User reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)!

So terrible I could not stop watching. It's as if Ed Wood returned from the dead to show us how bad cinema can be. Everyone associated with this production should be banned from the industry for life.

I've see bad movies before, but this is possibly the STUPIDEST movie I've even seen in 50 years.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I agree with most of the reviews RE: WWII character tropes, not quite A-quality effects, and multiple confusing choices throughout (why'd the stone landmark have to look like a penis?) However, a good/fun movie is more than just actors and cameras. The script and story progression moves along better than some Hollywood movies with much bigger budgets and stars. As an 80s kid I thoroughly and immediately enjoyed that the director studied hard and graduated from the Spielberg school of directing, writing, music, cinematography and cinematic storytelling. It was as if Saving Private Ryan, Indiana Jones, ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future (not technically a Spielberg film but his most famous protégé) time travelled to 1950s and had a baby but on a much smaller budget.

Making a movie, even a bad one, can't be easy. And this movie, with all its flaws, pulls off something better than many movies being promoted today. It's a Saturday afternoon serial B movie at its best.

All that said, it's a bit ambitious and over reaching (a sequel, really?). Not having read the book it was based on I'm anticipating there's too much to tell in one movie. And if they secured the funding for a sequel, hats off to the them. But at 80 minutes, you probably could have wrapped it up with another 20-25 mins and been done with it.

Therefore I give it a solid 5.

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 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.

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 :)

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.