This Blu-ray from Troma Entertainment is currently available at most retailers.
Independent genre film distributor Troma Entertainment have been around for quite some time, amassing a number of famously strange cult titles, including The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke ‘Em High, Tromeo and Juliet, as well as the hilarious Trey Parker/Matt Stone comedy, Cannibal: The Musical. Slowly, the company has been working over the past few years to upgrade some of these bizarre oddities for Blu-ray. One of Troma’s most successful titles from the 1980s, Surf Nazis Must Die, has just officially been given the high-0definition treatment and is arriving on store shelves. The final product should please enthusiasts of the movie.
This tale is set in the future. After an earthquake rocks California and leaves parts of the state lawless, sinister forces begin to exert their influence. On the beaches, Surf Nazis Adolf (Barry Brenner), Eva (Dawn Wildsmith), Mengele (Michael Sonye), Hook (Joe Hile), Brutus (Gene Mitchell) and their lackey Smeg (Tom Shell) are slowly taking control of the waves, striking down other beach gangs and robbing any beachgoer who passes by. The group eventually target good Samaritan Leroy Washington (Robert Harden). They murder the poor guy, but fail to realize that his very angry parent, Eleanor Mama Washington (Gail Neely), lives nearby at a retirement home. After grieving for the loss of her son, the woman heads out for payback, hunting the responsible party down and leaving a number of bodies in her wake.
It’s a great idea and one that might even have been a bit ahead of its time, but the final product does have some issues. The movie’s biggest problem is the fact that it is more focused on its villains than its protagonist. Truth be told, Eleanor Mama Washington’s story doesn’t really get developed until the second half of the movie. And sadly, her assault on the Nazis doesn’t occur until very late in the picture.
Instead, the story is more interested in surfing and the Nazis. Far more time is spent witnessing their battle to take control of the coast. Naturally, it’s a good thing to make the central antagonists distinctive and show them as a horrible and brutalizing menace. However, the movie goes overboard loping around with these characters and unnecessarily showing how their slow rise to power. The film should really establish this evil threat quickly and efficiently and instead focus most of its attention on Eleanor Mama Washington and her mission to wipe them out (and terrorize the Nazis as she does so).
While this is a huge missed opportunity for the movie, there are some great moments scattered throughout whenever Mama Washington does appear onscreen. Every time she shows up something exciting and grimly funny occurs. The nurses at her retirement home get a talking to from the mother. And later interactions with a pawn shop owner to pick out a gun (and other weapons) are memorable. She is a blast to watch as she insults not only the bad guys, but anyone who is a nuisance or gets in her way. The revenge she ultimately takes on the Nazis during the climax is hilariously ferocious, particularly when she runs a couple of the Nazi surfers over with a hijacked motorboat. The Mama Washington character is a joy to watch and it really is too bad that she isn’t the main character in the story.
As with most Troma product, there are numerous extras on the disc. Lloyd Kaufnab provides a new and amusing introduction that was shot during quarantine. He boasts about how ahead of its time some of the film’s themes were. This release also includes a valuable Podcast at the bottom of the extras screen that serves as a sort of commentary. It frequently doesn’t match what is occurring onscreen, but it is a good listen. The track features a trio of genre film enthusiasts who give background information about the production and the cast. While they all clearly like the movie, they also give an honest analysis of the film’s strengths and weakness (several of which this reviewer and many others will agree with).
Additionally, there are deleted scenes. No audio was recovered with the film, so a director’s commentary is included in which he talks about them. Another big plus is an archived interview between story writer/director Peter George, who explains where the original idea came from. Apparently, he had taken up surfing after moving to California and found that surfers on the beach were territorial and aggressive. This inspired the intriguing concept.
He also thanks Lloyd Kaufman for suggesting that a new title of the movie. George had simply written and filmed the script under the moniker Surf Nazis, but the Troma President suggested that Surf Nazis Must Die was a far more memorable and humorous title that would properly establish the tone of the flick.
There is also an entertaining old interview with the producer, who talks about tricks used to make this movie with next to no money. He also elaborates on some of the problems the crew encountered during the shoot. Perhaps the funniest tale involves how the finale was staged. A family member owned the motorboat that director (and stunt driver for the day) used during the finale. Apparently, the producer arrived to set late one day and was told by the sheepish director that he had messed up the boat without getting all the required shots. The producer’s tales are all very fun to listen to.
You’ll also discover a number of short films and monster-themed skits from the Troma company included in the bonus section. Some are funny, some not-so-much, but all are made in the outrageous style of the distributor.
One of the best and most informative extras is Indie Artists vs Cartels, featuring Troma President Lloyd Kaufman. He begins by giving a detailed explanation of streaming revenues and how independent producers are suffering due to the deals they have to make with these outlets. Kaufman asserts that YouTube gives preferential treatment to major studios and often block Troma’s official content as inappropriate. He shows how many times his posts have been viewed and the tiny revenue they received from streaming sites in comparison with major entertainment outlets. It seems everything is calculated using algorithms that don’t work effectively. It’s a very intriguing feature that is worth a look.
So yes, Surf Nazis Must Die is not a cinematic classic and it isn’t even the strongest title in the early Troma cannon. However, it does have a few memorably wild moments courtesy of its female revenge-seeker. And, even though the source material was never exactly beautiful looking, the movie does look sharper on Blu-ray than it has on any previous format, delivering some impressive surfing footage and a generally clean image. Troma fans will definitely get a kick out seeing Mama Washington tear loose during the climax and enjoy the many entertaining bonuses also included on the disc.