Zone Troopers (1986)
GI's, Nazis & Crashed UFO
One of the best films from Charles Band’s Empire Productions, a splendid homage to the GI film with a group of soldiers investigating a crashed UFO behind enemy lines
Nazis
Nazis refer to members of the German National Socialist Party between the 1920s and 1945, which became the government of Germany in 1933 under Adolf Hitler who led the country into the events of World War II. The notoriety surrounding the Nazi party concerns its wholesale slaughter of six million Jewish people and other groups in concentration camps.
Nazis have become synonymous with ultimate evil. There have been a great many genre films featuring Nazi villains, super-villains and mad scientists and others that place Nazis alongside supernatural menaces like vampires and zombies. There is a sub-genre of these involving the resurrection of Hitler.
Also popular are a series of Alternate History Films based around what might have happened if the Nazis had won World War II. The 2000s have seen the rise of what might be called the Gonzo Nazi film in which Nazis are combined with madcap elements such as UFOs and moonbases.
For more detail and an overview of the genre see the Theme Essay Nazis in Fantastic Cinema.
Zombies’ Lake (1981)
Nazi Zombies
One of the original Nazi zombie films. From cult director Jean Rollin, known for his arty vampire erotica
Youth Without Youth (2007)
Man Regains His Youth
Francis Ford Coppola film that came out the same time as The Case of Benjamin Button where Tim Roth regains his youth after being hit by a lightning bolt
Yoga Hosers (2016)
Slacker Comedy/Cloned Miniature Nazi Soldiers
Kevin Smith’s follow-up to Tusk slides off the cliff somewhere between Johnny Depp’s incredibly silly performance, a nemesis you can’t take seriously and what largely becomes a vanity exercise in nepotism – Smith and Depp creating a vehicle to highlight their daughters
The Yesterday Machine (1963)
Nazi Scientist Builds Time Machine
A complete obscurity that has only been brought to public attention during the YouTube era – not that it has been obscure without justifiable reason. Don’t be hooked by the intriguing premise of Nazis building time machines, this is painfully dull in every regard
X-Men (2000)
Comic-Book Superheroes
Bryan Singer’s dynamic and exciting adaptation of the Marvel Comic title fairly much kicked off the massive fad for Marvel superheroes in the 00s/10s. This was also the film that mad Hugh Jackman into an international superstar.
X: First Class (2011)
Comic-Book Superheroes/Origin Prequel
An X-Men origin story that serves as the occasion to recast the series with younger actors. This works far better than the previous two films, integrating the characters in a strong story, although is quiet at the superheroic action
The Whip Hand (1951)
Communist Inflitration
One of the first Reds Under the Bed hysteria films of the 1950s where a man stumbles on a small town where a Communist fifth column are conducting biowarfare experiments as part of a planned invasion
Where is Anne Frank (2021)
Animation/Anne Frank’s Imaginary Companion Comes to Life
Beautifully affecting animated film from Ari Folman in which the imaginary companion in Anne Frank’s diary comes to life in the present day
Werewolves of the Third Reich (2017)
Nazi Werewolf Experiments
I was hooked into watching the film from the sensationalism from the title but this is a disappointment due to the attempts to provide World War II setting and werewolf transformation effects on a low budget
Welcome to Marwen (2018)
Man Builds a Fantasy Doll Village/True Story
Robert Zemeckis of Back to the Future and Forrest Gump fame makes a film of the true-life story of Mark Hogancamp who recovered from a brutal assault by building a fantasy village of dolls. The results are bizarre where Zemeckis seems more interested in making a Sucker Punch-like fantasy where the dolls come to life
