Zone Troopers

[Andrew]

Tim Thomerson and some other WWII American GI's discover that the Nazi's shot down an alien spaceship and are holding one of the bug-eyed creatures hostage.  Well, anything that the Nazi's want is something our boys are going to keep them from getting, so into the SS camp they go. 

The movie starts off rather pedestrian, like a generic WWII film.  Once two of the men are captured by the Nazi's, it shifts gears into absolutely campy mode.  I especially enjoyed the escape from the SS camp that features lots of random acts of violence against tents.  There's also some funny alien technology going on, like the magic devices that will do whatever you need them to do (create a forcefield, disintigrate something, etc.) but they only work once.

Watch for the scene where the beefy Cpl wakes up from being interrogated and slugs Hitler in the chops! 

This is one of Charles Band's Empire Pictures films, and I just happened to notice it was available via MGM's special archives (it's a DVD-R with packaging).  Hopefully "Terrorvision" and "Eliminators" are coming as well.

[Mofo Rising]

I watched this a few years ago from a VHS copy I cadged from eBay.

Since I've been watching a lot of Charles Band productions lately, I decided to revisit it. (A lot of them are now available on Netflix.)

This was really good! Seriously, I liked it a lot. I'd go out on a limb and say it is one of the best movies to come out of the Charles Band empire. It's a lot of fun, and really makes the most out of its low budget. This was still during Band's Empire period, but it is surprisingly well done. Of course it's silly fluff, but it's well done fluff.

Maybe not the best researched movie, one of the character's quotes the 1949 Geneva Convention in a movie that takes place in 1944.

I looked up the actor who played Joey, because he looked familiar to me. He hasn't acted much, but he has gone to direct and produce some very, very good television series; notably "The Wire."

You could do a lot worse than spending your time watching Zone Troopers. A fun film. I'm a bit shocked it hasn't made its way to a full review on this site, especially with that classic VHS cover.



Edit: Are you really looking forward to a re-release of Terrorvision? My love of Hamburger... The Motion Picture has made me a slave to the eminently forgettable yet attractive persona of Randi Brooks, but that's really an awful movie. I know I made a big deal of giving an LP soundtrack to Circus Circus, but Terrorvision really is awful.

Edit 2: I forgot to mention how the movie's score rips off "The Imperial March" for all it's worth.

[Joe]

You're a crazy, Mofo. Terror Vision is the epitome of Bad-Good cinema.

[Mofo Rising]

You're a crazy, Mofo. Terror Vision is the epitome of Bad-Good cinema.

I ain't going to knock you if you like it, but I didn't feel happy after watching that movie. I felt very unhappy.

[Andrew]

I also had a worn VHS version of this, apparently an ex-rental copy.  Must have purchased it at a place going out of business or one of the old liquidator chains I used to frequent in looking for b-movies.

From the Empire Pictures days, I'll put "Zone Troopers" in the top of the pack - along with several others.  Honestly, there are quite a few movies they made that I like.  Terrorvision. Eliminators, and Arena immediately come to mind.  Then there are two classics:  "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond."

Curses, I knew I'd omitted something about "Zone Troopers."  Yes, the Richard Band score really ripped off both the Imperial March and also "took inspiration" from the brooding music in "The Thing."

Also liked the fact that the most dangerous thing about the German's using mortars was the chance that a large branch might be blown off of a tree and subsequently drop on the Americans.  Yeah, that's why mortars are so dangerous.

Does anyone recognize the weapons that Cpl Mittens was using?  It has an air-cooled barrel, but seems to take clips with .45 rounds like the Thompson.  I think it was just a "hey, this looks cool, like something they might use in WWII" weapon that the prop guys made.