Review: Nazi Undead

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

 

Nazi Undead (aka Living Space)
Directed by Stephen Spiel
Tru Dot Films; Monster Pictures; Jingai; MVD Entertainment
80 minutes, 2018 / 2020
www.facebook.com/livingspacefilm/
www.mvdb2b.com 

Have Nazi’s ever really gone away from the social or cinematic consciousness? Just looking at genre films alone, dead/ghosts and zombie Nazis have been present for decades, in films like Shock Waves (1997) and Dead Snow (2009), or footage of them marching at the White House in MAGA hats. (November 2020). Wikipedia has a whole bunch of them listed (HERE), and there is even a book about it called Nazispolitation! The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture (by Daniel H. Magilow, Elizabeth Bridges, and Kristen T. Vander Lugt, [Eds.], 2011).

This Australian film is not in that Wikipedia list, just to show the topic goes beyond that inventory. Originally released in 2018, it is now getting a wider release, including this Blu-ray.

Georgia Chara

Brad and Janet…. I mean Brad (Leigh Scully) and Ashley (Georgia Chara) are an American couple of overaged college sweethearts (you can tell by his letterman jacket) somewhere on tour in Germany, taking a rental car to a getaway at a castle (I did this at Schloss Petzow, an hour southeast of Berlin, but I digress…). They are obviously not getting along mainly because, well, he’s a jealous and controlling dick (did I mention the letterman’s jacket?) who doesn’t even help her with her luggage. Everybody sing: “Macho, macho putz…” But as is typical, guys like that in films like this don’t listen to smart women, all to the lack of their betterment.

After an incident on a dark road while being lost (yeah, he’s driving), they end up at a house. No Frank N. Furter here, but swings move by themselves and doors slam shut with no one there. Ashley is also having flashes of Final Destination (2000-etc.) type dreams and images, so she wants to leave, but mister letterman jacket won’t listen.

Leigh Scully

This is no ordinary home, but the spiritual resting place of a family whose equally dick Herr Hauslehrer (Andy Mcfee, who was in the also dark tale of 2005’s Wolf Creek) was a World War II Nazi SS officer, and now their vindictive and malevolent ghosts are roaming the place, causing malice, mischief and mayhem; I won’t give specifics, but some are horrific, but look great, thanks to a SFX team led by Stephen Boyle.

If you have seen Wolf Creek, or some of the work of Peter Weir, you know just how bleak and oppressive Australian cinema can get. The house is quite small, so there is a strong feeling of claustrophobia, and the tight quarters make the ghosts popping in and out effective for jump scares, even after numerous times.

Needless to say, Nazi insignias are everywhere, on walls, on knives, and with graffiti on a shed wall. The latter, however, seems to me to be a bit anachronistic, as that was not a “thing” back in 1945, and having someone having done it in modern times kinds of takes away from the whole “lost in time” premise. Still, it’s not enough to divert my attention away from the story.

Andy Mcfee

Nazis – especially dead (or undead) ones – are easy villains. There is no need for any kind of soft-soaping or giving an empathetic side, because in this cinematic world, there is no “good people on both sides.” What is the motivation for the killings? Well, for the original murders, it was probably a matter of death and “honor” before giving up to the enemy (the Americans or Russians, perhaps giving this a 2000 Maniacs [1964] revenge vibe). For the modern era, it could be because they are American, or it may just be anyone foreign trespassing on Deutschland soil, which is the reference of the film’s original title, Living Space.

The blurb for the film gives the indication that the house is some kind of time warp (maybe they are Brad and Janet…), stuck somewhere between then and now, which would explain why the house is in relatively good shape, just as it was in 1945, yet time has not had an effect on the edifice at all.

The multiple time and special loops that run through the story are really well done, even with a nod to Satanic (2016) and Groundhog Day (1992), possibly Run Lola Run (1998), or the more recent Inoperable (2017). That being said, it is not just a rehashing of old themes, as director Spiel manages to throw some updating and modernizing into the genre framework in effective ways.

 

Not counting the ghosts, there is a small body count as there are really only two living humans in the main story, but the time factors mean more than one event per character; again, I’m trying not to give too much away.

So, the story is, as I indicated, a bit dark (usually if there are Nazis abound it’s either dark or an extreme comedy, like Mel Brooks), but it is well put together and told. From the editing (especially the nightmare sequences) to the practical SFX, this release actually was way better than I was expecting it to be. While the title is a bit more marketable, it also gives the impression of a B-film. That being said, it’s still better than its original title, which doesn’t give a clue about anything, even the genre in which it is placed.

There are no stunning extras, just chapters and stereo options, but make sure you watch at least the beginning of the credits to marvel at the SFX work.