I don't know where to start with this. I picked it up at a convention because I was a fan of the filmmaker's other work not really knowing what to expect. It's like a low budget, modern version of Army of Darkness and it's surprisingly wonderful. No other indie movie has made me laugh as much as Captain Z.
In 1714 demons have possessed humans to raise the Leviathan using a necklace. In the knick of time Captain Z stops them, causing them all to be sucked into another dimension. 300 years later Captain Z has become the thing of legend. But hillbillies find the necklace and open the portal, causing the entire family to be possessed and Captain Z to be brought into our time. It's up to Captain Z and a supernatural expert Glen Stewart to thwart the demons from allowing Leviathan dominion 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 studio film. I half expect SyFy to want to pick this film up. It just LOOKS much more expensive than it is.
The writing blows other movies with this kind of budget out of the water. The plot doesn't bring much new to the table but it is VERY solid. The pacing is great, the laughs are all genuine, and all of the characters are absolutely interesting. It's just very tight, never was I bored or looking at my watch. I don't know how, but Steve Rudzinski (the writer/director) somehow took a really silly idea and made me take it seriously (as seriously as a comedy would expect you to, at least).
Acting in the film again is fantastic, there wasn't a bad actor in the bunch (just varying levels of good). Captain Z and Heather were perfectly stupid, Glen was snarky as needed, and Mr. Kincaid was delightfully salty. I think my favorite of the batch were the hillbilly family, with my favorite character definitely being Vepar (played by Aleen Isley). She was a joy to see on screen and the movie could have used even more of her. She absolutely carries the climax on her shoulders, with this movie having my favorite climax in any low budget film.
It's not absolutely perfect. There's a couple of spots where the audio seems canned and I felt that a stab sound effect was missing three times 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 not perfect but it's very close. Not perfect compared to movies with over a hundred thousand dollars to use for a budget, but placed against most films I've seen with a budget UNDER that? This movie does so much right and I didn't expect it to do much of anything.
If you like low budget indie films, see this and see what skill and heart can do. If you like comedies or Army of Darkness, see this because I laughed more at this than most studio films. 9/10, without hesitation.
