The worst type of movies that exist are the ones that initially look like guaranteed "this-can't-possibly-go-wrong" entertainment, but then ultimately turn out to be dull, dumb and embarrassingly incompetent disasters. I was tremendously looking forward to see "The 25th Reich", even though just solely based on the fact it's an Australian B-movie production with an awesome poster and a terrific sounding two-line plot synopsis. Moreover, thanks to the marvelously eccentric "Iron Sky" last year, I'm always interested in seeing more Sci-Fi Nazi-nonsense. But, as said, sadly enough "The 25th Reich" isn't nearly as fun as it looks, mainly due to its completely incoherent content and the hopelessly failing attempts to insert satire and homages to the genre's glory days. Apparently based on an obscure novel, the film revolves on five American soldiers on Australian soil in 1943; assigned to trace and capture two escaped black panthers (yes, that correct). Through a series of bizarre events, they end up getting catapulted back in time 50,000 years and stumble upon the ideal weapon to beat the Nazis: an abandoned alien spaceship! But it would also make a forceful weapon in the hands of the Germans as well, and there happens to be a traitor in the platoon. Personally I was astounded how a B-movie featuring Nazis, Jewish allies soldiers, time-traveling, Aussie wilderness locations and – most importantly - giant robot spiders turned out to be so underwhelming and bleak. Admittedly a few aspects of the story are greatly inventive and a small number of sequences (like the animated opening credits) are sublime, but overall the film is a forgettable misfire. The cheap but charming set pieces stand in sheer contrast with the lame CGI special effects and the odd rape sequence is totally random. I read the film already built up a minor but loyal cult following, and I certainly do admire writer/director Stephen Amis for the worthwhile attempt, but this isn't my idea of retro cult/trash.
39 Reviews
Not really worth it.
ronnierg20 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I bought this movie hoping it would be in the same vein as Iron Sky, oh boy was I wrong!
A group of American soldiers head in to the Australian outback to track and kill 5 Pumas carrying a big metal puma detecting box. But once activated the box instead of detecting pumas, it transports the soldiers back in time. Here they are attacked by killer insects and discover a crashed alien spaceship which is stolen by a traitor in their squad.
They use the box to send themselves into the future where not only have the Nazis have won the war but they now plan to launch an attack on the heavens.
This is very a tedious film with the first 30 odd minutes spent vainly trying to build some depth to the characters, instead it just drags on and on and seems intent on showing the soldiers to be stereotypes instead of the homage to 50s sci-fi/war movies that I believe they were supposed to be.
The plot is lacking and plods on until near the end when it actually picks up as it becomes an almost enjoyable B-movie, well that is until one of the soldiers is raped by a Nazi robot spider! The movie finishes on a promise, or should that be threat, of further movies to come.
The acting on the whole is adequate but at times it is so woefully cringe worthy you will be reaching for the remote.
While it does have its moments, I couldn't recommend it and would advise giving it a miss.
A group of American soldiers head in to the Australian outback to track and kill 5 Pumas carrying a big metal puma detecting box. But once activated the box instead of detecting pumas, it transports the soldiers back in time. Here they are attacked by killer insects and discover a crashed alien spaceship which is stolen by a traitor in their squad.
They use the box to send themselves into the future where not only have the Nazis have won the war but they now plan to launch an attack on the heavens.
This is very a tedious film with the first 30 odd minutes spent vainly trying to build some depth to the characters, instead it just drags on and on and seems intent on showing the soldiers to be stereotypes instead of the homage to 50s sci-fi/war movies that I believe they were supposed to be.
The plot is lacking and plods on until near the end when it actually picks up as it becomes an almost enjoyable B-movie, well that is until one of the soldiers is raped by a Nazi robot spider! The movie finishes on a promise, or should that be threat, of further movies to come.
The acting on the whole is adequate but at times it is so woefully cringe worthy you will be reaching for the remote.
While it does have its moments, I couldn't recommend it and would advise giving it a miss.
Go wash your car
la1-125 May 2012
Well this is a strange one. You have to admire the energy that went into making this movie. But you have to ask why? It is very like an Ed Wood's film with higher production values. A movie needs more than enthusiasm and one or two ideas and you need to suppress the impulse too insert scenes that don't advance the story or out right confuse it. The movie tries too capture the feel of old time serials and occasional does but also thinks its Deliverance at times. My main complaint is the lack of an ending. They try to evoke the serial format "In the next episode" but the story just stops and leaves you with a "WTF" FEELING. Bottom line if you have nothing else to do go wash your car. That at least is constructive.
Falls between two stools
demelewis15 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
It's difficult to know what the film-makers were trying to achieve here. One minute it wants to be a serious low-budget sci-fi, next an homage to 50's B movies, next it's a parody, then a comedy, etc. And the trouble is, you get the impression that if it would have stuck to one of those genres, it wouldn't have been half bad.
Because ironically enough, there is actually some good acting on show here from most of the cast, in spite of the vast majority of the them being slightly too old for their various roles, and the lack of a clearly defined tone for the movie. This is notwithstanding Jak Wyld's appalling attempt at a 'good old boy southern US drawl' for the character of Cpl Updike, which continuously lapses into his native Australian, detracting terribly from any semblance of the suspension of belief one manages to muster, particularly given the way it flips from genre-to-genre. Clearly Wyld can act, but he quite clearly can't do a consistent Yank accent, which makes one think that a few additional takes might have yielded a better result; something the director should perhaps have considered, instead of rushing to get it in the can, which certainly only adds to the problems this movie has.
