The Final Sacrifice

Plot synopsis:
In the first scene of the film, hooded men chase a lone man through a snowy forest. A shot rings out and the opening credits roll.
The protagonist, Troy McGreggor, finds a map belonging to his late father, who was shot seven years earlier, as the first scene depicts. Troy’s father, Thomas, was an archeologist who met his untimely death after becoming involved in a plot with a mysterious cult led by a strange man named Satoris (Shane Marceau). The orphaned Troy decides to follow the map to learn about the circumstances of his father's death. The cultists learn about Troy and his father's map and begin chasing him in a black Ford Torino, but Troy escapes by outrunning them on his 10-speed bicycle. The cultists refuse to give up, however, and in a final attempt to escape, Troy jumps into the back of a battered pickup truck heading into the Alberta countryside. The truck belongs to a drifter with the unusual name of Zap Rowsdower. At first Rowsdower considers turning Troy over to the police, but after Troy helps him to fix his broken-down truck, he decides to let Troy stay with him. At a campfire that night Troy asks Rowsdower lots of questions, which irritates the grumpy Rowsdower, who drinks lots of beer and rubs his tattooed left arm as if he's in pain.
The map leads Troy and Rowsdower all over Alberta, through some hidden caves, and finally to the unkempt house of a grizzled fugitive by the name of Mike Pipper (Ron Anderson). Pipper was a partner of Troy’s father and has been hiding in the woods from Satoris for seven years. Pipper reveals that the cultists are the last descendants of an ancient and advanced race called the Ziox, who had inhabited the area long before the Indians, and whose civilization was destroyed by their god in a month-long rainstorm after they turned to worshiping unholy idols. According to Pipper, the Ziox built a great city that was more advanced than "anything the ancient Egyptians or Romans ever knew." He believes that Satoris wants to raise the buried city in hopes that it will restore power to the Ziox and allow him to conquer/rule the entire world. Pipper also casually mentions that Rowsdower once belonged to the evil cult and may have killed Troy’s father. Rowsdower reveals he has the cult’s insignia branded on his arm, like the other cultists. Satoris seems to be able to torment Rowsdower through the mark, as we see Rowsdower writhing in agony while asleep, presumably having a Satoris-induced nightmare.
Eventually, Troy is captured by Satoris and his cult, who use the map to locate their ancient idol. Satoris means to make Troy the titular final sacrifice. It’s up to Rowsdower to save Troy and put an end to the cult’s activities. Pipper gives him his horse and an old rifle, and directs him to the ancient Ziox sacrifice site that he was able to decipher from Troy's map. Rowsdower stumbles upon the site of the idol and begins to duel with Satoris, who reveals that when the moment came, Rowsdower could not bring himself to kill Troy’s father and Satoris had to do it himself. Satoris is about to kill Rowsdower when Troy manages to intervene, shooting the cult leader in the back with Rowsdower’s rifle. Satoris’ death causes the destruction of the idol and the reemergence of the lost city of Ziox, indicating that Satoris was the true final sacrifice. Instead of bringing about evil, the risen city (as Pipper had foretold) is actually a force for good, and Satoris' cult breaks up as its members are freed from his evil influence. Troy and Rowsdower observe the rise of the lost city from the ground, then the two heroes drive off together.

Tags: cult

Review:
"Quest of the Lost City/The Final Sacrifice" (pick your poison) goes one better: the characters are too stupid to keep the plot moving, but it does anyway through sheer coincidence and dumb luck.So we've got this scrawny kid named Troy, who as our story begins is rummaging through some junk his late father left behind (Dad, we learned in the pre-credit sequence, got shot seven years ago by a group of thugs in ski masks).
Presumably this makes him scary; in truth it makes him look like Professor Snape's third cousin and sound like a bad Darth Vader impersonator.Troy elludes the thugs by hopping into the back of a rusty pickup truck, driven by the boozy and bitter Zap Rowsdower.
My guess is the writer was going for a cool, memorable name like "Indiana Jones" and failed miserably.)  Rowsdower happens to know a lot about the thugs (a cult bent on world domination, we are informed), having been one of their number some years back.
