The film is infamously difficult to find and was only ever shown once during a screening in Florida, where Tesch also gave away autographed copies of her Maradonia books to buyers. Maradonia and the Shadow Empire has since been uploaded to YouTube.
This film provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: Normal names, mostly American, are intermingled with names such as "Abbadon", "Plouton" and "Libertine".
- Animal Motif: Arabella's was snakes.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: While main character Maya serves as a self-insert of Gloria Tesch herself (who by the way played the character), brother Joey mostly behaves as this stunned idiot who talks too loudly, has a rude immaturity about him and never shuts up.
- Author Avatar: In this case, the trope originated in the book series and was carried over to the film adaptation, heightened as perhaps the most prominent example since Gloria Tesch ended up playing the character herself.
- Black Cloak: The number of villains in the film who wear these would make the Death Eaters in Harry Potter jealous as hell.
- Brother–Sister Team: Maya and Joey.
- The Empire: The title of the film says it all, but there really is a "Shadow Empire".
- Post-9/11 Terrorism Movie: Maradonia and the Shadow Empire focuses weirdly on the 9/11 attacks in the film's introduction and even features a graphic painting of the disaster shown in a classroom. Somehow the film is able to weave 9/11 into the broader Maradonia world and plot.
- Product Placement: Bizarrely, the film opens with a trailer promoting the Maradonia series.
- Terrifying Pet Store Rat: The above-mentioned snakes are very obviously ball pythons, a common domestic species.
- "Will Return" Caption: The film ends with one of these, promising an ultimately unrealized sequel titled Maradonia and the Escape from the Underworld.
