''Zone Troopers'' is a 1985 American

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

directed by

Danny Bilson Daniel Bilson (born July 26, 1956) is an American writer, director, and producer of movies, television, video games, and comic books. Together with his frequent collaborator, Paul De Meo, he is best known as the writer for the film ''The Rocke ...

and starring

Tim Thomerson Joseph Timothy "Tim" Thomerson (born April 8, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Jack Deth in the ''Trancers'' film series and for his work in numerous low-budget features and for his comedic television r ...

. It was filmed in Italy by

Empire Pictures Empire International Pictures (aka Empire Entertainment) was an American small-scale theatrical distribution company. Charles Band formed Empire in 1983, prompted by his dissatisfaction with distributors' handling of films made by his previous b ...

with

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

as executive producer. The original music score was composed by

Richard Band Richard Howard Band is an American composer of film music. He has scored more than 140 projects, including '' From Beyond'', which won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Sitges Film Festival. Lately he scored ''Exorcism at 60,000 Feet' ...

Premise

Set in Italy in World War II, four members of an American military patrol, led by their grizzled sergeant (Tim Thomerson), are lost behind enemy lines. They discover an alien spaceship that has crash-landed in the woods, along with its crew. The alien pilot is dead, and one of the aliens has been captured by the Nazis, hampering efforts of the aliens to return home. A larger Nazi unit, with scientific and medical personnel, also investigates the crash, seeking to capture the alien's technology and use it to win the war. However, the aliens side with the Americans after the Nazis' actions against their crewmember.

Availability

The film was released on videocassette by Lightning Video in 1986. In 2005

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

issued a widescreen print of the film, which was shown on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

, fueling speculation that a DVD release may be possible in the near future. The film was released on a manufactured-on-demand DVD-R by MGM as part of their Limited Edition Series on December 6, 2011. The film was released on Region A Blu-ray on July 28, 2015 by Kino Lorber. It features a commentary track by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, an interview with Tim Thomerson, and the film's original trailer.

Development

This film reunited a significant portion of the cast and creators of the 1985 film ''

Trancers ''Trancers'' (also released as ''Future Cop'') is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by Charles Band and starring Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, and Art LaFleur. It is the first film in the ''Trancers'' series. Thomerson plays Jac ...

''.

Cast

as Sgt. Patrick Stone *

Timothy Van Patten Timothy Van Patten (born June 10, 1959) is an American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He has directed episodes of '' Perry Mason'', ''Boardwalk Empire'', '' Black Mirror'', '' Deadwood'', '' Ed'', ''Game of Thrones'', '' The Pacific ...

as Joey Verona *

Art LaFleur Art LaFleur (September 9, 1943 – November 17, 2021) was an American character actor and acting coach. Life and career LaFleur was born in Gary, Indiana. He played football in 1962 as a redshirt at the University of Kentucky under Coach Char ...

as George "Mittens" Minnensky * William Paulson as Alien * Peter Boom as Col. Mannheim * Max Turili as Sgt. Zeller

Reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

found that while "Thomerson ida nice job as the sergeant", the movie failed to mesh the war and science fiction genres well and moved at a slow pace. Creature Feature gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, found that it was gentler than other Charles Band productions, saying the movie was mildly enjoyable and praised the 1940s era sound track. Radio Times compared the film to the earlier movie, ''

'', describing Zone Troopers as a "witty, irreverent, time-travelling adventure

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

also deserves cult classic status." As of August 2019, the movie has a score of 42% at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, id=zone_troopers, title=Zone Troopers 1985 films 1980s science fiction adventure films American independent films War adventure films 1980s English-language films Empire International Pictures films Films shot in Italy Italian Campaign of World War II films American World War II films 1985 independent films Films scored by Richard Band Films about Nazis 1980s American films