Surf II

source: Surf II

Ahh, to be back in Cali. Yes, I worked at a surf shop in Newport Beach. Yes, I went to Oingo Boingo concerts. AND HECK YES! I paid CASH, MEAN GREEN, to see this film in the theater when it came out (23 years ago folks). One of the best/worst films EVER made. I managed to track down a rental copy whilst I was marooned in Minneapolis (for work, ugh) one fateful evening, still as awfully wonderful as ever (the film that is, not Minneapolis). If you get a chance to see this trash-terpiece, by all means, do it, dude.

This is a completely ridiculous film. It kept me in stitches constantly with its off-the-wall plot devices. The overall theme is that slick yuppies are trying to take over the beach, which is the domain of scruffy surfers. By the way, that was kind of the theme of the whole decade. Anyway, their plan is to use an evil brand of soda to transform surfers into mutant surf punks, who will (somehow) fall under the yuppies' control. The zombies are hilarious, spastically breaking bottles over their own heads and eating seaweed washed up on the beach. The scruffy heroes are hilarious in their scruffiness (they have a dog who is trained to snatch bikinis from bathing beauties). The yuppies are hilarious in their slickness (they are all addicted to breath spray). Like a lot of fun movies, you are not going to walk away from this one intellectually enriched. If you like campy, silly films, they don't get much better than "Surf II."

One of the most underrated sleepers to come out of the 1980's involves a plot by Menlo Schwartzer (played by Eddie Deezen) to feed Buzz® Cola (a potent new beverage) to all the surfers and turn them into garbage-consuming zombies. I'd rather not give away the whole awesome story, but it's pretty clever, a one-of-a-kind gross-out comedy with an excellent new wave/punk rock soundtrack. With some veteran favorites like Ruth Buzzi and Cleavon Little. When this came out, the world was not quite ready for such a strange and wacky picture. That's rather unfortunate, as most of the people that would have appreciated it probably never will get to see it. It's far too wonderfully appalling to be shown on TV. Go figure.

This movie has to be seen to believed. I do not know the reason behind making this movie. It really seems to have been written as they were going along. If it is ever on TV tape it (chances are it will only be shown when sane or sober people are already asleep). I do not want to mislead anyone but it truly is one of the weirder movies from the early 80's.

We saw this on HBO back in 1984, as high school juniors, one night while high on acid. It blew our minds. I taped it (in crappy 6-hour VHS mode) and still have that copy. I must have seen this thing about a hundred times. Evil nerd genius Menlo Schwartzer is out to get revenge upon the handsome buff surfer boys. He dwells in a crazy sci-fi laboratory beneath the waves out at the surfer beach. Late at night, pot-smoking surfer boys get sucked down, and are forced-fed Buzz Cola, turning them into punk rock surfing zombies. Turns out Buzz Cola is made out of toxic sludge, but has addictive qualities. Two of the surfer boy's fathers manufacture the stuff, and sell it wholesale to Menlo, can you relate?... There's a great scene when one of the kids drinks it, and goes nuts slam dancing around his bedroom to thrash music, nobody can get him under control. There's a hot young love interest, who was once really ugly and nerdy, but Menlo transformed her into a blond bombshell. She likes the surfer boys because they're cute, but Menlo forces her to act as a lure, part of his insidious plot for revenge. You find out why Menlo seeks revenge at the end of the film, and that's a very funny plot twist. This movie makes fun of school, surfers, punks, parents, and the 1980s in general. My favorite part is the Buzz Cola advertising jingle, which you hear at the very beginning before the film actually starts. That song ditty is actually more stupid and obnoxious than the whole rest of the movie put together.

Mere words cannot describe the lunacy of SURF II. I will say that there is no SURF I,so don't bother searching. SURF II is a movie you watch on a blistering hot day in an air-conditioned room,like WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S. There are weird visual gags and a host of bizarre characters,including Eric Stoltz! Just surrender your brain cells and watch it.

This movie is so awesome. A true Cinemax classic. I remember falling into this movie as a freshman in high-school. Many a night was spent giggling myself silly in the basement. I'm pretty sure that my memory of the film is actually better than the film itself, but it truly does rank with my favorite comedies of all-time. Menlo Schwartzer might be one of the best villains ever. (Whatever happened to that guy? His Jerry Lewis schtick was spot-on.) Oh, to be young and stupid again. (I know better than to rank this a "9", but I really do love this movie. The average viewer would probably give it a "3", maybe a "4".) It is one of my truly guilty pleasures, along with "Beer" (another Cinemax discovery), "Bad Lieutenant", and "Showgirls". I'm actively searching for this movie on DVD, as my VHS tape of it is completely worn-out.