Similarly, there is decent camera-work and art direction on show for the many scenes, much of it referencing well-known war movies in a clever way if you are familiar with them, but then we come to the not-quite-so-special, special effects, which only serve to jar terribly with the good camera work. It's tempting to imagine that these effects are intended to be self-referentially bad as an homage to the 1950's era B-movies which the 25th Reich is obviously attempting to channel, but the trouble is, they are neither cheesy enough, nor convincing enough as to be either an in-joke or a serious attempt at persuading us of either intent.
In fairness, one or two effects are pretty good. Similarly one or two are cheesy enough to almost convince us it was a deliberate attempt to 'do a Plan 9 from Outer Space', but the majority fall firmly between these two stools and the end result is that it just looks like bad film-making.
As if these gripes were not enough of a problem, some scenes are appalling misjudged, notably one which was obviously intended to be an (ill-advised) humorous reference to the rape-scene in the movie Deliverance, but instead (of course) ends up being simply in very bad taste indeed. Not to mention the fact that it sticks out like a sore thumb as far as the rest of the movie's tone is concerned, especially when the movie is already having problems in this area.
Comparisons with Iron Sky - largely because of the Nazi 'what if?' subject material - will doubtless be drawn, however, where Iron Sky succeeds massively in hitting its target, the 25th Reich is a film which attempts to mash up a few genres and ends up doing a disservice to all of them. There are flashes of genuine talent here from the director and indeed some of the cast and production crew, which leads one to imagine that we might expect great things from some of those involved in this thing, but this movie isn't one of them.
Because ironically enough, there is actually some good acting on show here from most of the cast, in spite of the vast majority of the them being slightly too old for their various roles, and the lack of a clearly defined tone for the movie. This is notwithstanding Jak Wyld's appalling attempt at a 'good old boy southern US drawl' for the character of Cpl Updike, which continuously lapses into his native Australian, detracting terribly from any semblance of the suspension of belief one manages to muster, particularly given the way it flips from genre-to-genre. Clearly Wyld can act, but he quite clearly can't do a consistent Yank accent, which makes one think that a few additional takes might have yielded a better result; something the director should perhaps have considered, instead of rushing to get it in the can, which certainly only adds to the problems this movie has.
Similarly, there is decent camera-work and art direction on show for the many scenes, much of it referencing well-known war movies in a clever way if you are familiar with them, but then we come to the not-quite-so-special, special effects, which only serve to jar terribly with the good camera work. It's tempting to imagine that these effects are intended to be self-referentially bad as an homage to the 1950's era B-movies which the 25th Reich is obviously attempting to channel, but the trouble is, they are neither cheesy enough, nor convincing enough as to be either an in-joke or a serious attempt at persuading us of either intent.
In fairness, one or two effects are pretty good. Similarly one or two are cheesy enough to almost convince us it was a deliberate attempt to 'do a Plan 9 from Outer Space', but the majority fall firmly between these two stools and the end result is that it just looks like bad film-making.
As if these gripes were not enough of a problem, some scenes are appalling misjudged, notably one which was obviously intended to be an (ill-advised) humorous reference to the rape-scene in the movie Deliverance, but instead (of course) ends up being simply in very bad taste indeed. Not to mention the fact that it sticks out like a sore thumb as far as the rest of the movie's tone is concerned, especially when the movie is already having problems in this area.
Comparisons with Iron Sky - largely because of the Nazi 'what if?' subject material - will doubtless be drawn, however, where Iron Sky succeeds massively in hitting its target, the 25th Reich is a film which attempts to mash up a few genres and ends up doing a disservice to all of them. There are flashes of genuine talent here from the director and indeed some of the cast and production crew, which leads one to imagine that we might expect great things from some of those involved in this thing, but this movie isn't one of them.
The Australian film industry can do so so much better (I'm an Aussie btw)
pierrem-m25 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Whilst the basic idea of this movie is a good one -
"In 1943, five US soldiers are recruited by the OSS for a time travel mission to save the world from the tyranny of Hitler's 25th Reich."
the execution was lamentable!
(I'm trying to find a copy of the book it's based so I can do a comparison)
The low point for me being a 'homosexual', using the term very loosely, rape of the Captain commanding the GIs by one of his own men who's been turned into a giant metallic spider by a flying swastika in the year 2237 (it seems that they overshot the mark on their return from 50,000 years in the past). (This is also a concise summary of the standard, of lack thereof, of this film)
Whilst not at the depths so 'brilliantly' hit by Ed Wood Jr in "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE" in 1959 "The 25th Reich" is certainly heading in that direction fast!
When I consider what my country's film industry can turn out I'm almost ashamed to admit my nationality if that also involves admitting any connection, even a cultural one, with this turkey of a film.
Now having comprehensively (I hope) canned it I find myself strangely hoping that they do make the sequel "The 25th Reich - War against God" so I can see if they can 'surpass' the late Mr Wood's fantastically low achievement!
Btw my wife's critique was "Wtf" and she asked "Is there a rating less than 1". And she was being charitable at the time!
"In 1943, five US soldiers are recruited by the OSS for a time travel mission to save the world from the tyranny of Hitler's 25th Reich."
the execution was lamentable!
(I'm trying to find a copy of the book it's based so I can do a comparison)
The low point for me being a 'homosexual', using the term very loosely, rape of the Captain commanding the GIs by one of his own men who's been turned into a giant metallic spider by a flying swastika in the year 2237 (it seems that they overshot the mark on their return from 50,000 years in the past). (This is also a concise summary of the standard, of lack thereof, of this film)
Whilst not at the depths so 'brilliantly' hit by Ed Wood Jr in "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE" in 1959 "The 25th Reich" is certainly heading in that direction fast!