Pipper also drops a warning in Troy's ear about Zap: "He was with Satoris the night your father was killed."  Troy's so shocked he doesn't even bother to ask how Pipper knows this, since a) all the cultists wear ski masks and b) nobody else was around when it happened.So, somehow Satoris manages to kidnap Troy and take him to the location of the lost city--proving that he did not need the map at all, despite breaking in Troy's door earlier--where the idol waits, having eluded Pipper's searches.
He failed miserably, but at least he tried.The plot revolves around a pre-Internet nerd named Troy, who, apparently, spends his time digging stuff out of the attic that relates to his father's death somehow, stares at it for a while, and then gives up on figuring out what happened and just puts it all away again.
He lucks out when a ski-masked cult randomly decides to come looking for a map that leads to a lost city, even though they could have come any time in the seven years prior but for some reason decided to let him grow old enough to somehow thwart their entire incompetent organization with the help of a beer-guzzling, mullet-endowed drifter...but I get ahead of myself.So anyway, Troy is forced to go outside the house for the first time in a decade and somehow winds up in the truck bed of the aforementioned drifter, who manages to deliver his name, Zap Rowsdower, with a straight face.
Anyhow, some other stuff happens, involving a gray-bearded, oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-people-like-this-actually-exist-type character named Mike Pipper, who explains some less-than-interesting exposition explaining what they're up against and what's at stake--the world, of course!
After looking thoroughly unconcerned, our heroes, though they couldn't pool together enough mental resources to open a can of tuna (though Rowsdower has a lot of experience opening cans...of beer...), find a way to overthrow the muscleheaded cult, defeat the villainous Satoris (a man with a voice deeper than the lead singer of Type O Negative), knock over a pole, raise the lost cardboard miniature of Ziox, and save all of Canada, acting like it's some sort of major accomplishment all the while.
"Quest for the Lost City" (or "The Final Sacrifice" as it is more commonly known) features a paper thin plot apparently thought up by a third grader, stunningly icky and sometimes downright ugly characters, and not much else.This is the story of geeky little Troy, whose dad was an amateur archaeologist who disappeared a few years back whilst seeking The Lost City!
Mike is a strange combination of Yosemite Sam and Jethro Tull, and although I suspect he was supposed to be the wise man of the film, filling in plot holes and offering Yoda-like advice, I couldn't stop laughing at him long enough to take him or anything he said seriously.
Evil cult members in ski masks and tank tops come after Troy (the nerdy kid), because they want the map (which is to a supposedly lost city, but really a map to a great big pop-up book).
Troy runs from the cult members and gets into the back of a truck belonging to Zap Rowsdower the hero of the flick (the most original name I have ever seen in a movie).
And it smelled a lot like back bacon.Now I know that most everyone has seen this movie only because of the comedy genius of MST3K, or Mistie to the loyal masses.
If the movie was $50 million and it looked like it was directed by a three-year-old, THEN maybe there would be a reason to hate it.
Troy is this twiggy, pasty kid with bad teeth who is obsessed with solving the mystery of his dead father (instead of, like, girls or getting some fashion sense).
The Final Sacrifice, or Quest for the Lost City as my copy claims, it's a 1990 movie that is most known for being featured on MST3K, but this movie it's watchable even without the MST3K crew.The film its one of those "So-bad-it's-good" kind of films, its also quite inspiring in many aspects, it was made with very little money and resources (and it shows), but you can tell that people cared about this little cheesy movie.
The Final Sacrifice comes across as a different kind of beast though, a film made by people who just had to make a movie, people compelled by the muse and having some fun in the process.
Then a bunch of ski masked wrestlers attack his house, at which point he escapes and ends up tagging along the the gruff good doer Zap Rowsdower, from whom proceeds some explanation and the rest of the whole adventure.
The ensuing chase of a car NOT being able to catch up to a skinny guy on a bike is very heart pounding.As the movie progresses, the boy, named Troy, meets up with our hero.
After a lot of chasing, and a VERY scary grizzled mountain man who sounds like a mix of Yosemite Sam and Randy "Macho Man" Savage, the movie ends with Troy being selected as the final sacrifice, which will give the bad guy with big nostrils an invincible army of zombies, with which he can take over Canada, and then get demolished by every other country in the world.I won't spoil the ending, but suffice to say, you know it's coming.
