The 25th Reich

This film has to be seen to be believed! Then again, if a Nazi spider sodomising a GI (yep, you heard me!) is too much for you, perhaps you shouldn’t see this film at all.

It’s 1943, and five US soldiers lead by Captain Donald O’Brian (Jim Knobeloch) are recruited to embark on a time travel mission which seems like mission impossible: the fate of the Western world lies at stake and our heroes must save humanity from the tyranny of Hitler's 25th Reich! Easier said than done. As if the actual task wasn’t challenging enough, the unfortunate GI’s are forced to battle it out in the Australian outback of all places. Enter all creatures great and small, and presented in varying degrees of CGI believability. In fact, it seems that every effort was made to have beasts and insects look as unrealistic as possible, after all, we are talking about a homage to 50’s SciFi creature features and WW2 action flicks.

While our brave soldiers battle poisonous plants and other perils, and while the Allies close in on all fronts, the evil Führer has yet another weapon up his sleeve: a spaceship fleet to strike back and crush the invading Untermenschen! Bad news: the spaceship travelers are duplicitous Nazi spiders out to give Captain O’Brian and his crew a hard time indeed… Good news: said Nazi spiders are metallic robots and not mutated hairy tarantulas… Arachnophobes you’re safe!
Can Hitler’s evil plans be thwarted? Can the O’Brian, Barelli, Weaver, Ishbak and Updike save the day using the time machine? Or will space and time be taken over by Nazi spiders? These are monumental questions that concern us all – especially when you watch this über-trashy genre mix while downing several cans of lager.

Based on the classic novella ‘50,000 Years Until Tomorrow’ by Sci Fi Pulp writer J.J. Solomon and brought to you by the people behind Iron Sky, the schlockfest called The 25th Reich is an attack on good taste and anything that’s sacred. The acting is hammy and tongue-in-cheek and same for the dialogue, naturally. The pacing, however, feels rather odd. Not much happens for quite some time; then suddenly everything seems to happen all at once. The cliffhanger, if you can call it that, promises even greater outrage and assault on the senses.

The 25th Reich is a true B-movie for the 21st Century – you either get it or you loathe it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Bonus material includes interviews, the ‘making of…’, ‘Monster Magic featurette and more.