Curse of the Dragon Slayer

I was more or less expecting Lord of the Discount Rings, but this isn't that. Yes, it's a Swords and Wizards (and occasionally bullets and explosives) B movie. But it takes a bit of a different approach. It's almost a Western plot in a Dungeons and Dragons world. Orcs, Humans and Elves generally hate each other, but all the races show their flaws and at least one Orc is highly honorable and most live as part of a warrior culture as opposed to just being mindless killers. Humans are screwed up by religion and political corruption just like in real life, dwarves are batshit crazy and like to blow stuff up with explosives. We meet one elf, who is a sexy, pissed off bounty hunter played by Danielle Chuchran. In a genre where you really can't escape clichés this movie has fun with it. At one point some mermaids try to seduce an Orc, who just isn't having it. I won't spoil anymore, but the basic plot is 3 would be mortal enemies have to suck it up and work together because some real bad stuff is going down. It isn't necessarily a comedy but it doesn't take itself too seriously either. A look at the credits reveals that Danielle is the "booty double" for the mermaids, who have names that are a reference to a Seinfeld episode where a woman has a name that rhymes with a female body part. Several parts are played by the same characters but they conceal it well. Just a fun movie. Read more

I gave this film 1 star because Amazon would not let me give it 0 stars. While this is not the worst movie I've seen (Pineapple, 2008 takes that prize), it certainly is in a class of noticeably bad films. Leaden is the descriptive word that applies. The fight scenes were leaden. The acting was leaden The direction was leaden. Noticeably gratuitous camera shots were the extended views of Monument Valley. Very amateurish on all counts...I shall never forget it... It will live on as a low standard to which I will compare other movies. Read more

This poor movie suffers from the most confusing of identity crisis since IMDB seems to indicate it has had at the least 4 different titles. Why the US release decided on this one is beyond me because there are a total of one dragon in the movie that dies within the first 5 seconds. The movie is actually about the God of Death being summoned by a group of shadow warriors and the elf, orc, and knight who have to form a merry band to stop it from happening. There's Keltus the Wanderer. Also known as Keltus the Cleric and Keltus the Forsaken and my personal name for him: Keltus the Not Very Good at His Job. He's a scruffily cute Irishman who works for some sort of goddess with all the vagueness that implies an origin movie somewhere in the ether of this actor's filmography. He's not a very good knight honestly. For someone whose reputation seems to be known far and wide, he is constantly getting stabbed. The only person getting stabbed more than him is Nemyt the elf, who is something of a walking pin cushion. She and Keltus bond over dying and getting stabbed repeatedly. She stares at him in wonder a couple times, implying a looming romance if Dragon Slayer/Shadow Cabal/Curse of the Shadow/Dragon Lore/Shadow Warriors 3 ever gets made. The last main character is Kullimon, a warrior orc playing the "tonight we dine in hell" trope. The group has to get a Bone Vase and a Blood Stone and have to stop everything at a Well of Demons or something similar in a movie that uses every epic fantasy name it can think of. Keltus has to fight the God of Death, Kullimon has to avenge his honor and Nemyt has to get revenge all while gathering (or failing to gather) the alphabet soup of fantasy items in the mythical land of Utah. Oddly enough, this movie is a good B movie. The cinematography is actually pretty good as is the make up on the orcs. Some effort was actually put into production. The plot is paper thin and ridiculous, but it's a fun B movie. It wouldn't have been out of place in the pantheon of 80s fantasy movies. Read more

This is (or rather, could have been), a real gem of a movie. Having seen all the main characters in other films, I can put the blame for any lameness on the writers and/or director. Although the plot is very standard fare (and sometimes confusing, such as, who is this goddess Keltus worships, and why does he bother?), but the cinematography was very good, the make-up and costumes well done, and the shooting locations well chosen. As I mentioned before, all the main actors/actress are good at their craft in other movies, but I got the impression that here they were left to their own devices in many instances, which doesn't create a fluid storyline. As noted by another reveiwer, this is head and shoulders above any of the indie films the "artsy-fartsy" crowd likes to rave about. It ain't "Solomon Kane", but it's better than the indies. A great movie for a rainy, cold Saturday afternoon. If I could give it six stars, I would. Read more

The strongest feature of this film is the story which is actually pretty cool if you like this genre. Next up is the cinematography. Huge landscapes are often revealed which are beautifully awesome and richly filmed. The next best component here is/are the special effects. Some are not quite par but other times they are as good as anything produced by the biggest studios and effects houses. Costumes, creatures and prosthetics are surprisingly good for an independent film of this budget size. The acting is almost always poor, dialogue is often weak and the fight scenes are weak. A glaring weakness in direction is the fact that one minute I get the feeling we are supposed to believe the lead female character is supposed to be a gifted and powerful warrior; the next minute she's getting her butt kicked even if the odds were not so tough. According to how picky you are about spending your time in front of the TV, this one might be worth watching if there is nothing else available that you haven't already seen... or maybe not. Read more