Captain Z & The Terror of Leviathan

Captain Z & The Terror of Leviathan is a new horror comedy from director Steve Rudzinski. Rudzinski has been doing low-budget, comedic genre films since 2006. This time around he's tackled a story about a resurrected pirate fighting off demonic entities.

The film revolves around a group of employees working for a museum focused on the local pirate lore in their area. Their dull lives get a strong jolt when an occult professor shows up seeking more information about the legendary Captain Z. He has come in pursuit of a medallion that the Captain allegedly had in his possession. Meanwhile, a group of braindead fishermen pull that very medallion up on their reel and madness ensues. Captain Z is resurrected, and so are the demonic forces that tried to take him out 500 years prior. Now, the museum workers must join forces with the ass kicking pirate, or be forced to walk the shit deck!

There's pirates, demons, a token braindead bombshell, and nerdy references aplenty! Captain Z has a fair share of comedy that works, but unfortunately, it only goes well about half of the time. The acting is okay, the creature effects aren't very prevalent, but when they pop up they look solid. I will say I had a good time with it just for it's charm alone. It's clear that everyone involved in the creation of this film had a good time making it. Admittedly, I wasn't exactly excited to pop this in. Off title and cover alone it just didn't appear to be up my alley, but with that being said, I genuinely ended up enjoying this quite a bit more than I expected. Given my prejudice towards pirates, this on its own is an impressive feat. I refuse to drink Captain Morgan strictly due to its pirate connection, in fact I loathe pirates nearly as much as I loathe grapes.

The movie is definitely not without flaws. Although overall it is decent lighthearted fun, there are a number of things that weigh it down. The first thing that sticks out, is a flaw that many films of this nature are guilty of. I'm all for self referential flicks when they are more comedic based, but like many others coming out lately, Captain Z does not know when to end them. Many of the jokes in the movie go about 2 beats longer than they should, and it nearly kills the humor completely. Luckily, it does not happen enough to make the film unwatchable, but it does weaken the overall viewing experience. The twist at the end (if you want to call it that) is extremely predictable as well. This isn't a horrible detriment as I didn't really expect a movie about a resurrected pirate to pack many surprises.

Overall Captain Z is decent enough Lovecraftian inspired comedy. It's fairly in line with a much cheaper The Last Lovecraft. It won't wow you, but it also won't outright offend you. When the comedy works it is truly great, but when it doesn't it falls pretty hard. It's pretty apparent while watching that the cast and crew were all big film nerds that just wanted to make a movie. If you're a Lovecraft enthusiast and low budget film fan, I'd say give this one a look on a rainy day. Outside of that though, I'd have a hard time recommending this to anyone outside of that demographic, and even then films like The Last Lovecraft, Beyond the Dunwich Horror or The Dark Sleep would come to mind first. SOFT RECOMMENDATION FOR LOVECRAFT GEEKS AND HORROR COMEDY LOVERS. PROCEED WITH CAUTION TO EVERYONE ELSE.