Warhunt (2022)
WWII Soldiers vs Supernatural
A supernatural variant on Overlord where G.I.’s during WWII enter the Black Forest and encounter something supernatural
War of the Dead (2011)
Nazi Zombies
The Nazi zombie film has enjoyed a revival in recent years, this is one entry in the genre from Finland made with a reasonable grit and realism
A View to a Kill (1985)
James Bond Film
The final outing as James Bond for a visibly aging Roger Moore, the fourteenth Bond film all told. One of the more anonymous among the giant unserious cartoon shows the Moore Bond films became
Valiant (2005)
Animation/Talking Carrier Pigeons
Amiable British animated film set amongst the Allied Resistance during World War II, all cast with talking carrier pigeons
Urotsukidoji II: Legend of the Demon Womb (1989)
Anime/Perverse Demon Wars
The first of two OVA sequels to the anime classic Legend of the Overfiend, this lacks the perverse imagery of the original
Under the Rainbow (1981)
Comedy During the Making of The Wizard of Oz
Widely considered a bad film, this is a slapstick comedy starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher set around the dwarves during the making of The Wizard of Oz
The Unborn (2009)
Haunting/Possession
Scriptwriter David S. Goyer takes the director’s choice to make a possession film. The one distinction here is that Goyer draws from Jewish mythology, otherwise this feels like another canned teen horror film
Ultimate Avengers II (2006)
Marvel Comics Superhero Team/Animation
Follow-up to the previous animated Marvel Comics film featuring The Avengers, this serves to introduce Black Panther to the screen for the first time
Ultimate Avengers (2006)
Marvel Comics Superhero Team/Animation
The first of several animated films based on Marvel Comics properties, this does a solid job in adapting Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, a retelling of The Avengers origin story
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Fantasy Anthology/TV Series Remake
Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, John Landis and George Miller came together to make this homage to tv’s The Twilight Zone. The episodes are variable but the standout is Miller’s Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
The 25th Reich (2012)
Time Travel, UFOs and Nazi-Ruled Alternate Future
Time travel, Nazis in UFOs and a Nazi-ruled alternate timeline, giant robot spiders – ok, I’m sold. A surprisingly good little film where the fact that this is also made on a low budget and with a good deal of conceptual constraint makes it all the more creative an effort
The Toymaker (2017)
Toymaker Brings Dolls to Life
The third of the Robert the Doll films. Here Andrew Jones takes a few leaves from the Puppet Master films in creating an origin story set during the Nazi era
Town Creek (2009)
Nazi Vampire
Aaaaaaaargh the director I love to hate, Joel Schumacher, turns out a halfway reasonable film. An original menace where Schumacher displays a good grasp of the modern horror film
Der Todesking (1990)
Anthology of Deaths and Suicides
From Jörg Buttgereit, director of the notorious NEKRomantik, an anthology that depicts various scenes of death and suicide. Essentially the original version of The ABCs of Death
T.M.A. (2009)
Czech Ghost Story
Czech-made haunted house story that does not vary far from the traditional basics but generates a sparse but modest atmosphere
The Tin Drum (1979)
Boy Who Refuses to Grow Up/Nazi Allegory
Volker Schlondorff’s adaptation of Gunther Grass’s darkly funny book about a young boy in Nazi Germany who refuses to grow up
Timecop: The Berlin Decision (2003)
Time Police
Sequel to Timecop with more of an action emphasis as Jason Scott Lee replacing Jean-Claude Van Damme trying to stop a criminal who is erasing agents from the timeline.
