My movie watch on 4 June 2025 was Orc Wars (aka Dragonfyre), a low-budget but very entertaining action/fantasy movie in which the monstrous orcs inhabiting a parallel dimension threaten to invade and conquer our own world via a magical gateway linking the two.
Directed and also co-written by Kohl Glass, and released in 2013 by Arrowstorm Entertainment, Orc Wars features as its lead character a shell-shocked, traumatised American ex-Special Forces operative, John Norton (played by Rusty Joiner), who buys a ranch out in some remote American wilderness many miles from anywhere (the movie is shot on location in Utah) where he hopes to find peace and seclusion. Some hope!
For instead, what he does find is that, firstly, he is in fact the latest in a long line of world sentinels born to guard gateways to eight other parallel worlds that periodically open when our moon and theirs overlap in the sky; and, secondly, one of these gateways, situated inside a cave on his own land and near to his new home, is presently releasing from their world into ours hordes of savage, sword-wielding, arrow-shooting orcs. In addition, they are empowered but also subjugated by an insubstantial, floating witch-like entity, Anathema (great name!), veiled and shrounded in white but irrevocably evil. Anathema is played visually by Samantha Law, but with Clare Grant providing this weird character's ear-piercing, banshee-like shrieks (which occur often, albeit for no apparent reason in most cases!).
Gravity-defying but in grievous need of a manicure, this airborne multi-taloned terror is seeking to capture a fair elven princess named Aleya (played delectably by Masiela Lusha) who has fled into our world to escape Anathema's stiletto-nailed clutches, because the shrieking one plans to sacrifice the regal elf in order to gain supreme power, or something like that. Anyway, the witch has also weaponised a fire-breathing winged dragon of colossal size and seemingly unstoppable power, to add to her planned devastation of our world and ensure that the orcs recapture Aleya.
For his part, Norton can rely only upon three (briefly four) brave helpers. Aleya herself is one, a fairly diminutive but feisty long-eared lady who is immensely skilled as an archer. Another is Katie (Clare Niederpruem), the estate agent who had recently arranged Norton's purchase of the ranch and soon after his moving in there calls around to see how he is settling in, only to become an unwitting but willing – yet tragically short-lived – ally in his bid to conquer the orcs.
Then there is a blind Native American warrior named Whitefeather (Wesley John), whose family was slaughtered by orcs during an earlier incursion into our world when he was a child. Moreover, although sparing his life, they gouged out his eyes. As a result, however, Whitefeather developed mystical powers, not to mention some highly effective martial arts moves, and thereafter, as a means of avenging his family and himself, he devoted his life to helping the then sentinel of the world gate to defend it from invading orcs, before the sentinel was eventually slain by them. So now, Whitefeather has transferred his allegiance to the new sentinel, Norton.
Last but not least is Scooter (Maclain Nelson, who also served as one of this movie's co-producers), a stereotypical good ol' boy from Hicksville. Originally one of three such characters who at the movie's beginning encounter a group of Aleya-seeking orcs, he is the only one to survive that meeting. However, although he may be dumb, Scooter is also heroic and loyal, unlike his two compatriots who were nasty pieces of work (so their respective but equally gory orc-engineered demises are guaranteed not to be grieved about by the film's viewers!).
But can Norton and his small, oddly-matched band of supporters nullify the grandiose schemes of Anathema and a seemingly limitless contingent of ornery orcs? What do you think??
For a low-budget movie like this one, the orc costumes, especially the facial masks used, are very impressive, and I'm guessing that they may have been inspired by those from Peter Jackson's mega-budget LOTR movie trilogy. Speaking of which, the sentinel's sword is claimed by some reviewers to be a dead ringer for the sword utilised as Sting in this same trilogy. (Quite frankly, however, as I have more to do in my life than spend it conducting pedantic, ultimately unimportant comparisons like this, I cannot pass any opinion regarding such claims.) As for the CGI-rendered flying dragon, this is very well designed, and delivers satisfactorily too, engaging my attention whenever it appears on screen.
Although they all perform their roles well, the cast members are for the most part virtual unknowns. Indeed, prior to this movie I hadn't even heard of or seen anything featuring its lead actor, Rusty Joiner. So I looked him up online, and learnt that he is one of a growing number of former male fashion models who have since moved into the acting profession, including such now-famous screen stars as Channing Tatum, Kellan Lutz, and, perhaps most successfully of all, Mark Wahlberg. Joiner's filmography contains a fair list of film and TV credits from 2004 onwards, with perhaps his most famous role being that of Eddie in Resident Evil: Extinction (though I haven't watched this movie).
In Orc Wars, Joiner plays his Mad Max-like role very serviceably, albeit a tad heavy at times on the taciturn, laconic persona, as he seeks to rescue Aleya specifically and save the world in general, In theory,, Aleya serves as Norton's love interest. but in practice they never even share as much as a kiss – no time for romance when you're decapitating orcs by the dozen, I suppose…
The concept of this movie is potentially interesting – a fantasy world and our real world clashing in open warfare. Yet in spite of their far greater numbers, the sword-slashing, bows-and-arrows brigade of orcs never really stand a chance against Norton and his literal armoury of guns, rifles, pistols, bazookas, grenades, etc etc, all of which have been left behind by his late sentinel predecessor, Indeed, so superior are these weapons to any technology familiar to the orcs in their own world that they consider them to be magical and the sentinels, now including Norton, to be wizards. Needless to say, however, such a mismatched set-up somewhat reduces the suspense and tension that this move's frequent and full-on battle scenes might otherwise have generated.
There is also a highly dramatic event that is frequently shown during this movie but which yields a major plot hole needing to be circumnavigated if attempting to suspend disbelief regarding the movie's storyline. The gateway between the orc world and ours opens briefly whenever our moon and theirs overlap, an event that can be readily seen in our sky, and which culminates in fiery lightning flickering upon their surfaces when the two moons are perfectly aligned. So how come such a readily observable, spectacular astronomical event has never once been documented by any of the countless professional and amateur sky-watchers throughout our world's long history??
Never mind, watching Orc Wars was a fun way to pass 90 minutes or so, which after all is what a movie is all about, or should be. So I'm readily able to recommend it to anyone who can enjoy fantasy without taking it seriously.
If you would like to watch an official trailer for Orc Wars, please click here to do so on YouTube, where you can also currently watch the entire movie free of charge if you click here.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
