SAGA: The Shadow Cabal

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"Curse Of The Dragon Slayer" is a fantasy adventure film directed by David Lyde and starring Danielle Chuchran (Body of Proof), Richard McWilliams, Paul D. Hunt and James C. Morris in a middle earth/other- realm styled quest. The film follows an unlikely trio as they ban together to defeat an ultimate evil infecting the kingdom. Keltus, a knight of the ruling Order is on the trail of the Shadow Cabal -- a group of Orc cultists. Keltus recruits Neymt, the elf bounty hunter and the infamous Orc raider, Kullimon. Incidentally this film was going by the name "Curse Of The Shadow Cabal". The story for "Curse Of The Dragon Slayer" is one that I am not familiar with but the company behind the film is also responsible for games and other movies in this ilk. I say that just to let it be known that fantasy adventure films are not my forte and although I find them entertaining they are not a world or mythos that I contemplate enough to have a personal checks-n-balances to validate what I the film intends. So my review is solely on this film's value and merit alone. The good thing about "Curse Of The Dragon Slayer" is you don't really have to be that familiar with this world or they encompassing storyboard to enjoy the movie. The quality of the acting, direction and story arch offer a pretty entertaining fantasy adventure with cool character dynamics that press beyond the cliché that is this genre's burden. The fact that the story combines unlikely characters as heroes is a plus. At times the burden of cliché does hinder the concept's plausibility (If you develop your characters to a set standard then they will hardly band together for a common goal-in my opinion). However that notion didn't stop me from enjoying this movie and guess what?, I found myself favoring the Orc more than the Elf and Human. The special effects and creature make-up is pretty quality with an obvious attention to respect for the genre present from the creators. There are elements of CGI within "Curse Of The Dragon Slayer" but the film isn't co-dependent upon them and there are far more practical effects utilized. The atmosphere and cinematography for this one is pretty stellar with some beautiful scenes framed by awesome scenery and design. The film took all the things I loved about the Tolkein films and combined it with a classic feel of one of my favorite fantasy films "The Beast Master" in a well crafted and nicely executed story. I found "Curse OF The Dragon Slayer" very entertaining and I think it works for all ages.

1. After seeing how horrible the Hobbit films were, (which was surprising because Peter really did a good treatment of Lord of the Rings) a movie like this is honestly better produced with barely any graphics, its almost all old school type effects. 2. It should be corny, but its refreshingly isn't, its compelling in a way some big budget films completely lack. 3. Its more of a TV quality brought to feature film length film it probably doesn't deserve 8/10 but it get props for doing something with a budget that is 1/100th of others. Enjoyable to the end, wish more like this was made, most low budget fantasy, starts with barely there actors who you cannot believe combined with horrible computer effects that just subtract from the film. Here they do it right, not over the top, with people who don't act corny, if not completely polished as the best fantasy films should be, its still enjoyable with a even paced adventure and music that fits the scenes.

It's as another user described it much better than expected. That doesn't make it really good though. The expectations were low and it didn't fall below them. Since the movie does not have a lot of money (see CGI), it does do the neat trick of keeping most of the story on the road. Or in the woods would be a better description, where you have the possibility not to show any technology at all. Acting is decent for what the movie is. The story of a group that doesn't really belong together but has to stick with each other is old, but has some charm. If you rent the Disc make sure to watch the Outtakes, it's obvious they had fun making it and I think it would be too harsh and unfair to criticize the movie too much

My first review of a movie. Was surprised by how good this movie was. I have seen a few B fantasy movies and this is a one of the few good ones. I like the characters and the details of the outfits and makeup. The fight scenes are also good (for a B movie) but they do use a few tricks like fast-forwarding on a few of them. I think they use the same settings a few times but since it is a B movie it is expected. It is a movie you can watch an afternoon when you have nothing to do and it will keep you entertained if you don't want to watch something too serious.

I'll say this right off the bat: This is a low-budget film, and it can't be entirely faulted for that. The kind of pitfalls you would expect from a low-budget movie are all here: Cheesy effects, poor makeup, limited sets, over-processed visuals (as a result of limited sets). Normally, these things would be forgivable if the acting, story, choreography, and cinematography outshine them. In this case, they simply do not. Everything you see in the first 5 minutes lets you know exactly what you're in store for. A terrible CGI dragon is being ridden by an orc in very unconvincing makeup. The orc is shot down by an elf with the cheapest color contact lenses this side of your local mall, and a fight scene ensues. This is where you see the combination of poor direction and framing coupled with extremely inept choreography. Hell, there's a point in the first fight scene where you can CLEARLY see the elf MISS her kick to the orc's face by about a foot, and he still grunts and flies backwards as if it connected. That's the kind of thing you either re-shoot or cut in post. This is the kind of quality you might expect to find in a feature-length YouTube production -- though that might be insulting to some of the more accomplished YouTube content producers.

For the life of me I can not understand the low rating this movie has. If you loath all the CGI over the top Movies. This movie is for you. If you prefer characters in really good costumes. This movie is for you. If you prefer monsters that fight back. This movie is for you. If you prefer really good fight scenes. This movie is for you. Hands down one of my favorite movie finds of the year. It blends great fight scenes with a lot of different races and considering it had a smidget of the Lord of the BORING's budget, it still produced a far better movie. PLEASE MAKE A SEQUEL!!!

You know when you play some fantasy game and you have the mythical creatures, the complex script, the compelling battles and you think to yourself "If only they would make movies like that!". That's exactly how Curse of the Shadow feels! The movie starts with a battle between a dragon riding Orc shaman and an Elven bounty huntress. There are no moving camera effects, no cheesy dialogues, no pompous and ridiculous fighting like in Xena, but a fight that is believable and lasts for more than five minutes. I knew I was going to like this movie just from the attention that this first fight scene got from the creators. The rest is a classic fantasy quest, where the unlikeliest of allies - a Human cleric, an Orc chieftain and the Elven bounty huntress - battle the growing threat of evil. There were scenes that seemed a bit off, but not many. I was inclined to rate this a 10 just because I couldn't think of any scenes that I didn't enjoy or felt they were not part of the story. The battles are well done, the make up professional, the acting top notch - and you have to take into account that these are no name actors with a few films like Osombie in their belt - and the story doesn't feel like it was written by a kindergarten child. All in all, don't expect anything else than a good fantasy quest film, but it was thankfully and unexpectedly good. I can't wait for the next SAGA movie.

This was much better than I expected it would be. I was expecting a trashy B movie but this was much better than that. The first 15 minutes are a bit of a whirlwind, you get thrown right into the story, this could be a good thing, but also to an extent you kind of feel like you are watching the second half of a film and have missed the scenes where they introduced these characters. The main Orc was excellent - he was by far the most physically convincing in the action scenes, and had some of the funniest lines as well. The CGI was budget limited but was perfectly acceptable. The hero and the elf were both acceptably done. The acting in general was much better than you'd normally get in this genre of film.