Good times!This film features an alcoholic hick hero named "Zap Rowsdower"; an effeminate teenage boy named "Troy"; a black-clad, mullet-sporting group of Canadian wrestlers; a bad guy who talks like Darth Vader; and Canada's answer to Yosemite Sam!!Go see it!!.
This movie is all about the legendary adventures of Troy McGregor and Zap Rowsdower, two rugged Candian gents who wage a battle of will and raw determination, against the evil cult leader Satoris and his many hooded henchmen.
While they follow an old map that was made by Troy's long-deceased dad, the boys are running around the wilderness of South-Eastern Alberta Canada, in an effort to locate the long lost city of the Ziox civilization.
Let me offer up something of a cast run-down: We have a 90-pound weakling, a dumpy, middle-aged, bemulleted, drunkard and a old crusty hermit.The main thrust behind this profoundly amateurish Canadian-made film, appears in the form of numerous tepidly-staged action scenes, which without exception, feature lots of ski-mask n' tank-top clad Canadian cultist's, who are running around in woods in pursuit of Troy and Rowsdower.
Not surprisingly this film looks and sounds terribly cheap, from it's pitifully bad sets - to the model that's supposed to represent the Ziox city and of course all the old crappy cars and trucks, that the cultists are often seen driving - making tracks all over South-Eastern Alberta, in the vein quest for the map.
As the guy's from MST3K pointed out, the music featured in this movie sounds like video-poker music.....
whatever the music's inspiration is, it flat-out sounds laughably terrible and further increases this films boundlessly entertaining quality.When watching The Final Sacrifice a profound lack of talent and funding is constantly in evidence and that fact permeates every second of this terrible, yet remarkably endearing movie.
For me it's this films ridiculous casting that I love so much and when a films "heroes" are this pathetic you really shouldn't expect much from the rest of it's cast, such is the case here; because everything about this movie represents complete and utter mediocrity at it's finest - as you'll plainly see when you pop in The Final Sacrifice.
And even if it isn't the worst movie ever made - it's always right up there.I now must set aside some space especially for Zap Rowsdower (played by Bruce J.
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.
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.
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.
DO watch it as a comedy, not a good comedy like Blazing Saddles or any Montey Python movie, but a movie not trying to be a comedy, but sadly is, like the Evil Dead series or really any other "B" rated horror movie.So some scrawny thespian lost his dad to a bunch of Canadian high school football players wearing masks, oh so long ago, who can't even drive fast enough to knock this kid off a bike, nor have a good enough aim with a gun to shoot at a truck going...
This movie is lots of shots of dorkish hero (Troy) in dire need of major dental corrective treatment running away from balaclava-clad thugs who, despite most of them carrying rifles, never think of shooting him.
Ticked, cult members of this "lost" civilization put on their WWE gear and try to annoy Troy, but he escapes and winds up with our "hero" Zap "Bud Drinker" Rowsdower (perhaps the greatest name ever).
It's like he's channeling Yosemite Sam and Arthur Hunnicutt at the same time.I do have to give some credit to the casting of our "hero" Zap Rowsdower.
Not surprisingly for anyone watching his performance, this was Christian Malcolm's (Troy) only film credit.Also the city of the "lost" civilization is well made, even though it's obviously a small model....hey, nice model work, guys!
Every scene in this movie is done so horribly that I don't know how this movie actually made it to a theater) Christian Malcolm is such a great action hero like when he chases after his truck and has to jump in the back with the cult right on his heels.
Once again, even for a Canadian film, this is an embarrassment but I truly think they made this movie solely for the purpose of being on MST3K.
I can't imagine what watching "The Final Sacrifice" as an actual movie is like, but it is absolutely one of my favorite MST3K's of all time.
See this film, and judge for yourself, although I think you'll agree, that digitizing can't make a film that is already of this quality any better.Kudos to director Tjardus Greidanus, you couldn't have made a better film.The bottom line: This movie will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and the ending will keep you guessing.That was easily the finest stream of horse garbage I have ever typed..."This film is the ultimately worst film of all time.
Lets throw in the label Stupidity with the aforementioned banal bit.Anywho, Troy and Zap fight some dumpy hood-wearing canadians, meet an old prospector who has a wire brush in his throat, and save the legend of the Ziox society.The MST3K comments on the movie are a riot and this is a very good episode of MST3K that I recommend to anyone to watch.
