36 reviews
Well, I found out that this movie was based on something with aliens and ancient Mayan lore, so I figured that it might actually have potential to be something worth watching.
Turns out that I was quite wrong. Wow, this movie was, and let me be bluntly honest here, god awful boring. There was literally nothing happening of any worth or interest happening throughout the entire movie, except for maybe the last five or ten minutes of the movie. And even that wasn't something you'd get worked up about.
This was essentially just following an expedition crew as they participated in what have to be the most boring expedition and spelunking ever.
The dialogue in the movie was fairly flaccid, but then again it did of course match the characters well enough, because the character gallery in this movie was just horrible. Every single character could essentially be replaced by a cardboard cutout - as they had the same personalities.
I will say that the creature - or more correctly - alien design was actually good, and that was the best part of the entire movie. But it was nowhere near enough for making up for all the rest of the movie, as it was one massive disappointing shortcoming.
Do no bother with spending your time, money or effort on this 2017 movie by director and writer Joaquin Rodriguez. Some of us suffered through this ordeal titled "Curse of the Mayans" (aka "Xibalba") so you don't have to.
I am rating this movie a generous two out of ten stars.
Turns out that I was quite wrong. Wow, this movie was, and let me be bluntly honest here, god awful boring. There was literally nothing happening of any worth or interest happening throughout the entire movie, except for maybe the last five or ten minutes of the movie. And even that wasn't something you'd get worked up about.
This was essentially just following an expedition crew as they participated in what have to be the most boring expedition and spelunking ever.
The dialogue in the movie was fairly flaccid, but then again it did of course match the characters well enough, because the character gallery in this movie was just horrible. Every single character could essentially be replaced by a cardboard cutout - as they had the same personalities.
I will say that the creature - or more correctly - alien design was actually good, and that was the best part of the entire movie. But it was nowhere near enough for making up for all the rest of the movie, as it was one massive disappointing shortcoming.
Do no bother with spending your time, money or effort on this 2017 movie by director and writer Joaquin Rodriguez. Some of us suffered through this ordeal titled "Curse of the Mayans" (aka "Xibalba") so you don't have to.
I am rating this movie a generous two out of ten stars.
- paul_haakonsen
- Dec 17, 2019
- Permalink
I'm a non diver yet, I know about the use of rebreathers in cave diving. I know there is triple redundancy in safety as cave diving is extremely dangerous. These are the "best" cave divers????? The acting at times was okay. One can only do so much with horrific writing. If you're willing to drop your intelligence level to that of an intoxicated fruit fly, the film is ok.
It could have been a good movie with a better script. Also the aliens were so stupid looking it could have been a comedy. I don't think saying the aliens were a joke is a spoiler even if they spoiled the movie.
- ziggyutah-29790
- May 10, 2019
- Permalink
- imdb-13014
- Mar 3, 2018
- Permalink
Low budget is not a curse untill it meets low scriptwriting, confusing shooting and editing, hilarious dialogues, sound probably recorded on Nokia 3310 and... well THAT acting.
Actually this movie is quiet a masterpiece. You can show it to a film school students as an example how do NOT make movies.
- sebastianrodriguez-08751
- Mar 24, 2018
- Permalink
Not much action. Not much horror. Not much suspense. Some interesting locations, but the movie is slow, the plot weak, characters shallow. Minimal background and history. An hour in, little had happened. As another reviewer mentioned, they're supposed to be top expert divers. They don't use rebreathers. I was uncomfortable listening to them jabber in underwater caves when one would be conserving air. It should have been silent with captivating underwater footage. The dialogue foreshadows what's to come. I wanted to be drawn in more than I was. I ended up just wondering if I wanted to see the end or not. All the suspense was in the last 20 minutes. Super cheesy. It got so ridiculous at the end, I couldn't take it. Just another greedy white man with no respect for the culture of others. Skip this and watch The Abyss!
- ssfossilfree
- Jul 9, 2020
- Permalink
The 2 cave divers you see diving in the real cave were diving with 2 side mount cylinders as well as a smaller cylinder (deco or bailout bottle) and were wearing normal scuba masks, one with helmet with 2 lights on the side (typical cave gear). Yet when you see ALL the divers come up, they are wearing full face masks, only have a single centre back mount tank. They also talk about being low on O2 (not air) and earlier discussed oxygen percentages they had left. It should have been how many PSI or Bar they had left. I'm sure they just took some stock footage of cave divers and put the rest in, but even non divers can tell the difference in gear.
If you even hit play on this film, you know what you're getting into. It's corny, bad acting, horrible plot, the usual B film about Mayan "noble savages." Weird combination of facts and new age theories as one other user mentioned. Good option if you know you're going to fall asleep, and if you manage to stay awake it's at least "so bad it's good"-ish.
