The 25th Reich

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.

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!

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)!

"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.

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.

Very brief review; 25th Reich is an obvious exercise in making a perfect b-movies replica, this is its main appeal, and if it doesn't sound good to you then leave it alone because it will have nothing to offer you. If on the other hand you love cinema and everything associated with it, especially 50s to 70s black&white scifi movies, then 25th Reich has it all. Plot: a group of GI travel in the past to recover a spacecraft in the exact time it has first landed. There's not much to say without spoiling the film, and when the surprises come you will think "of course, how can this kind of film not have that". Once again, this is the main charm of this film; i found it very amusing and entertaining, even the ending. My final vote: an amusing 7/10

As a kid, I loved to watch old war movies. I still do! And back then, there seemed to be a never ending supply of them. Many of them, I later found out, made by B-movie specialist Sam Fuller. The 25th Reich took me back to those days. It is a film that seems to have been made with a desire to rekindle those nostalgic feelings, while also slipping off to places that the 50's war pics would never have dreamed of going, mainly due to 50's censorship. Set in Australia in 1943, a small unit of G.I.'s are tasked with tracking down some escaped pumas only to discover that they've been duped and their mission has a totally different purpose... Sam Fuller meets 50s science fiction pulp! Crazy stuff I admit, and I had a smile on my face all the way through it. Initially, I thought some of the acting and FX were coming across as a bit cheesy, but then I realised the filmmakers were deliberately echoing the spirit of the films of that era. I'm not sure if the younger generation will necessarily make that connection, but I sure did. Without a large budget, the filmmakers seem determined to throw everything they could at the screen, but not to cover up their lack of resources. They did it because they wanted to. They did it to make a film that was good and fun. With a nice sense of tongue in cheek bravado about it, they really delivered. I wasn't fully sure what to expect, and it took me a bit by surprise, but in a good way. Sam Fuller isn't really dead. His spirit just moved Down Under!

If you like some cheese in your movies, this one has it! But, it was done so well. The characters are very stereotyped, but believable for the era. The special effects and CG is borderline terrible, (laugh out loud),but the story is top notch and acting very good. You get a good feeling for the characters and their clashing ideals. I've seen plenty of bad B movies, but this one is highly rated, right up there with best! Highly recommended! I loved it! You'l love it too, if you like 40's - 50's style of sci-fi. And I'm really picky about my movies and TV shows. They intended a sequel, but better leave this one to the imagination.

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.

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 * 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.