As in an earlier comment, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, (known as "Final Sacrifice" is a hilarious spoof of this Canadian made movie!
It is best watched as an MST3K episode though, I mean what kind of movie invents a lost civilization and calls them the "Ziox" or names its hero "Zap Rowsdower?"  Regardless, it is much better than Werewolf or The Incredibly Strange People .
Must have been something like, "Hey, let's make a fantasy adventure movie and set it in the absolute dreariest portion of Canada (i.e. southern Alberta) during the most utterly depressing time of the year (October or November, I'm guessing) and let's have for our heroes the two least cinematic dorks we can find (i.e. Troy McGregor, a complete puss with hideous teeth and the whimpiest, whiniest voice you have ever heard and Zap Rosdower, a cranky, pudgy drunk with the worst mullet imaginable and magically self-laundering acid-washed jeans) plus the most half-assed plot that we can come up with (that is, a 'quest' for a lost city that our 'heroes' basically stumble across in the woods because the drunk's truck conveniently breaks down in just the right spot) filled with more holes than you can drive an 18-wheeler through (for example, these cultists do nothing for seven years and then just happen to show up at this kid's house the very day after he finds this map that they want so badly, which just happens to be the same day that Rosdower is in town in his conveniently disabled vehicle which just happens to come back to life the very moment the puss needs an escape and so on), and let's not cast any females in the ENTIRE film with the exception of the wimpy kid's withered grandmother who appears in all of ONE scene, and in the first chase scene don't you think that it would be plausible if a guy driving a Gran Torino can't catch a skinny kid on a ten-speed...?" That must have been what they were thinking when they were planning this film.
Any movie which has a hero named Zap Rowsdower is not one I would highly recommend.
Okay...let me sum up this movie in a few words: this guy, a cult leader nonetheless, is bent a world domination...I know, I know...we've all heard it a million times...but here is where "Quest for the Lost City" is unique!
We've got guys in masks and tank tops running around looking for some skinny kid with a map to a lost city, a villian with a really bad voice and Zap Rowsdower!
"The Final Sacrifice") a kid conveniently stumbles upon a map of some sort that is a key to a "lost city." A cult of guys in ski masks, led by Satoris--decked in a trench coat, suit, and tie while riding around in rusty GMC trucks--want the map and run after the kid.
The background music sounded a little annoying at times, particularly the 1980s video game music during some driving scenes, but otherwise, a good film given its resources.Besides, it was nice to see a hero in Rowsdower who looked like one of us in the audience for a change..
This awful, awful movie, filmed in Maple-vision, follows the story of a kid who goes on a lame quest to find some lost city, and its also the powerful story of a man named Zap Rowsdower.
And while you're at it, destroy all copies of this movie too, please?While not the worst movie ever made, "Quest for the Lost City" boasts to be the worst Canadian export since...well, since the LAST Canadian-based movie I've seen (Lord, there's been so many...).Now, seems there's this hockey mask-wearing cult called Ziox that's led by a guy that looks and sounds like a well-dressed and -coiffed Darth Vader who want to get a map held by the geekiest kid ever (since me in ninth grade, anyway), who happens to escape their grasp and find protection under the eye and wing of the one and only Zap Rowsdower....Okay - Rowsdower I can buy.
As for Canada, it's made movies like "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (about a working class Jewish boy trying to make it big in 1940s Montreal) and "Strange Brew" (depicting a pair of archetypal Canadians), so it's mostly doing well.In conclusion, Pearl is a horrible person for making Mike and the 'bots watch this..
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.
At least with the boys of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" here to make fun of these kinds of films, then this movie is actually worth watching at least once!
It became so bad at one point that in some of the MST3K versions of my movies Mike/Joel and the bots were being replaced by first year film students discussing the dynamics of each scene....
The Lost City (The Final Sacrifice) is just such a movie.
I saw this one on MST3K, and it was one of the funniest episodes I've ever seen (lots of Canadian bashing, as well as making fun of the movie's characters)!
Yet I think that like many other films, "The Final Sacrifice" has been unnecessarily maligned through its connection with MST3K.
The most hysterical part of this movie (the MST3K version, of course) is when they come across Mike Pipper, a poofy-haired guy with a beard that talks like Red Green.
Again, don't watch this movie without the MST3K guys cause you'll just be wasting your time..