Truly Dreadful Film

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

Fleeing from the cult that murdered his father, a teen (Christian Malcolm) is aided in his quest to find the lost city of the fabled Ziox by a secretive drifter.Typically a film ends up on the Bottom 100 because people see a movie on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and then instantly give it a 1 or 2. Some of the films they show honestly are not that bad, but are just bad edits or bad quality prints. This film is the exception, and definitely belongs on the list.The acting is bad, the story is weak, the directing is just so-so, the cinematography has a weird ankle obsession. Wardrobe is nothing special, and whoever designed the "map" used in the film did an awful job. The only thing redeeming about this picture was the guy playing Mike Pipper.Just awful, through and through.

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.

The Final Sacrifice is not a good film by any means, and the version most of us saw by Mystery Science Theater 3000 is probably the only version we've seen, and that's a good thing too. The film gets rightfully crucified by Mike and the crew and many funny quips permeate throughout the movie until the bitter end. That being said, there's something about this that I find rather charming; maybe it's the deserted Canadian atmosphere, or the fact there's only a few characters, but I almost enjoy the Final Sacrifice on its own. How can you not like Zap Rowsdower and his skinny partner Troy McGreggor? I'm not surehow many others feel like I do, but this came out in 1990, a year that was great for me and maybe that's the reason I have a fondness for this movie. It's one of those "it's so bad it's good" type of films, and it works for me. Just to reiterate, I would strongly recommend watching the MST3K version of this film(not sure a regular version is even available)for the many funny moments.