Z-Realm 5: Abyssal Abyss (Final Movie)



Z-Realm 5: Abyssal Abyss is the fifth and final movie in the Z-Realm series, serving as a sequel to Z-Realm 4: Dark Travel. Once again, it was traditionally animated. It was released 3 years after its predecessor and has a 3 hour, 4 minute runtime. Each act of this movie was exactly an hour long.

Plot/Synopsis
Act 1 - Jake, Marla, and Aspiring Young venture to the deepest limit in the Z-Realm, where Phantominous is now under full control of the Shadow King, and revealed to be their old friend Zarc. Aspiring Young mysteriously disappeared during all of this.

Act 2 - Jake and Marla try getting Zarc back so that they can look for Aspiring Young. When this fails, the Shadow King transforms into Aspiring Young, revealing his true identity. He disguised himself as a Z-Realm Academy student so that he can lead them straight to the place where he's most powerful, then possess them.

Act 3 - The Shadow King tries to take control of Jake, but Marla stops him, causing Jake to lose one of his eyes. Now, they must face Zarc and the Shadow King in the ultimate final act this franchise will ever see.

Soundtrack
This was the first Z-Realm movie not carried entirely by a musical score. "Where We Are" by The Lumineers plays throughout the movie, on numerous occasions. At the very end of the movie, "Younger" by Imagine Dragons starts playing, which bleeds into the end credits. The end credits to this movie serve as a tribute to the whole series, showing clips from previous installments in order.

Age Rating
Much like the second, third, and fourth movies, this one is PG-13, this time for exclusively one F-bomb from Marla, and no S-bombs to speak of. Also present is the graphic, disturbing imagery, but that's been there since the beginning.

The film's director originally wanted an R rating for the final movie, with three uses of the F-word, but they ultimately decided that it would be best to make it PG-13 again.

Production
The fifth movie was the final sequel announced after the first one. It entered production the same time as the fourth movie that was released to theaters. The title "Abyssal Abyss" was chosen after it was agreed that it sounded oddly cool. Originally, it wasn't going to be numbered and would just be called "Z-Realm: Abyssal Abyss," but the company interfered and suggested that they stick to the regular title formula to avoid confusion.

Reception
Critics praised the movie for its lighting, which is once again at an all-time high, as well as the story and dialogue, which audiences enjoyed as well.

TV Series
A 5-episode miniseries called "Z-Realm: After Unknown," taking place after the events of the fifth movie, was announced shortly after its release. It would serve as an epilogue, wrapping up everyone's story and tying up every loose end.

4 out of the 5 episodes were reportedly already finished at the time of the fifth movie's release because they had been done by a different studio.

Preceeded By

 * Z-Realm 4: Dark Travel
 * Z-Realm 3: Saving Zarc
 * Z-Realm 2
 * Z-Realm (Film)

Succeeded By
Z-Realm: After Unknown (TV Series)