Trivia / The Final Sacrifice

• Colbert Bump: Was mostly forgotten/unknown until being featured on MST3K almost a decade later.
• He Also Did: The director, Tjardus Greidanus, went on to become a well-known producer and director of documentaries. His best-known work is probably the 2010 documentary The Shot Felt 'Round the World, about Jonas Salk's development of the polio vaccine.
• No Budget: Greidanus made the film while a student at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, on a budget of $1,500. None of the actors were paid for appearing in the film, and most of the cameras and equipment were borrowed from the school. During post production the credits for the actors playing Rowsdower (Bruce Mitchell) and Troy (Christian Malcolm) were accidentally switched around. However, by the time the mistake was discovered there was no money left to fix it so this mistake was left in.
• Old Shame: Averted, at least for Bruce Mitchell a.k.a. Rowsdower. He was always a great sport about acting in this flick—even though neither he nor the rest of the cast received any compensation for the job—and didn't consider any of his work a total waste (although we have a suspicion that Mitchell wasn't returning Tjardus Greidanus's calls afterward).
  • After Mitchell died in April, 2018 a large number of Zap Rowsdower fans wrote tributes to him on the website of the funeral home that handled his services, which his wife and friends were very grateful for.
  • Played straight with director Tjardus Greidanus. He has since tried to make a career as a documentary maker, and has become sick of his work not being taken seriously due to people (especially those involved in the media business) bringing up this movie or the MST3K episode. Once the show's rights to use the movie expired, Greidanus majorly jacked up his asking price to renew those rights. He is also notorious for taking the movie down from streaming sites.
• What Could Have Been: Bruce Mitchell was originally invited to audition for Pipper by an actor friend who was supposed to play Rowsdower. After meeting him, Tjardus Greidanus considered Mitchell a better fit for Rowsdower and cast him instead.
• Surreally, the movie may have an Homage: a scruffy loser meets a desperate teen in the Canadian wilderness, hiding in the loser's truck. Is it Rowsdower, or is it FRIGGIN WOLVERINE?!.