When I consider what my country's film industry can turn out I'm almost ashamed to admit my nationality if that also involves admitting any connection, even a cultural one, with this turkey of a film.
Now having comprehensively (I hope) canned it I find myself strangely hoping that they do make the sequel "The 25th Reich - War against God" so I can see if they can 'surpass' the late Mr Wood's fantastically low achievement!
Btw my wife's critique was "Wtf" and she asked "Is there a rating less than 1". And she was being charitable at the time!
Totally not expected, and not enjoyed by any stretch.
blackholedsun221 June 2012
This film was....how can I say it politely? A waste of time. It was also a waste of bandwith. If I paid to watch this at a cinema, I would probably burn it down to the ground if were it were not illegal to do so (heck I'd do that anyway simply because the snacks cost more than a nuclear missile). The more films I see that involve the second world war, the more I feel inclined to believe the industry is attempting to honour the memory of that horrid piece of work known historically and factually as Hitler. This was not refreshing by any scope of the imagination, it was certainly different, but it was different in a way that I can only describe as unexpected yet unwanted. I didn't watch the whole film because I endured, I endured mind you, the first half hour of it, and during that time the plot was predictable, the script was also predictable (any jokes about pussy is a bad start - they're old to a thirty-something), and generally if it's sci-fi you are looking for, then this may well be for you, but I'd expect to be bored out of your mind. Give it a go, you might like it, but for me, if I were you looking for something not usually your thing, I would totally give this a miss.
Those darn Nazis...
Thorney7130 April 2012
Australian cinema has a long tradition of cultivating, odd, fascinating genre hybrids, films that mix traditional movie elements with aspects of the local culture to create a unique blend. Russell Mulcahy (after his various Europop music videos, and before the singular atrocity of HIGHLANDER 2) directed RAZORBACK, a smart, garish monster-on-the-loose saga that remains a particular highlight of his career. Simon Wincer, prolific director of family friendly fare such as FREE WILLY, crafted the appealingly nasty slasher movie SNAPSHOT with Sigrid Thornton and a menacing Mr Whippy (a popular ice-cream franchise signalled by a white van continually playing a friendly jingle). George Miller's repeated odes to local car culture, samurai ethics and post-apocalyptic barbarism are other obvious examples. One of the most fascinating local examples of this tendency in recent years is THE 25TH Reich, a WWII men- on-a-mission saga that blends soldiers in combat, time travel, and everyone's favourite foe from recent German political history. The result is a witty, engaging mix of eccentric SF ideas, low-budget craft, chutzpah, and sheer cinematic balls. You probably haven't seen anything like this in a long while, or possibly ever. (THE 25TH Reich does play off an alternate vision of the present and future - viewed through the lens of resurgent Nazism, to alternately comedic and horrific effect - ala Philip K. Dick's THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE and FATHERLAND by Robert Harris, two SF novels that also examine the trope of Nazis triumphing during the second World War to different ends).
American soldiers circa WW2 hunt a rogue puma in the Australian outback, then stumble across mysterious events that will transport them through time. An alternate reality presents them with an old foe that has re-armed itself with spectacular new technological advances. The soldiers must fight numerous battles - some with their newly discovered enemy, others closer to home - to succeed in their mission and possibly save the world. THE 25TH Reich holds a number of surprises for viewers, many of which are best not revealed in this review. Like the characters on screen, the filmmakers wield high-tech technology (the film was shot in widescreen HD on the RED camera) and more down-and-dirty methods (the movie takes place in the middle of the arid Australian bush, and the outback locales are spectacular throughout) to craft a fun and amusing story. Some nasty, violent mutant critters make various appearances, and the Nazi's sinister advances with robotics have to be seen to be believed. (The fate of one major character captured by a mechanical adversary is a grotesquely funny highlight). Some initially cornball characters eventually gain enough depth to stick in the mind after the film's conclusion, and the movie carries its wild ideas - conveyed through punchy action scenes and some nutty but slick special FX - to a clever and creepy conclusion with a minimum of fuss. All up, THE 25TH Reich is a nice change of pace in this time of cautious, corporate filmmaking by numbers, and is well worth both seeking out and checking out.
American soldiers circa WW2 hunt a rogue puma in the Australian outback, then stumble across mysterious events that will transport them through time. An alternate reality presents them with an old foe that has re-armed itself with spectacular new technological advances. The soldiers must fight numerous battles - some with their newly discovered enemy, others closer to home - to succeed in their mission and possibly save the world. THE 25TH Reich holds a number of surprises for viewers, many of which are best not revealed in this review. Like the characters on screen, the filmmakers wield high-tech technology (the film was shot in widescreen HD on the RED camera) and more down-and-dirty methods (the movie takes place in the middle of the arid Australian bush, and the outback locales are spectacular throughout) to craft a fun and amusing story. Some nasty, violent mutant critters make various appearances, and the Nazi's sinister advances with robotics have to be seen to be believed. (The fate of one major character captured by a mechanical adversary is a grotesquely funny highlight). Some initially cornball characters eventually gain enough depth to stick in the mind after the film's conclusion, and the movie carries its wild ideas - conveyed through punchy action scenes and some nutty but slick special FX - to a clever and creepy conclusion with a minimum of fuss. All up, THE 25TH Reich is a nice change of pace in this time of cautious, corporate filmmaking by numbers, and is well worth both seeking out and checking out.