I'm an hour into it, I know it started (first 5 to 10 minutes) with spotty acting, but then the actors started to really get into their roles. Decent damn acting,, interesting story, great camera/cinematography, and scenery. Now an hour in, the plot slows a little bit, and after that, I guess it gets a bit silly, along with the creatures...just wow, horrible special effects, they obviously did this on a nickle budget. But if you can imagine it with better budget. Well, that's why I liked it. I am not going to shame the movie, just because they didn't have enough money, especially when I enjoyed the first half, to three forth's of it.
- lutharpendragon
- Jun 12, 2019
- Permalink
I watch a bunch of low budget horror/Sci fi carnage. Love it. This one I didn't feel deserved the 3.3. The characters were believable and developed, though slow there wasn't that feeling over acting which often falls in the low budget films.
The underwater photography was excellent and overall cinematography was on par.
The movie built well but didn't finish as well as it could have. The "traditional" Mayan scenes didn't seem overly tacky either. I've seen so much worse with grades better. If you love the ancient/mummy/tomb raiding stuff it's worth a look.
The underwater photography was excellent and overall cinematography was on par.
The movie built well but didn't finish as well as it could have. The "traditional" Mayan scenes didn't seem overly tacky either. I've seen so much worse with grades better. If you love the ancient/mummy/tomb raiding stuff it's worth a look.
- jamiemacgregor-28461
- Oct 24, 2021
- Permalink
- Nena_icychilled
- Mar 9, 2018
- Permalink
It's definitely a SyFy Channel wannabe, but actually with a far better plot and cinematography. The biggest con is it takes forever to truly get to the action with the "aliens". While the build up is decent it lacks energy. The direction and story building is there but the actors for the most part seem to just go through the actions. The fact that the build up takes so long and you invest in watching for a payoff the payoff comes slate and leaves the movie open as if this were a pilot or the beginning of a series of movies and with the premise used. Sadly, because of that the ending was empty as a standalone.
- nogodnomasters
- Mar 13, 2018
- Permalink
Like I said above low budget you and 20 friends could make this with some time extra taco bell money and every spare weekend you had for a year LMFAO
- brettsurfer
- Mar 1, 2018
- Permalink
Just awful, simply awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful awful
- colawars-1
- Apr 3, 2018
- Permalink
- alexakesson
- Mar 25, 2018
- Permalink
Literally nothing happens for the first 1hr 10. And it doesn't really improve the movie when it does.
- mark.waltz
- Oct 26, 2021
- Permalink
The movie is really good, you obviously know it doesn't have a Hollywood budget, but it's affects are good, acting it's top notch, and it's all around interesting AF! Plus some awesome visuals! I for one am seriously hoping for a part 2.
- theFIRSTfuckinGAGE
- Jun 25, 2019
- Permalink
...unfortunately this one gets worse by the minute from around 40min onwards, until the agonizingly boring and pointless crescendo of the last 16min when you wish it could end sooner.
This is not made up to drag it down, just my thoughts while enduring this, hoping it would somehow pickup and suddenly get a turn to the positive (entertaining film-making).
All in all there were many potential opportunities to make this better, into an entertaining horror flick a la the descent, or with romance, action, artefacts and humor like the ol'classic romancing the stone, or pure short paced action a la Tomb Raider, Raiders of the lost arc or Uncharted. No, this one just got lamer by the minute. Yes I got the idea what the writers got in mind, and appreciate the attempted twist of mayan prophecy and the connection to the world at present day, but - it simply failed to entertain.
(the most shocking sequence and proof of a lack of idea? Was a backflash to a 40s conversation between the main protagonists about the evil beings, just a few minutes earlier in the film. How boring can something get when you are already bored)
All in all I dont write many negative reviews, just vote, but this annoyed me a bit. Have to watch something better now.
This is not made up to drag it down, just my thoughts while enduring this, hoping it would somehow pickup and suddenly get a turn to the positive (entertaining film-making).
All in all there were many potential opportunities to make this better, into an entertaining horror flick a la the descent, or with romance, action, artefacts and humor like the ol'classic romancing the stone, or pure short paced action a la Tomb Raider, Raiders of the lost arc or Uncharted. No, this one just got lamer by the minute. Yes I got the idea what the writers got in mind, and appreciate the attempted twist of mayan prophecy and the connection to the world at present day, but - it simply failed to entertain.
(the most shocking sequence and proof of a lack of idea? Was a backflash to a 40s conversation between the main protagonists about the evil beings, just a few minutes earlier in the film. How boring can something get when you are already bored)
All in all I dont write many negative reviews, just vote, but this annoyed me a bit. Have to watch something better now.
- OneSentenceReview
- Jan 20, 2023
- Permalink
LMFAO LMFAO lmfao if you feel like seeing a low budget and I do mean L O W budget flick with not great acting screenplay story etc..... ..... .... then this films for you LMFAO
- brettsurfer
- Mar 1, 2018
- Permalink
- post-39253
- Mar 12, 2018
- Permalink
- debabratanag
- Mar 1, 2018
- Permalink