budget, modern version of Army ofDarkness and it's surprisingly wonderful. No other indie movie has mademe laugh as much as Captain Z. In 1714 demons have possessed humans to raise the Leviathan using anecklace. In the knick of time Captain Z stops them, causing them allto be sucked into another dimension. But hillbillies find the necklace and openthe portal, causing the entire family to be possessed and Captain Z tobe brought into our time. It's up to Captain Z and a supernaturalexpert Glen Stewart to thwart the demons from allowing Leviathandominion over our world. I was shocked when I found out how much this was made for. The shots,the visuals, the make up, the acting, the locations, even the audio mostly are all top notch quality you'd expect to see in a studiofilm. I half expect SyFy to want to pick this film up. It just LOOKSmuch more expensive than it is. The writing blows other movies with this kind of budget out of thewater. The plot doesn't bring much new to the table but it is VERYsolid. The pacing is great, the laughs are all genuine, and all of thecharacters are absolutely interesting. It's just very tight, never wasI bored or looking at my watch. Acting in the film again is fantastic, there wasn't a bad actor in thebunch just varying levels of good. Captain Z and Heather wereperfectly stupid, Glen was snarky as needed, and Mr. I think my favorite of the batch were the hillbillyfamily, with my favorite character definitely being Vepar played byAleen Isley. She was a joy to see on screen and the movie could haveused even more of her. She absolutely carries the climax on hershoulders, with this movie having my favorite climax in any low budgetfilm. It's not absolutely perfect. There's a couple of spots where the audioseems canned and I felt that a stab sound effect was missing threetimes in the film; the CGI also was pretty weak but barely featured. That's it, to me those are the only problems. Like I said, it's notperfect but it's very close. Not perfect compared to movies with over ahundred thousand dollars to use for a budget, but placed against mostfilms I've seen with a budget UNDER that? This movie does so much rightand I didn't expect it to do much of anything. If you like low budget indie films, see this and see what skill andheart can do. If you like comedies or Army of Darkness, see thisbecause I laughed more at this than most studio films. Reviewed by dogsofwar 7 If I could sum up this movie it would be fun. Once again, Captain Z has to battle demons after being freed when an unsuspecting victim reads an inscription on an amulet. When will humans learn not to read ancient Latin phrases off of evil artifacts? Okay the premise is hokey and the movie knows it and plays to it making it a laugh riot. I have seen a few independent horrors that have a great premise but the actors don't do it justice Clown Hunt for instance or have great acting but was not a coherent movie. This movie has both believable characters and great plot.
