Actium Maximus will be my first review because it's the film that led me to IMDb to begin with... I found this movie so uniquely bizarre that I was curious to see other's thoughts, and kept coming back to IMDb ever since. Reviews I've read here and on various blogs have led to many a belly-laugh, even if their words were cruel and at the expense of a movie that I happen to like a lot! Consider the title of one of the other reviews here: "This Movie Is Distilled Pain"! It cracks me up every time- it's funny how the negative reviews often contain plenty of humor while the good reviews rarely do. However, another reviewer also gets props for acknowledging that there are in fact people out there who can totally dig a film like this... I am one of those people and finally made an account at IMDb in part to defend 'Actium Maximus'!First let me say that I fully understand the faults people list with this movie: The spoiler is that there is no spoiler- you watch the entire film to get a sudden "To be continued..." What?? Why wasn't I warned on the box that there's no ending! Then there is no plot beyond the basic setup: On a planet in some galaxy a box-thing rules with an iron fist and the populace is kept distracted with fights involving different races of "dinosaurs". Creatures called Laffrodites protest and wage guerrilla wars against the dictator. That's pretty much it. Another clear fault here is that there is no protagonist- the main character (played by writer/director Mark Hicks) Jaciniun Axcesun- the only human character in the film besides his female assistant Pratalls- is just a lackey for the Grand Automaton. The only good guys, the oppressed Laffrodites, are just ginseng roots that don't speak... even if there were scenes with rebel leader Arch Briton Sustinuce, he has no face or voice so we would not really be able to relate to him beyond his plight. Then there are the effects which come off as a mix of low budget effects from the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's when they are in fact from the 2000's! Finally a critical flaw: The dinosaurs never fight! They walk around or bob up and down with gore in their mouths, but we never actually see the action PROMISED IN THE MOVIE'S TITLE! Those are probably the main ailments here. Ah, let's not forget that when Jaciniun visits the "dinosaur holding pens" you can actually see monkeys swinging on poles in the background and realize they shot this scene at the zoo!The good: Honestly this is not a film I would ever put on with some guests to watch during prime time, unless it's just one other person and you've both been smoking the wacky to- baccy. I have probably watched Actium Maximus a hundred times, but this is usually in the wee hours alone and I have definitely not seen the ending as many times as the beginning, as I usually doze off before then. And that's the point here: This movie is dream-like... honestly, besides the first Star Wars film and T.V.'s Land of the Lost (the 70's one) there are not all that many movies that make me feel like I am really somewhere else- a place outside of this reality. Actium Maximus achieves that in my opinion, which as the above-mentioned reviewer pointed out is really enjoyed by a small group of people out there. Jaciniun's spaceship, the weird creatures that he talks to at the holding pens, the asymmetrical yellow and lavender "dinosaur"- these are some of several elements here that come off as very otherworldly and not like the endless generic stuff coming out of Hollywood. I think the guy doing the expository voice-over at the beginning does a brilliant job of sounding totally comfortable with the completely bizarre script he is reading and makes it all the more believable. I also like the "dinosaur" names like Belatonus, Titanodon, Dhezeron, Lexiagon, Retarisaurus, etc. and the fact that they are shipped in from different planets.Lastly I will mention the soundtrack, which I have seen people complement even after tearing the film itself apart- I think the score is catchy and adds to the film's atmosphere. There's a synth and piano theme repeated throughout the film which has an epic rock opera sort of feel. then we get sort of Ministry type industrial metal, and then there's plenty of 80's guitar metal shredding with an accompanying piano! Hopefully Mark gets a little satisfaction seeing that a lot of people like his music even if they didn't like the movie.So there you go- most people will surely find Actium Maximus un-watchable, but I'll take this over the generic cgi sh*t-show that comes out of Hollywood any day. Movies are art, and the conventional faults listed in the first part of the review are irrelevant for those who can appreciate this kind of otherworldly weirdness. You know who you are...

With an intricate story mythology not seen since The Dark Crystal, Mark Hicks' Actium Maximus: War of the Alien Dinosaurs is an ambitious and truly independent sci-fi fantasy film ideal for genre fans, featuring some truly inventive animated special effects.Turmoil rages in the colony of Actium, as assassination attempts, glitter riots and economic collapse all threaten to destroy the colony's fragile government. The maniacal dictator of the planet, Grand-Automaton Polpox, ignores the looming crisis by indulging in the Actium Maximus Karnivale, a gruesome competition where alien dinosaurs fight to the death, much to the delight of the ignorant citizens. Meanwhile, space hunter Omni-Turor Axezun is sent by the Grand Automaton to the farthest ends of the universe on a mission to retrieve additional creatures for the Karnivale. Axezun and his band of poachers find an ancient crashed spaceship, which may be the remains of a dead god. Inside the bowels of the wreckage, they find an ancient riddle that will change life throughout the galaxy forever!

This movie is awful, I'm SORRY. I bought this to get Star Worms, and actually expected this to be better after how disappointed I was in Star Worms. Oh just kidding, turns out this is the worst movie I've ever seen. The acting is garbage, not that there really is any, and the main character is a big stupid box who gets attacked by like, stuff or something. I can't really tell. The special effects are so bad that you can't even see the warring dinosaurs, which by the way do not war, but just stand and kind of move their mouths, or whatever those things are. The movie is a headache. It's very obvious the director is trying to establish a universe. Hahahahahahahaha... Really, this movie is just abominable, even by Troma's standards. The only good thing I can say about it is that it's got a Lloyd Kaufman intro, as he tricks us yet again into watching something that isn't fit for consumption.

I got this movie as a buy one get one deal at troma.com with The Ruining (which isn't much better). The main reason I wanted it was to see Star Worms II: Attack of the Pleasure Pods, the DVD is a double feature with that movie. I really didn't know what Actium Maximus was at the time, and when I saw the trailer I got scared. It looked awful. But hey, what can you tell from the trailer? Well, apparently I could tell a lot. This movie honestly made no sens to me. The special effects were so terrible you cannot tell what in God's name is going on. I understand Mark HIcks had a extremely low budget, but come on. And it is sad, because in the interview he sounded like this was to be an epic film and meant more than you could see. But sadly, watching the film is one of the most boring hour and 15 minutes of anyone's life. It is so utterly painful to sit through. I really can't even explain the plot to you because I didn't understand it at all and I have sadly seen this film two times! Apparently they used some type of puppets for the "alien dinosaurs" like they did in Star Wars. But these special effects are awful, I can't stress it enough. And most of the time bad special effects are okay but this film needed them badly. It takes place on some futuristic planet where alien dinosaurs battle each other and bad actors in hooded sweatshirts run around, and they look like they are in the kkk. And some box with a blue light on it is the president. I know in the interview Mark Hicks said something about making this a television pilot, well, I can see why this didn't make it to CBS or NBC. There are two good things about this film. 1. the music is actually pretty good, it has an epic score that sticks in your head for days. And 2. Lloyd Kaufman's introduction is as always hilarious. Overall, don't waste your time but check out Star Worms II: Attack of the Pleasure Pods!