Surf Nazis Must Die (1987)

User Rating:

2.5/10   

Director:

Peter George

Writers:

Jon Ayre (story)
Peter George (story)

Release Date:

3 July 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Horror

Tagline:

The Beaches Have Become Battlefields... The Waves Are A War Zone!

Plot:

When the grandson of a gun wielding woman is murdered by neo-nazi surf punks in the post-apocalyptic future...

Plot Keywords:

Racial Slur | Racism | Surf Film | Tromaesque | Dominatrix

Cast

Gail Neely	...	Eleanor 'Mama' Washington
Robert Harden	...	Leroy
Barry Brenner	...	Adolf
Dawn Wildsmith	...	Eva
Michael Sonye	...	Mengele
Joel Hile	...	Hook
Gene Mitchell	...	Brutus
Tom Shell	...	Smeg
Bobbie Bresee	...	Smeg's Mom
Tom Demenkoff	...	Ariel (as Ty Thomas)
John Williamette	...	Mex
Rand Hogen	...	Teeth
Daniel Kong	...	Wang
Steve Reid	...	Yin
Terry Lee	...	Yang

Runtime:

USA:83 min | UK:80 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Italy:VM18 (tv rating) | Australia:R | Finland:K-12 | USA:R | UK:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Huntington Beach, California, USA

Company:

Troma Entertainment

Trivia:

When the murder victim bends over, the charm on his necklace drops down, revealing it to be a Hammer of Thor.

Quotes:

Eva: Slime-sucking Neanderthal! How dare you question my loyalty?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Orgazmo (1997)

Great film

I've been a fan of the IMDb for a really long time now. Probably about 6 years. And I've found that its site is loaded with tons of informative, interesting, and credible content. Until I saw the page for Surf Nazis Must Die. Granted, the IMDb itself doesn't do these reviews; the users do. But for this film to be on the IMDb bottom 100 is quite telling. This film is hands down and without any question a masterpiece. Anyone that fails to see that just flat-out does not understand film.

This isn't a "so bad it's good" film. This is straight-up an amazing film, filled with awesome cinematography, great action, and some straight-up weirdness that propels the story along. The story itself is very simple: nazi gang wants to own the beaches, they fight gangs, and a black woman gets her revenge on them. VERY simple. A less talented director would've wrapped up the whole story in 30 minutes or filled it the brim with boring filler. However, what the talented Peter George does is tell the story in a very slow and deliberate fashion. Instead of focusing on intense action sequences for the whole film, the movie slowly builds to them. He usually packs the events up until then with surf nazi propaganda and shots of surfing (surfing from the actual actors; this is not stock footage!). And believe it or not, it's all hugely entertaining. He fills the film with very little dialogue, so what is there leaves a huge impression on the audience.

It's a difficult film to understand completely, especially as I'm not a surfer. Mr. George took a very simple concept and decided to play it up like it's this amazing event: surfers who actually would kill over their beaches. The acting is very underrated, and there actually is very little comedy, deliberate or otherwise, here. The only real comedy is the fat black woman who is the "hero" of the film; she is so ridiculous yet I am guessing this is some kind of social satire (a fat black woman going after "Adolf", leader of the Nazis, who said that skinny blonde-haired blue-eyed men were the "master race"). The film is beautifully-shot with tons of footage of the skies and the beaches, and the pacing is very good. Not too much action, not too much mindless chatter. Another good point is the music. The score really fits the film.

This is a straight-up good film. My girlfriend, who typically dislikes B-Movies, even thought this film was gorgeous and awesome. In a lot of ways, this reminds me of Six String Samurai: a very simple (and kind of ridiculous) story told through the use of overacting, vibrant colors, gorgeous cinematography, amazing editing/directing, and lots of good music. Absolutely an art film and a well-made one at that. Anyone that dislikes this film just flat-out doesn't understand what makes movies great.