They Saved Hitler’s Brain (1964)
Fuhrer's Disembodied Brain/Classic Bad Movie
One of the all-time classic bad movie titles, this is cheap and dreary on almost every level, although does offer mild amusement when it comes to the provision of the title concept near the end
Tarzan Triumphs (1943)
Jungle Hero
The seventh of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films made as a work of Wartime propaganda where Tarzan faces Nazis
The Taint (2010)
Gonzo Bad Taste Comedy/Zombiefying Penis-Enlargement Drug
Film about a penis-enlarging drug that creates zombies, this goes for an outrageous bad taste vein are rarely lets up
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Nuclear Terrorism/Tom Clancy Adaptation
Fourth of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan films, which performs a confusing continuity reset to recast the role with the younger Ben Affleck. The film’s release was delayed by 9/11, which makes the plot about nuclear terrorism on US soil seems absurdly tame in retrospect
Sufferrosa (2011)
Interactive Film/Sinister Rejuvenation Institute
Billed as the world’s first interactive film, although it falls well short of what one expected. his involves film noir homage, mad scientists and sinister rejuvenation institutes but lacks any real narrative, just feels like a series of random information pop-ups and flickering MTV graphics
Sucker Punch (2011)
Fantasy Action in Dreamed Alternate Realities
Bizarrely uncategorisable film from Zack Snyder that seems a mix of Girl, Interrupted and Inception
Subferatu (2020)
Vampire on a German U-Boat Comedy
Comedy about a shipwrecked crew that are rescued by a German U-boat that is carrying a vampire on board
Strange Holiday (1945)
Nazi Takeover of the US
Arch Oboler makes a film in which Claude Rains returns from a holiday to find a Nazi government has overtaken the USA
Stay Out of the Fucking Attic (2020)
Nazi Mad Scientist
A team of house movers find they are working for infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele who has an attic full of deformed mutations
SS-GB (2017)
Alternate History/England Under Nazi Rule
The alternate history has never fared well on film but this British mini-series is an excellent variant on the Nazis Win World War II scenario. As opposed to the similar but tedious The Man in the High Castle series, this is marvellously understated and written with superb tension
The Spy in the Green Hat (1967)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Film/Spy Film
The fifth of the theatrically released films based on tv’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. This is one of the more overtly comic films with an entertainingly madcap plot that has Napoleon Solo forced into a shotgun wedding and Jack Palance as a mad winemaker attempting to divert the Gulf Stream
The Spirit (2008)
Comic-Book Superhero
A real head-scratcher. Legendary comic-book writer Frank Miller directs an adaptation of the famous Will Eisner comic-book. A completely madcap film that deserves to be rediscovered as a cult classic
Solvent (2024)
Uncovering Nazi Evil
An Austrian film shot entirely using a GoPro camera where a team investigating an abandoned farm uncover Nazi artifacts and an evil that seems to possess the lead character
Slaughterhouse Five (1972)
Man Unstuck in Time/Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation
Not entirely uninteresting but also not entirely satisfactory adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut novel about a man who becomes unstuck in time, flipping back and forward between the events of his own life
Sky Sharks (2020)
Nazi Zombies on Flying Sharks
This has been conceived as the ultimate modern exploitation film featuring Nazi zombie piloting flying sharks. Think Iron Sky by way of Sharknado. The results are highly entertaining
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Retro SF Adventure/Flying Ace Hero
Superlative film that recreates an imagined world of 1930s retro sf filled with flyer heroes, giant robots and stunning Art Deco designs.