No Budget
kosmasp19 November 2012
You get the cardboard cut-outs of a group of characters in this. You have the good guy, the bad guy, the crazy guy and the rookie(s). The budget is so small that the first time the guys are lifting something "heavy" (a machine, that plays a big role, who'd have thought that? Yes, everybody!), it is really painfully obvious that what they're lifting is pretty lightweight.
There is some nice CGI, but the story is more than predictable (apart from one or maybe two little twists that is). I'm not sure what to think of that ending either. There is one scene there, that will disturb people a lot (depending on what they're used to take in ... no pun intended)!
There is some nice CGI, but the story is more than predictable (apart from one or maybe two little twists that is). I'm not sure what to think of that ending either. There is one scene there, that will disturb people a lot (depending on what they're used to take in ... no pun intended)!
Insanely Bad.
bobj-5464615 December 2020
Worst movie EVER
brookbury9 February 2021
This film has all the right ingredients but . . .
fluffyducksflybackwards13 June 2016
On face value, this film has all the right ingredients to qualify as a SCI-FI classic - Nazis, disgruntled US soldiers, spaceships, the Australian outback, mild sexual innuendo, time travel, a potential US presidential candidate and so much more. But, as any fan of "Celebrity Bake-Off" will tell you, having the right ingredients does not mean that you will end up with a good result.
I wish I could say that I enjoyed this film. But that would be stretching the concept of enjoyment a bit too far.
Will I watch it again? Doubtful.
Would I watch the sequel? Sadly, yes (if they decide to make one).
This is probably one of those films to see before you die, but not a film to die for.
I wish I could say that I enjoyed this film. But that would be stretching the concept of enjoyment a bit too far.
Will I watch it again? Doubtful.
Would I watch the sequel? Sadly, yes (if they decide to make one).
This is probably one of those films to see before you die, but not a film to die for.
The things you find in the Australian outback!
Sergio_Falco16 April 2012
I went to a preview screening of The 25th Reich at ACMI in Melbourne with a friend. Afterwards, he described it as the 'singularly most outrageous film he'd ever seen'. I wouldn't quite go that far, but there's no denying 25th Reich is out there in a space all of its own. Based on a pulp novel called 50,000 Years Until Tomorrow, Reich finds a squad of American GI's based in Australia during the Second World War on a mission to catch or kill some escaped pumas who have fled into the bush (this bit, I believe, is based on something of a true story). The five man squad trek into the stunning wilderness, carrying a strange radio device designed to send out signals to attract the pumas... and then things start to go a bit weird...
I won't detail any of the plot turns from here, but suffice it to say we are served up time travel, rampaging giant mosquitoes, infighting amongst the men, aliens, a crashed UFO and giant Nazi robot spiders! This film is a genuine oddity and a rarity for Australian cinema, which is only cautiously embracing genre after decades of playing things fairly safe. It's obviously been done on a low budget, but what it lacks in Transformers style high-tech mayhem it more than makes up for with verve and wacky ideas. The cast do a fine job of playing characters that initially seem to be stereotyped WW2 GI's, but gradually take on individual shadings, and the retro visual style is highly reminiscent of 50's Technicolor sci-fi movies. The dialogue (presumably lifted from the novel) is laced with period lingo and the actors pull it off without a hitch. The film has a slow build (which might bother ADD types who itch to check their iphone every ten seconds) and the real lunacy happens in the last third, but its an engaging and fun ride all the way through. There is one standout scene that had my jaw dropping open with stunned disbelief, but I won't say anymore (although I think it's still burned into my eyeballs - people will know the scene I'm referring to when they watch the movie). It also ends on something of a 'Republican Serial' style cliffhanger, and I can't even begin to imagine how insane the sequel could be. This film has been likened to the much hyped (and much more expensive) Iron Sky, but there's no real comparison here - 25th Reich is very much its own beast. I really enjoyed this offbeat offering from director Stephen Amis and his team, and hope that it will inspire more indie filmmakers in Australia to think outside the box of kitchen sink dramas and rom-com's. Well worth a look.
I won't detail any of the plot turns from here, but suffice it to say we are served up time travel, rampaging giant mosquitoes, infighting amongst the men, aliens, a crashed UFO and giant Nazi robot spiders! This film is a genuine oddity and a rarity for Australian cinema, which is only cautiously embracing genre after decades of playing things fairly safe. It's obviously been done on a low budget, but what it lacks in Transformers style high-tech mayhem it more than makes up for with verve and wacky ideas. The cast do a fine job of playing characters that initially seem to be stereotyped WW2 GI's, but gradually take on individual shadings, and the retro visual style is highly reminiscent of 50's Technicolor sci-fi movies. The dialogue (presumably lifted from the novel) is laced with period lingo and the actors pull it off without a hitch. The film has a slow build (which might bother ADD types who itch to check their iphone every ten seconds) and the real lunacy happens in the last third, but its an engaging and fun ride all the way through. There is one standout scene that had my jaw dropping open with stunned disbelief, but I won't say anymore (although I think it's still burned into my eyeballs - people will know the scene I'm referring to when they watch the movie). It also ends on something of a 'Republican Serial' style cliffhanger, and I can't even begin to imagine how insane the sequel could be. This film has been likened to the much hyped (and much more expensive) Iron Sky, but there's no real comparison here - 25th Reich is very much its own beast. I really enjoyed this offbeat offering from director Stephen Amis and his team, and hope that it will inspire more indie filmmakers in Australia to think outside the box of kitchen sink dramas and rom-com's. Well worth a look.
