Such a frustrating disappointment

Beautiful, moving film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Less of a budget than LOTR, and less of a story as well, is why this movie is only worth 5 stars. Yet, I still enjoyed this one. Although the story is slightly lacking, its not bad, and it's different enough to not feel like you're watching the same genre film rehashed. The action sequences aren't bad either. Some of these movies have bad acting to blame as their downfall, but I felt the acting was somewhat fair compared to other movies with this budget. Not too much else to say about this one without spoiling the story, except that fans of this genre will enjoy this film. I sure did. P.S. The main character is beautiful, and can hold her own in a fight! 5 Stars

Somewhere in time and space, there is a battle between the evil and the good. The Prophets of The Order are trying to restore civilization while The Shadow is trying to revive the God of Death.The female elf bounty hunter Nemyt Akaia (Danielle Chuchran) fights against the criminal Fangtor Bloodmoon (Adam Abram) and kills him. However she is cursed by him with the Shadow mark on her wrist. When she goes to the nearby castle to collect her reward, she is arrested because of the mark and sentenced to death. Meanwhile the human Ambassador of Light Keltus the Wanderer (Richard McWilliams) chases the dwarf Gyarmuck (James C. Morris) to find the real intentions of the Shadow and he learns that the orcs have a powerful vessel that they will sell to the Shadow representative. Keltus heads to the castle where Nemyt is imprisoned and he finds that she has discovered where the orcs are going. He brings her with him to seek out the horde of orcs and promises that the Prophetess would help her to get rid off her mark. On the beginning of their journey they find Kullimon the Black (Paul D. Hunt) that was left behind tied up to two trees by his former horde after being betrayed by the orc Mulgrut (Kyle Paul). The unlikable trio teams up in a journey to avoid that the God of Death returns life and destroys civilization."SAGA – Curse of the Shadow" is a low-budget adventure in a magic world of elves, orcs, dragons and forces of light and shadows. The story is rushed in the beginning certainly due to the budget constraint and the screenplay is uneven. The choreography of the many fights is terrible, the repetitive music score is annoying and the acting is reasonable only. But the flick is watchable in a rainy day afternoon. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "SAGA – A Maldição das Sombras" ("SAGA – Curse of the Shadow")

"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.

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.