So here we are again, Troma fans. Surf Nazis Must Die is one of those rare movies that does everything wrong, yet manages to capture the subject matter perfectly. Allow me to explain.
After a recent rather devastating earthquake hits the west coast, America is (apparently) plunged into a semi anarchistic state. Police are no longer patrolling the streets and gangs begin to take over and terrorize the beaches. Worst of all the gangs are the “Surf Nazis”. In his quest for power, “Adolph” has his followers and other gang members band together for anarchy (here’s your first problem). However, after Adolph starts pissing off the other gangs, everyone turns on the “Surf Nazis” and decide that, yes in fact, the “Surf Nazis Must Die”. Also, somewhere in there is a story about a woman who loses her house in the quake and her son to the gangs and decides to take on the Nazis her self.
The best part of this movie is that these rival “gangs” consist of no more than five maybe six members, tops. That coupled with the fact that NO ONE respects the leader of the Nazis, who incidentally looks remarkably like Freddie Mercury. I am not really sure why or how “gangs” of four people were able to take down an entire police force or be able to terrorize an entire coastline, but hey, who am I to judge.
What this movie does really well is surfing, and that may be the most surprising part of it all. My only guess is that this movie came about by ACTUAL surfers talking themselves into getting this made. The scenes of dialog are goofy, the action is overly rehearsed and poorly acted, but the surfing is actually good. Each particular scene where the characters surf, is done almost with a sort of reverence to the sport. Except for the final part, the music and the way the surfing is filmed felt like something out of a video you would see playing in a surf shop at the beach. It’s really odd and out of place but done surprisingly well.
As Troma movies go, this one is really just your run of the mill, film. Nothing is outstanding. The writing is poor. There are gratuitous sex scenes, and a hefty amount of cheese. It really is the surfing, and how well it is portrayed that stands out. I wouldn’t rush to watch it for the few scenes that are in the movie, but it is the one bright spot in an otherwise terrible film.
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