{"id":24367,"date":"2022-02-27T02:04:47","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T10:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24367"},"modified":"2022-02-27T02:04:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T10:04:47","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-surf-nazis-must-die-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24367","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: SURF NAZIS MUST DIE (1987)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray from Troma Entertainment is currently\navailable at most retailers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Independent genre film distributor Troma Entertainment have\nbeen around for quite some time, amassing a number of famously strange cult\ntitles, including The Toxic Avenger<\/em>, Class of Nuke \u2018Em High<\/em>, Tromeo\nand Juliet<\/em>, as well as the hilarious Trey Parker\/Matt Stone comedy, Cannibal:\nThe Musical<\/em>. Slowly, the company has been working over the past few years\nto upgrade some of these bizarre oddities for Blu-ray. One of Troma\u2019s most\nsuccessful titles from the 1980s, Surf Nazis Must Die<\/em>, has just officially\nbeen given the high-0definition treatment and is arriving on store shelves. The\nfinal product should please enthusiasts of the movie.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tale is set in the future. After an earthquake rocks\nCalifornia and leaves parts of the state lawless, sinister forces begin to exert\ntheir influence. On the beaches, Surf Nazis Adolf (Barry Brenner), Eva (Dawn\nWildsmith), Mengele (Michael Sonye), Hook (Joe Hile), Brutus (Gene Mitchell) and\ntheir lackey Smeg (Tom Shell) are slowly taking control of the waves, striking down\nother beach gangs and robbing any beachgoer who passes by. The group eventually\ntarget good Samaritan Leroy Washington (Robert Harden). They murder the poor\nguy, but fail to realize that his very angry parent, Eleanor Mama Washington (Gail\nNeely), lives nearby at a retirement home. After grieving for the loss of her\nson, the woman heads out for payback, hunting the responsible party down and\nleaving a number of bodies in her wake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a great idea and one that might even have been a bit\nahead of its time, but the final product does have some issues. The movie\u2019s\nbiggest problem is the fact that it is more focused on its villains than its protagonist.\nTruth be told, Eleanor Mama Washington\u2019s story doesn\u2019t really get developed\nuntil the second half of the movie. And sadly, her assault on the Nazis doesn\u2019t\noccur until very late in the picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead, the story is more interested in surfing and the\nNazis. Far more time is spent witnessing their battle to take control of the coast.\nNaturally, it\u2019s a good thing to make the central antagonists distinctive and\nshow them as a horrible and brutalizing menace. However, the movie goes\noverboard loping around with these characters and unnecessarily showing how their\nslow rise to power. The film should really establish this evil threat quickly\nand efficiently and instead focus most of its attention on Eleanor Mama\nWashington and her mission to wipe them out (and terrorize the Nazis as she\ndoes so). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While this is a huge missed opportunity for the movie, there\nare some great moments scattered throughout whenever Mama Washington does appear\nonscreen. Every time she shows up something exciting and grimly funny occurs. The\nnurses at her retirement home get a talking to from the mother. And later interactions\nwith a pawn shop owner to pick out a gun (and other weapons) are memorable. She\nis a blast to watch as she insults not only the bad guys, but anyone who is a\nnuisance or gets in her way. The revenge she ultimately takes on the Nazis during\nthe climax is hilariously ferocious, particularly when she runs a couple of the\nNazi surfers over with a hijacked motorboat. The Mama Washington character is a\njoy to watch and it really is too bad that she isn\u2019t the main character in the\nstory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with most Troma product, there are numerous extras on the\ndisc. Lloyd Kaufnab provides a new and amusing introduction that was shot during\nquarantine. He boasts about how ahead of its time some of the film\u2019s themes\nwere. This release also includes a valuable Podcast at the bottom of the extras\nscreen that serves as a sort of commentary. It frequently doesn\u2019t match what is\noccurring onscreen, but it is a good listen. The track features a trio of genre\nfilm enthusiasts who give background information about the production and the\ncast. While they all clearly like the movie, they also give an honest analysis\nof the film\u2019s strengths and weakness (several of which this reviewer and many\nothers will agree with). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, there are deleted scenes. No audio was recovered\nwith the film, so a director\u2019s commentary is included in which he talks about them.\nAnother big plus is an archived interview between story writer\/director Peter George,\nwho explains where the original idea came from. Apparently, he had taken up surfing\nafter moving to California and found that surfers on the beach were territorial\nand aggressive. This inspired the intriguing concept. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also thanks Lloyd Kaufman for suggesting that a new title\nof the movie. George had simply written and filmed the script under the moniker\nSurf Nazis<\/em>, but the Troma President suggested that Surf Nazis Must\nDie<\/em> was a far more memorable and humorous title that would properly\nestablish the tone of the flick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also an entertaining old interview with the producer,\nwho talks about tricks used to make this movie with next to no money. He also\nelaborates on some of the problems the crew encountered during the shoot. Perhaps\nthe funniest tale involves how the finale was staged. A family member owned the\nmotorboat that director (and stunt driver for the day) used during the finale. Apparently,\nthe producer arrived to set late one day and was told by the sheepish director\nthat he had messed up the boat without getting all the required shots. The\nproducer\u2019s tales are all very fun to listen to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best and most informative extras is Indie Artists\nvs Cartels<\/em>, featuring Troma President Lloyd Kaufman. He begins by giving a\ndetailed explanation of streaming revenues and how independent producers are\nsuffering due to the deals they have to make with these outlets. Kaufman\nasserts that YouTube gives preferential treatment to major studios and often\nblock Troma\u2019s official content as inappropriate. He shows how many times his posts\nhave been viewed and the tiny revenue they received from streaming sites in\ncomparison with major entertainment outlets. It seems everything is calculated using\nalgorithms that don\u2019t work effectively. It\u2019s a very intriguing feature that is\nworth a look. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So yes, Surf Nazis Must Die<\/em> is not a cinematic classic and it isn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u2018Em High, Tromeo and Juliet, as well as the hilarious Trey Parker\/Matt Stone comedy, Cannibal: The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[120,697,2928,4983,8172,9319,12555,12992,15976,16931,16941,19390,19391,19392,19393,19394,23294,23295],"class_list":["post-24367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-120","tag-action","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-cult","tag-genre","tag-horror","tag-lloyd-kaufman","tag-mama-washington","tag-peter-george","tag-revenge","tag-review","tag-surf-nazis","tag-surf-nazis-must-die","tag-surf-nazis-must-die-blu-ray-review","tag-surf-nazis-must-die-review","tag-surfing","tag-troma","tag-troma-entertainment"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}