I picked up this movie mainly out of curiosity. The front of the box looked interesting and the back only featured a long list of bands whose music is used in the movie; no mention of actors or plot summary. In many ways, it's a very typical 80's party movie seeing as it features: i) a weak plot- this is the strange thing about a lot of 80's movies. The plot is so weird it totally blows any chance of the movie focusing on character development or virtually any other element. This particular movie is about a nerd (played beautifully by Eddie Deezen) who is trying to get revenge on surfers because they spiked his cola back in high school. His plan is a new drink, "Buzz Cola" that is designed to turn its drinkers into punk rock zombies. ii) formula characters- another great feature of 80's movies. You've got suffer dudes, loose girlfriends, a fat guy famous for his eating ability, an evil genius nerd, zombies who look like George Michael from his leather days; etc. Deezen is probably the best cast of the bunch. iii) female frontal nudity- show me an 80's movie without T&A and I'll... well, I don't know what I'd do, I doubt such a movie exists. It isn't exactly gratuitous here so don't expect a softcore * fest. iv) gross outs- from eating contests involving engine parts and dead fish, to an autopsy and a sandwich filled with "special" sauce. All that being said, this movie is a lot of fun. It's a good movie to put on at a party because I'm sure alcohol would only add to its appeal. If you get a chance to cheaply rent it or buy it, it's no worse than a lot of other movies made around the same time. Give it a whirl.

I can't understand why those of you here that poo-poo "Surf II" DO poo-poo "Surf II". I saw it on HBO in the mid '80's shortly after it came out. I've ALWAYS thought it was a BRILLIANT movie! Very funny! And more stars than you can shake a stick at. Most of the bad comments here tend to focus on all sorts of technical stuff and it detracts from the fun of the movie. Just sit back and watch the damn thing! Stop nitpicking! It's not SUPPOSED to be "Gone With The Wind". One of you said, "turn off your brain and enjoy!", (or something like that). I think you should turn ON your brain. There are so many "hidden" references and jokes in this it makes it fun to watch every time you see it, because you catch on to things you missed the previous viewing. The same thing happens to me everytime I watch The Monkees' film, "Head", or Patrick McGoohan's t.v. show, "The Prisoner", or when I listen to a Firesign Theatre record. It makes the movie fresh everytime you watch it. There IS a plot line and the movie DOESN'T fizzle towards the end. For me, it's right up there with movies like, "Back To The Beach", "Hardware Wars", "Airplane" and the other Zucker Brothers/Kentucky Fried Theatre movies. One of my fave scenes in "Surf II" is the garbage eating contest between Johnny Bighead and one of the punk zombies. That, and Johnny taking a chainsaw to the roof of a pink Cadillac as his mother, Mrs. Bighead, asks, "Johnny, which car are you taking?" Johnny says, "The convertible." Mrs. Bighead, still in her bathrobe and curlers, steps outside and says, "What convertible??!!", as Johnny and throws his brother, Little Bighead, into the back seat and drives off to the beach, "Bau Bau!!". Contrary to what one reviewer here said, there was only one or two shots of naked breasts. Neither shot lasted more than a few seconds. What got me interested in seeing the film in the first place was when Carol Wayne (who died shortly after the film was made) was a guest on the Tonight Show plugging the movie and said to Johnny Carson, "'Surf II' is the third part of a trilogy to which there is no first part". Aha! A Lewis Carroll style advertisement! Twisted logic! My favourite kind! (-; So, please, kids, go see this movie if you EVER have the chance, and would somebody PLEASE release it on video or DVD already???? I've been looking for a copy ever since I first saw it on HBO. So far, all I've been able to get is a video someone copied for me from HBO 18 years ago, but it has lots of t.v. ghosts all through it (he was picking up signals from other channels at the same time), so it's almost unwatchable, especially during the night or dark scenes. )-: Enjoy!! Oh, and Ron Palillo played the part of Inspector Underwear, not "Lt. Underwear".