I quite enjoyed it
cityjak2 June 2012
Well I did!
After watching the trailer and reading some of the website previews I kind of knew what to expect. Yeh its a bit cheesy and a little homo erotic, but I think it was supposed to be that way. I certainly didn't watch it to be blown away by special effects and if you removed them you still have some pretty interesting characters.
The film is a bit of a slow starter but by no means boring, tension between characters is quickly established. It was great to see the Australian bush and there were some beautiful locations. The ending is pure '50's sci fi and I hope they make a sequel! It was a fun way to spend an evening.
After watching the trailer and reading some of the website previews I kind of knew what to expect. Yeh its a bit cheesy and a little homo erotic, but I think it was supposed to be that way. I certainly didn't watch it to be blown away by special effects and if you removed them you still have some pretty interesting characters.
The film is a bit of a slow starter but by no means boring, tension between characters is quickly established. It was great to see the Australian bush and there were some beautiful locations. The ending is pure '50's sci fi and I hope they make a sequel! It was a fun way to spend an evening.
Looooooooot of padding
Ai-Fan4 December 2019
They walk through the outback, talk about movies, walk through the outback and barely anything happens aside from walking through the outback and talking - for about 50 minutes! Late, almost too late, the plot becomes more interesting.
worth it
production-21730 April 2012
Cinema is an experience. You want to be taken to places and meet people that the everyday world can't possibly throw up. You get that in spades with The 25th Reich. This is WWII meets Stephen King meets giant robo-Nazi's mixed up with aliens and time travel, all set in the glorious backdrop of the Australian bush... top that! The 25th Reich mashes all these ingredients together with the tropes of a classic B-movie, and takes you on a wild, mind bending ride through time and space to arrive at a Nazi dominated world where the last thing you want to do is become the sparkle in the eye of an angry robot with less than honourable intentions. Great fun - by the time you pick your jaw up off the floor, you will be back to watch it again.
Hilarious, this movie should not be missed...
paul_haakonsen17 August 2013
Warning: Spoilers
"The 25th Reich" was no groundbreaking blessing to the world of cinema, no doubt about it. But this movie is actually so far out there and so cheesy that it was fun to watch.
The story is about a group of American soldiers who are sent into the Australian wilderness to track down and capture (or kill, if necessary) two escaped pumas that serve as troop mascots. Carrying with them, they have a strange apparatus that is to lure in these giant felines. Once the apparatus is turned on, the soldiers find themselves transported 50.000 years back into the future, where they learn about the true plan of the mission; to find and secure a crashed UFO to use against Hitler's forces back in 1943.
Right, well this was weird enough, wasn't it? But it gets better. But before you read on, I should point out that story spoilers are about to follow.
With the apparatus shot to pieces by an undercover Nazi soldier, the Americans are stuck in the past. But through the use of alien telepathy, they manage to fix the apparatus and get it working, sending them back into the future. However, they are 300 years off target and end up in 2243, where they find out that the Nazis have won World War II (most likely with the use of the recovered UFO) and have conquered the world, building a massive army of UFOs. Apparently humans are obsolete, and the Nazis are now huge spider-like machines.
Storywise, then "The 25th Reich" is definitely one of the most campy and cheesy stories I have witnessed. It just screamed B-movie all over. But it was done so well and so goofy that the movie was actually fun and worth watching.
I will say that the robotic spider-like Nazis were actually quite cool and were made very well, where as the rest of the CGI in the movie could have been better.
One of the things that really had me cracked up was when they returned back to the future, but missing by 300 years, and returned to the exact location where they had first gone back 50.000 years. The army jeep that they had left there was still in pristine condition, without any rust, decay or damage after having sat 300 years out in the Australian wilderness. It was just hilarious.
The characters in the movie were quite out there as well, as they were rather caricatured in extreme ways. But these overly done quirks were actually helping along the movie, because it added flavor to the characters. And the people hired to play these characters were doing good jobs, even though they had one outrageous storyline and script to work with.
And as if giant robotic spider-like Nazis weren't enough, then there is also a massive swarm of huge mosquitoes, because we all know that the world was infested by mosquitoes the size of small dogs 50.000 years ago - evolution just made them smaller and more annoying.
Topping it off, that would have to be the anal probing scene. Yeah, there were such a scene in the movie too. A soldier getting probed by a giant robotic spider-like Nazi, whilst it is actually doing humping motions. That just had be laughing so hard that I almost spilled my drink.
"The 25th Reich" is good entertainment if you enjoy campy, goofy and cheesy movies where nothing is barred. This movie is outrageous in concept, idea and execution.
The story is about a group of American soldiers who are sent into the Australian wilderness to track down and capture (or kill, if necessary) two escaped pumas that serve as troop mascots. Carrying with them, they have a strange apparatus that is to lure in these giant felines. Once the apparatus is turned on, the soldiers find themselves transported 50.000 years back into the future, where they learn about the true plan of the mission; to find and secure a crashed UFO to use against Hitler's forces back in 1943.
Right, well this was weird enough, wasn't it? But it gets better. But before you read on, I should point out that story spoilers are about to follow.
With the apparatus shot to pieces by an undercover Nazi soldier, the Americans are stuck in the past. But through the use of alien telepathy, they manage to fix the apparatus and get it working, sending them back into the future. However, they are 300 years off target and end up in 2243, where they find out that the Nazis have won World War II (most likely with the use of the recovered UFO) and have conquered the world, building a massive army of UFOs. Apparently humans are obsolete, and the Nazis are now huge spider-like machines.