Shutter Island (2010)
Sinister Psychiatric Institution/Reality Bender
Martin Scorsese and an impressive A-list cast make a 1940s-styled psycho-thriller about a sinister asylum that soon starts into a series of major reality bending turns
Shock Waves (1977)
Nazi Zombies
The very first Nazi zombie film, a genre that proven surprisingly prolific since. A modestly effective film filled with great images of dead stormtroopers rising from the surf
Sharkenstein (2016)
Gonzo Killer Shark Film
Z-budget director Mark Polonia makes a cheap and ridiculous variant on the gonzo killer shark film about a Nazi mad scientist creating a Franken-shark that comes with Hitler’s brain placed into it
Red Planet Mars (1952)
Radio Messages from God on Mars
One of the most bizarre of 1950s Communist Fear films in which humanity begins to receive radio message from God on Mars. The film’s politics are hysterical today.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Tomb Raiding Adventures
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’s homage to the adventure films of the 1940s was a huge hit in its day, spawning several sequels and many imitators. The film is pure action and adventure, delivered with enormous charm and wit
Puppetmaster III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991)
Puppetmaster & Toys vs Nazis
The third of Full Moon’s Puppet Master films, this is a prequel that explores Andre Toulon’s origins in Nazi Germany
The Plot Against America (2020)
Alternate History
You might be inclined to dismiss on the basis of its title as some of lunatic fringe YouTube conspiracy video. But what we actually have is a strong and powerfully written alternate history mini-series based around the idea of Charles Lindbergh becoming US President in 1940 and the country’s subsequent slide into fascism
Philadelphia Experiment II (1993)
Alternate History/Nazis Rule
A sequel to The Philadelphia Experiment where Brad Johnson is thrown into an alternate timeline where the Nazis have overtaken the USA
Overlord (2018)
Nazi Mad Science Experiments
J.J. Abrams’ produced film about soldiers encountering Nazi mad science experiments during WWII. Despite a decent budget thrown at it, this was a box-office failure. It may be that in a genre where we have gravitated to films about Nazi zombies and Nazi moonbases, this was just too tame
Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz (2013)
Nazi Mad Science Experiments
Outpost was a modestly effective Nazi zombie film. This was the second of two sequels, a prequel that goes back to depict the original Nazi experiments
Outpost: Black Sun (2012)
Nazi Zombies
Outpost was a solid and reasonably effective rehashing of the Nazi zombie theme; this was the first of two sequels. The first had a formula that seems difficult to mess up but this does – it’s over half the film before we get zombies after which we get Just the Same As Before and little more
Outpost (2007)
Nazi Zombies
Above average revival of the Nazi zombie concept in a film that has spawned two sequels. The plot of soldiers venturing into an old bunker is conducted with tight, lean suspense and some undeniably gory dispatches
The Order of the Black Eagle (1987)
Spy/Action Film
A low-budget spy/action film with entertainingly bizarre elements including a cryogenically frozen Hitler and the hero going into action accompanied by a baboon
Oasis of the Zombies (1981)
Nazi Zombies
One of the original Nazi zombies films with zombies protecting an oasis that hides a gold treasure. This was made by prolific exploitation director Jess Franco meaning that much of the film’s potential is drowned in cheap production values and bad dubbing
Nightmare in Blood (1977)
Horror Actor is a Vampire
Horror host John Stanley directs a film with an amusing premise where a famous horror actor known for playing a vampire turns out to be a vampire for real, causing problems when he turns up for a convention
Night of the Zombies (1981)
Nazi Zombies
Extremely cheap and impoverished variation on the Nazi zombie film, this is dull and has nothing to recommend it
Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012)
Nazis Under the Polar Icecap/Hitler with a Robot Body/Mad Science
Hands down the best film ever produced by The Asylum. How could one not like an entertainingly madcap concoction that features mad scientists, zombie stormtroopers, Nazi UFOs and Adolf Hitler preserved as a head in a jar attached to a robot body?
