''Surf Nazis Must Die'' is a 1987 American post-apocalyptic action

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

directed by Peter George and starring Gail Neely, Barry Brenner, and Robert Harden. It was produced by The institute, a production company formed by George, Craig A. Colton and

Robert Tinnell Robert Tinnell is an American writer, film director and producer. Robert directed such films as ''Feast of the Seven Fishes'' (2019), ''Frankenstein and Me'' (1996), and '' Kids of the Round Table'' (1995). His producer credits include ''Back F ...

, and distributed by

Troma Entertainment Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them pl ...

, a company known for its low-budget exploitation films.

Plot

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

leaves the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

coastline in ruins and reduces the

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

to a state of chaos. A group of

neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

led by Adolf (Brenner), the self-proclaimed "

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...

of the new beach", takes advantage of the resulting chaos by fighting off several rival surfer gangs to seize control of the beaches. Meanwhile, an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

oil well worker named Leroy (Harden) is killed by the surf Nazis while jogging on the beach. Leroy's mother, "Mama" Washington (Neely), devastated by the loss of her son, vows revenge. After arming herself with a handgun and

grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...

, she breaks out of her

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...

and exacts vengeance on the Surf Nazis.

Cast

* Gail Neely as Eleanor "Mama" Washington * Robert Harden as Leroy * Barry Brenner as Adolf * Dawn Wildsmith as Eva * Michael Sonye as Mengele * Joel Hile as Hook * Gene Mitchell as Brutus * Tom Shell as Smeg * Bobbie Bresee as Smeg's Mom * Tom Demenkoff as Ariel

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to ''Surf Nazis Must Die'' was scored by Jon McCallum and features heavy use of synthesizers. The soundtrack had an official vinyl release by Strange Disc records in September 2014 with cover artwork also by McCallum. # "Once You've Caught the Wave" (0:59) # "Opening Titles" (1:44) # "The Youth of Tomorrow" (1:48) # "After the Quake" (5:53) # "Across the River" (2:06) # "Visit to the Morgue" (0:59) # "In the Church" (2:01) # "Nobody Goes Home" (2:12) # "Mama Sends Her Love" (2:44) # "Before the Fight" (3:26) # "Chase Through the Boatyard" (5:10) # "The Last Wave" (1:35) # "Fangoria Weekend 1986 Promo" (2:27)

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of 28% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On

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 ...

the film has an approval rating of 20% based on reviews from 5 critics.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

wrote "Not even the actors' relatives will find this interesting." Michael Wilmington of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it a "total wipeout" and "a horror-action movie with dull action and horror, feebly done on every level: leaden satire, a repulsive romance, a revenge saga of zero intensity." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'': "A sort of '' Clockwork Orange'' meets ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic action film series and media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ''Mad Max 2'' (1981, released in the Unite ...

'' on the beach, pic hasn't one redeeming feature." Roger Ebert stated that he walked out of the film after 30 minutes.Ebert, Roger (May 11, 1987). "'Surf Nazis' washes up at Cannes." ''Chicago Sun-Times''.

References

External links

* * {{Amg movie, 47931 1987 films 1987 action thriller films 1980s action comedy films American satirical films American action comedy films American action thriller films Punk films American dystopian films Films about race and ethnicity Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Troma Entertainment films American surfing films American post-apocalyptic films Films about neo-Nazis Films about neo-Nazism 1987 comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films