Storywise, then "The 25th Reich" is definitely one of the most campy and cheesy stories I have witnessed. It just screamed B-movie all over. But it was done so well and so goofy that the movie was actually fun and worth watching.
I will say that the robotic spider-like Nazis were actually quite cool and were made very well, where as the rest of the CGI in the movie could have been better.
One of the things that really had me cracked up was when they returned back to the future, but missing by 300 years, and returned to the exact location where they had first gone back 50.000 years. The army jeep that they had left there was still in pristine condition, without any rust, decay or damage after having sat 300 years out in the Australian wilderness. It was just hilarious.
The characters in the movie were quite out there as well, as they were rather caricatured in extreme ways. But these overly done quirks were actually helping along the movie, because it added flavor to the characters. And the people hired to play these characters were doing good jobs, even though they had one outrageous storyline and script to work with.
And as if giant robotic spider-like Nazis weren't enough, then there is also a massive swarm of huge mosquitoes, because we all know that the world was infested by mosquitoes the size of small dogs 50.000 years ago - evolution just made them smaller and more annoying.
Topping it off, that would have to be the anal probing scene. Yeah, there were such a scene in the movie too. A soldier getting probed by a giant robotic spider-like Nazi, whilst it is actually doing humping motions. That just had be laughing so hard that I almost spilled my drink.
"The 25th Reich" is good entertainment if you enjoy campy, goofy and cheesy movies where nothing is barred. This movie is outrageous in concept, idea and execution.
If this movie had started out any slower it would have been going backwards
wdstarr-118 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
An 84-minute movie in which nothing plot-related happens until the 28-minute mark. Really -- I stopped the movie and checked the timer on the screen when the time machine finally started buzzing.
(This is going to be a bit long, because I'm doing an "I watched it so you don't have to" riff here.)
It's 1943 and five U.S. soldiers are sent out in Australia to capture or kill a pair of regimental-mascot pumas that got loose, and they're dragging around this bulky console-box thingy with with switches and dials all over it that's allegedly a device for sending out a signal "like a dog whistle" to attract the big cats. The above-mentioned 28 minutes are spent trying to develop the characters, but we could have learned everything we needed to know about them in five minutes easily. The captain's a fairly successful Hollywood leading-man actor, the sergeant's a sergeant, the corporal is an utterly unlikeable bigot, a U.S. senator's son who oozes "cowardly bully who beats up people smaller than himself," and the privates are a Jewish kid and a third-generation Italian-American from Brooklyn.
The plot finally kicks in when everything within two miles of the machine is transported 50,000 years into the past, the sergeant pulls out papers that identify him as actually being a member of the OSS with the rank of colonel, and he takes over the unit and puts a couple of bullets into the time machine to force the unit into a "The only way out is through" situation. A couple of encounters with temporally local wildlife later, with the colonel coming across as more and more unhinged as time passes, and things finally happen that might have saved the movie if we hadn't had to wait this long for them.
The mission is to recover a flying saucer that it was dug up a little while ago relative to the 1943 'present' but was so badly corroded by the passage of time that nothing was salvageable except some tech that you could conveniently build a time machine out of. But 'now,' 50,000 years in the past it's sitting in the surface, pristine, waiting to be claimed as long as they're lucky enough that the previous owners left the keys in it. (Sorry, I get a little snarky thinking about this film.)
Long story short: the Jewish kid dies from a sting inflicted by a wasp the size of a chihuahua, the corporal decides that he hates the Italian-American guyenough to stab him when they're alone, dump him in a lake, and report that a crocodile got him, and the colonel who's been ranting about the human race going into space and eventually supplanting God turns out to be a secret Nazi who manages to get into the saucer and fly away with it. Having unwittingly psychically interacted with either some not-completely-dead aliens or some tech they set up after they landed, the captain manages to get the time machine working and zaps back to the future... but overshoots by a couple of centuries and arrives in a Nazi-dominated future full of huge spider-form robots, one of which contains the consciousness of the colonel (still got his human voice though). He reveals the big secret that the captain, the Hollywood actor, is actually Jewish and offers the corporal the choice to join the Nazis or get killed and the corporal enthusiastically switches sides and is uploaded into a giant robot spider of his own. The colonel uses a raise-the-dead ray to resurrect the Jewish private so that his protoge can have the fun of killing two Jews instead of just one, gives then a head start and then turns the corporal loose and leaves. It's no contest, the corporal catches the captain and --- I am not making this up -- turns him over, pulls down his pants, and anally rapes him with a probe appendage. (Where the hell did *that* come from in this movie?) Then who should walk up but the Italian-American guy, not only still alive but moving as if he's never been near-mortally wounded (no, we don't get an explanation). The corporal-spider chases him and he eventually blows it up with a 22nd-century grenade he found in a crate next to a pillbox installation.
Our three heroes (the captain having apparently shaken off his brutal and lengthy rape as no big deal) then climb to the top of a ridge and see on the other side a vast Nazi flying-saucer base and watch about two dozen of them lift off and fly upwards, presumably to outer space, and then... the movie ends.
No, really, after taking almost an hour and a half to tell a story that could have been done in twenty-five minutes tops, the. Movie. Ends.
Hell, I was going to give this turkey two stars out of ten because the robot spiders and the flying saucers looked real good, but nah, it loses its pity-star for the screw-you-and-the-84-minutes-of-your-life-you-just-wasted non-ending. It gets one star and it should be grateful for that.