Nazi Overlord (2018)
Nazi Mad Science Experiments/The Asylum Mockbuster
The Asylum’s mockbuster answer to the J.J. Abrams’ produced Overlord concerning GIs on a mission behind enemy lines encountering Nazi mad science. Passably well made for the most part
The Mysterious Doctor (1943)
Haunted Mine
Film made during World War II about the locals of small English town dealing with a haunted mine and uncovering a Nazi infiltration plot
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot (2018)
Aging Assassin's Secret History
Full marks for one of the great deliberately ridiculous titles of all time. The film itself is an oddity that almost seems intended to confound your expectations of it
The Magus (1968)
Reality Games
Complex and often baffling film in which Michael Caine is on a Greek island where he placed at the centre of a series of enigmatic reality charades by Anthony Quinn
The Land That Time Forgot (2009)
Prehistoric Lost World
A low-budget modernised version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book about a group ending up on a lost island where dinosaurs still roam. Slightly better than usual for The Asylum
The Keep (1983)
Nazis vs Ancient Evil
Adaptation from a best-selling horror novel about Nazis battling an ancient evil. Michael Mann lavishes amazing visuals on the film but almost entirely sidelines the horror element
Justice Society: World War II (2021)
Animation/Comic-Book Superhero Team
The Justice Society of American was the first comic-book superhero team, bringing together all the heroes at DC Comics of the day. This is an animated film devoted to them
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three (2024)
Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes
The third and final part of the adaptation of DC Comics’ classic title Crisis on Infinite Earths featuring an epic battle to prevent the destruction of the multiverse
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Young Nazi Boy with Adolf Hitler as an Imaginary Companion
The story of a young Nazi boy who has Adolf Hitler as an imaginary companion gained awards acclaim but swings between Hogan’s Heroes slapstick and a tender story about overcoming racial prejudice
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998)
Anime/Werewolf Anti-Terrorist Squad
A conceptually ambitious anime that builds a complex metaphor out of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf in a story centred around the self-doubting member of an anti-terrorist squad
Jackboots on Whitehall (2010)
Nazis Invade England/Satiric Alternate History/Puppet Film
A puppet film about a satiric Nazi invasion of England in World War II. Imagine It Happened Here by way of Team America. This has its amusements but is uneven
It Happened Here (1965)
Alternate History/England Under Nazi Rule
This was the first film to depict an alternate history scenario. With stark and powerful effect, this shows in documentary-like fashion a 1960s England after it had been conquered by Nazis
Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)
Nazi Moonbase/Alien Lizard People from the Centre of the Earth
Timo Vuorensola’s follow-up to Iron Sky. It is hard to believe that a film with a premise that combines Nazis on the Moon with alien lizard people from the hollow core of the Earth could go wrong
Iron Sky (2012)
Nazi Flying Saucers from the Moon
Finnish filmmaker Timo Vuorensola makes a conceptually wild film about invasion by Nazi flying saucers from the Moon. Stunning quality effects on a minuscule budget that rival the work of professional houses
Invisible Agent (1942)
Invisible Spy
In the fourth entry in Universal’s series of Invisible Man films, particularly in the effects department. here, made just after Pearl Harbor, The Invisible Man now becomes a spy fighting Nazi and Japanese villains
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
High Adventure/Holy Grail Quest
Third of the Indiana Jones films. This comes with all the breakneck action sequences and Sean Connery doing a fine comic turn as Indiana’s irascible father but also plays to a much greater slapstick emphasis
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Adventure Film
At age 80, Harrison Ford returns for what looks like being the last ever Indiana Jones film. It’s not perfect but when you compare to all the other contemporary franchises, this still has the good old adventure spirit
In a Glass Cage (1986)
Nazi War Criminal
The original Apt Pupil, an extraordinary study in cruelty about a Nazi war criminal confined to an iron lung and the way his past cruelties influence a teenage boy reading his journals
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1974)
Sadistic Nazi Woman Commandant
One of the most tasteless films ever made, a sado-sexual work set in a Nazi concentration camp with Dyanne Thorne as a sadistic commandant torturing and having sex with prisoners.