(This is going to be a bit long, because I'm doing an "I watched it so you don't have to" riff here.)
It's 1943 and five U.S. soldiers are sent out in Australia to capture or kill a pair of regimental-mascot pumas that got loose, and they're dragging around this bulky console-box thingy with with switches and dials all over it that's allegedly a device for sending out a signal "like a dog whistle" to attract the big cats. The above-mentioned 28 minutes are spent trying to develop the characters, but we could have learned everything we needed to know about them in five minutes easily. The captain's a fairly successful Hollywood leading-man actor, the sergeant's a sergeant, the corporal is an utterly unlikeable bigot, a U.S. senator's son who oozes "cowardly bully who beats up people smaller than himself," and the privates are a Jewish kid and a third-generation Italian-American from Brooklyn.
The plot finally kicks in when everything within two miles of the machine is transported 50,000 years into the past, the sergeant pulls out papers that identify him as actually being a member of the OSS with the rank of colonel, and he takes over the unit and puts a couple of bullets into the time machine to force the unit into a "The only way out is through" situation. A couple of encounters with temporally local wildlife later, with the colonel coming across as more and more unhinged as time passes, and things finally happen that might have saved the movie if we hadn't had to wait this long for them.
The mission is to recover a flying saucer that it was dug up a little while ago relative to the 1943 'present' but was so badly corroded by the passage of time that nothing was salvageable except some tech that you could conveniently build a time machine out of. But 'now,' 50,000 years in the past it's sitting in the surface, pristine, waiting to be claimed as long as they're lucky enough that the previous owners left the keys in it. (Sorry, I get a little snarky thinking about this film.)
Long story short: the Jewish kid dies from a sting inflicted by a wasp the size of a chihuahua, the corporal decides that he hates the Italian-American guyenough to stab him when they're alone, dump him in a lake, and report that a crocodile got him, and the colonel who's been ranting about the human race going into space and eventually supplanting God turns out to be a secret Nazi who manages to get into the saucer and fly away with it. Having unwittingly psychically interacted with either some not-completely-dead aliens or some tech they set up after they landed, the captain manages to get the time machine working and zaps back to the future... but overshoots by a couple of centuries and arrives in a Nazi-dominated future full of huge spider-form robots, one of which contains the consciousness of the colonel (still got his human voice though). He reveals the big secret that the captain, the Hollywood actor, is actually Jewish and offers the corporal the choice to join the Nazis or get killed and the corporal enthusiastically switches sides and is uploaded into a giant robot spider of his own. The colonel uses a raise-the-dead ray to resurrect the Jewish private so that his protoge can have the fun of killing two Jews instead of just one, gives then a head start and then turns the corporal loose and leaves. It's no contest, the corporal catches the captain and --- I am not making this up -- turns him over, pulls down his pants, and anally rapes him with a probe appendage. (Where the hell did *that* come from in this movie?) Then who should walk up but the Italian-American guy, not only still alive but moving as if he's never been near-mortally wounded (no, we don't get an explanation). The corporal-spider chases him and he eventually blows it up with a 22nd-century grenade he found in a crate next to a pillbox installation.
Our three heroes (the captain having apparently shaken off his brutal and lengthy rape as no big deal) then climb to the top of a ridge and see on the other side a vast Nazi flying-saucer base and watch about two dozen of them lift off and fly upwards, presumably to outer space, and then... the movie ends.
No, really, after taking almost an hour and a half to tell a story that could have been done in twenty-five minutes tops, the. Movie. Ends.
Hell, I was going to give this turkey two stars out of ten because the robot spiders and the flying saucers looked real good, but nah, it loses its pity-star for the screw-you-and-the-84-minutes-of-your-life-you-just-wasted non-ending. It gets one star and it should be grateful for that.
Tax Write Off
momkatmax5 September 2018
One of those films that's so bad you have to watch to the end, a rag tag five man patrol of a interracial group of men in Australia 1943 are on a mission to kill the escaped mascots, pumas so not to embarrass their division.
Here is just a few things besides bad acting and dialog:
1. Australia looks like California
2. Wrong uniforms
3. AK 47s
4. Japanese US soldier would have never been in Oceana theater ops
5. Wrong kind of keeps
6. Divisions didn't have such unique living mascots
This was a pilot for a TV series. I almost wish it had been pick up. US soldiers fighting NAZIS in UFOs would have been worth the laughs.
1950's style sci-fi
kermitdgorf1235 October 2019
The color was too vivid. The begining was dull. Formulmatic war film. I turned the color down to black & white to give it the B horror 1950's film.
It made the cheesey movies better by far.
The end with he Nazis..... Umm that was dumb. No spoiler. But yeah. Real dumb
Grossly inflated standing
Leofwine_draca11 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
THE 25TH REICH appears to be another indie movie heavily promoted by friends and family of the filmmakers who have grossly inflated the film's rating and standing. It's a typical mundane indie with a few imaginative sci-fi touches but that's about it. The beginning and end feature some cool-looking CGI robots and apparatus but the majority of the running time just features soldiers traipsing through the woods endlessly. Hardly what I call entertainment, now.
Even if it's not a comedy it's funny.
Dodge-Zombie15 June 2022
No I won't say it's a good film. It's pretty terrible but it's so amusing in parts I can't say I didn't enjoy it. It's one of those so bad it's almost good films. I think most people would just think it's pure bad but then I'm not most people so I'd say watch it for a chuckle. I will admit that you can skip the first half an hour and not really miss anything.
I watched it all the way through. I am being sectioned tomorrow.
jerryadlington4 August 2018
I enjoyed Superman and the A team.