Holocaust Cannibal (2014)
Nazis vs Cannibals/Bad Taste Film
Bill Zebub is possibly the most offensive filmmaker at work today. This largely plotless film features topless Nazi women fighting cannibal tribes, giant bugs and a Bigfoot
Hellboy (2004)
Demon Superhero/Comic-Book Adaptation
The first of Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptations of Mike Mignola’s comic-book about a demon superhero. Not as good as the sequel, the film’s ace in the hole is Ron Perlman in the title role
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)
Animation/Gonzo Exploitation Movie Homage
Animated film directed by Rob Zombie that feels like an episode of Ren & Stimpy made by someone with an unhealthy obsession with horror and exploitation movies and stripper bars
Hard Rock Zombies (1985)
Resurrected Heavy Metal Band
Deranged entry in the 80s fad for heavy metal horror films where a band are resurrected from the dead to play an all-important concert, while fighting off conservative townspeople and a very much alive Adolf Hitler
Hanussen (1988)
Charismatic Clairvoyant/Hypnotist
Excellent film based on the real-life figure of Erik Jan Hanussen, a clairvoyant and hypnotist who found fame in Nazi Germany. Featuring a magnetic performance from Klaus Maria Brandauer
Hannibal Rising (2007)
Hannibal Lecter Origin Story
Building on the successes of the Hannibal Lecter films, this is a prequel that goes back sets out to tell an origin story of how the young teenage Hannibal came to be who he was during World War II
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Serial Killer Thriller
David Fincher’s English-language remake of the Swedish film is capably made but a lesser shadow of something that worked perfectly the first time. In particular, Rooney Mara is no substitute for Noomi Rapace
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Swedish Serial Killer Thriller
Strong and dramatically absorbing Swedish thriller featuring one of the most original and provocative heroines on screen in some time. A word of mouth hit that later underwent a lesser English-language remake
Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
Idiots in a Sinister House
Comedy where the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys encounter Bela Lugosi running a Nazi fifth column operation from a haunted house, although the ghosts part eventually proves misleading
Ghosts of War (2020)
G.I.'s at a Haunted Chateau in WWII
US soldiers arrive at a chateau in Nazi-occupied France during World War II that appears to be haunted. In a conceptual reversal twist, everything is not what it seems
The Gestapo’s Last Orgy (1977)
Nazisploitation Film
One of the notorious 1970s Nazisploitation films, this Italian-made entry is one work that crosses way over taboo lines and makes for extreme watching
German Angst (2015)
German Horror Anthology
Amid the 2010s spate of multi-director horror anthologies a la The ABCs of Death, V/H/S etc, this is a trio of tales from all German directors, the most well known of which is Jörg Buttgereit of Nekromantik infamy
Future Hunters (1986)
Action Adventure/Time Travel/Quest for a Mystical Object
Undeniably entertaining Filipino action film that tries to throw in everything including time travel, post-holocaust action, adventure quests, magical artifacts, lost worlds, Nazis and dwarves
Frostbite (2006)
Swedish Vampire Film
Swedish film about vampires at a smalltown hospital and vampire pills thought to be party drugs that spread around the town. This is made with an uneven sense of black humour
Frontier(s) (2007)
Backwoods Brutality
Xavier Gens delivers a French copy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This is largely by the numbers excepting for a gore level raised to what must be a maximum for the genre
Frankenstein’s Army (2013)
Found Footage Frankenstein Film
One has difficulty with the notion of a Found Footage Frankenstein film, although the film does credibly justify this. That said, the film offers up a series of genuinely phantasmagoric and out of this world creations
The Formula (1980)
International Thriller/Hunt for a Nazi Fuel Substitute
Dull big-budget thriller about Nazi fuel formulas and Big Oil conspiracies. This seems intended as a copy of The Boys from Brazil centred around George C. Scott and Marlon Brando trying to out over-act one another
Flesh Feast (1970)
Nazi Mad Scientist
It’s anybody’s guess what possessed Veronica Lake, a great screen beauty of the 1940s, to return to screens playing a Nazi mad scientist having created flesh-eating maggots. A true Z film if there ever was
The Flesh Eaters (1964)
Nazi Mad Scientist
A true-bred exploitation film with castaways arriving on an island where they encounter a Nazi mad scientist breeding flesh eating slugs. This has been cited as the first gore film
Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond (2014)
James Bond Creator Biopic
TV mini-series biopic of James Bond creator Ian Fleming that substantially embellishes details of Fleming’s biography to create its own story. Dominic Cooper is absurdly miscast as Fleming, playing the part with a boyish smirk