I do not need to justify rediculous events.
This offering went way beyond redicioulous.
If you can handle that, you will be fine.
Acting was really good for such a low budget. Scare factor did not exist. Directing was as good as could be expected with this script. I would have paid to watch this movie, if my life depended on it.
Acting was really good for such a low budget. Scare factor did not exist. Directing was as good as could be expected with this script. I would have paid to watch this movie, if my life depended on it.
Someone Put A Lot Of Love Into This Movie, And It Shows
fadba25 November 2012
I found this the be a very enjoyable movie, especially if you liked a similar film that came out a while ago, "Nazis At The Center Of The Earth". Here the characters are more developed and the story concentrates principally on the five American soldiers sent on this mission. Combining minor elements of a WWII flick with some good claustrophobic sci-fi/horror, there is some really, really nice camera work here--- it's quite beautifully filmed. Even when you see the opening titles, you will know that a lot of love was put into the making of this picture, and it definitely shows. The special-effects are nicely done as well. Sure, a few plot holes here and there, and you definitely have to watch it more than once to appreciate all the nuances.
It is what it is so laugh, drink your beer and watch it
gambit701 August 2012
There is a particular genre of movie which has always been made and hopefully will always continue to be made. They are usually low budget but we love them anyway (maybe because of this).
What The 25th Reich reminds me most of is movies like "Them" (the 1950s scifi about giant ants). Its tongue-in-cheek fun.
The 25th Reich doesn't have giant ants by the way.
It has good guys, bad guys, and hillbillys (I think he was a hillbilly?) its a good old fashion scifi with a few unexpected moments thrown in which make you laugh (or wince). The special effects were better than I expected (I wasn't expecting much), the cinematography was good, the music was good, the acting was just the right level of hammy (I thought)
Is it a classic? Nope. Did I enjoy it? Heck yes :)
What The 25th Reich reminds me most of is movies like "Them" (the 1950s scifi about giant ants). Its tongue-in-cheek fun.
The 25th Reich doesn't have giant ants by the way.
It has good guys, bad guys, and hillbillys (I think he was a hillbilly?) its a good old fashion scifi with a few unexpected moments thrown in which make you laugh (or wince). The special effects were better than I expected (I wasn't expecting much), the cinematography was good, the music was good, the acting was just the right level of hammy (I thought)
Is it a classic? Nope. Did I enjoy it? Heck yes :)
Time travelling Nazi prevention in Australia
one9eighty19 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
If you've never seen an American soldier (turned Nazi convert, turned 10ft mechanoid spider killing machine) rape his commanding officer this film is for you. The premise of this film is that during the second world war an American covert ops team are sent to Australia with a special machine which would help the war effort. The machine would attack pumas so that the Americans could kill them. Upon activating the machine something goes wrong and all the soldiers are rendered unconscious. So far within the film we have been introduced to an actor who is troupe captain, he's escorting a commander, a stereotypical American jew, an Italian-New Jersey greaseball, and a Texan gun loving hick. The major they are transporting resembles one of the consoles in Dr Who's TARDIS. Upon regaining consciousness they are being attacked by what we later learn are primordial pumas because as it turns out the machine is a time machine, they've travelled back in time 50,000 years to stop Hitler, in Australia still remember!! The commanding officer turns out to be super undercover and his real mission is to recover a flying saucer which had been found during the war but according to scientists had been broken for 50,000 years, the console ' time machine ' was all that could be recovered from the UFO in the present. After sustaining casualties during a giant mosquito attack while the others are distracted the actor somehow opens the spaceship by touching glowing pagan style stones left by aliens. The super undercover commander manages to get on board the spaceship and flies off, back to the future. The remaining soldiers discover that instead of being a super undercover commander the commander is in fact a luftwaffe Nazi medal winner, instead of preventing Hitler's rise to power the aim all along was to help it. Using the machine the actor captain manages to make the machine and them forward in time to 2243 where the Nazi's, who are 10ft tall spider mechaniod killer robots rule. Three of the remaining time travellers come to the decision to take the fight to the Nazi's when the best part of the film unfolded.... The credits, thank Jeebus this is over!!
The CGI/animation in this film is so cheap and low budget that is laughable, I was almost embarrassed for the film. The pumas looked hand drawn by a child and the future Nazi stronghold looked like it had been pinched from a command and conquer game from the PC in the early 90's. This film was supposed to be based on a book, I found myself wondering if the book was as bad. The film finished on a cliff hanger introducing a potential sequel, believe me, I won't be rushing out to watch that. I managed to watch this to the end because at times there was promise but this promise was never realised, characters developed a little but not enough for me to want to care about them, in this film or the sequel. I know this was supposed to be low budget and indie but for me it was wide of the mark to make it a cult movie, give me "Iron Sky" or "Dead Snow" any time.
The CGI/animation in this film is so cheap and low budget that is laughable, I was almost embarrassed for the film. The pumas looked hand drawn by a child and the future Nazi stronghold looked like it had been pinched from a command and conquer game from the PC in the early 90's. This film was supposed to be based on a book, I found myself wondering if the book was as bad. The film finished on a cliff hanger introducing a potential sequel, believe me, I won't be rushing out to watch that. I managed to watch this to the end because at times there was promise but this promise was never realised, characters developed a little but not enough for me to want to care about them, in this film or the sequel. I know this was supposed to be low budget and indie but for me it was wide of the mark to make it a cult movie, give me "Iron Sky" or "Dead Snow" any time.
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