Nazis at the Center of the Earth
Nazis at the Center of the Earth is a direct-to-video Naziploitation sci-fi film produced by The Asylum that stars Dominique Swain and Jake Busey. It was released on April 24, 2012 on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. The United Kingdom release was called Bloodstorm.[1] The Lexikon des internationalen Films considers the film a rip-off (mockbuster) aimed at exploiting the "hype" surrounding the film Iron Sky.[2]
| Nazis at the Center of the Earth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Joseph Lawson |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Paul Bales |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Chris Ridenhour |
| Cinematography | Alex Yellen |
| Edited by | Rob Pallatina |
| Distributed by | The Asylum |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
On May 10, 1945, in a secret airport near Wurtzberg, Germany, Nazi scientist Dr. Josef Mengele, along with fellow doctors and soldiers, prepare to depart to an unknown location with a mysterious package in their possession. They are soon ambushed by the Allied forces, but successfully escape.
In present day, a group of researchers in Antarctica, Dr. Paige Morgan among them, are abducted by a platoon of gas-masked soldiers wearing swastika armbands and dragged into a hidden environment in the center of the Earth. There, they discover that Dr. Josef Mengele and a group of surviving Nazi soldiers are plotting an invasion of the surface of the Earth to create a Fourth Reich.
Cast
- Dominique Swain as Dr. Paige Morgan
- Jake Busey as Adrian Reistad
- Joshua Michael Allen as Lucas Moss
- Christopher Karl Johnson as Dr. Josef Mengele
- Lilan Bowden as May Yun
- Trevor Kuhn as Brian Moak
- Adam Burch as Mark Maynard
- Marlene Okner as Sije Lagesen
- Maria Pallas as Angela Magliarossa
- Andre Tenerelli as Aaron Blechman
- Abderrahim Halaimia as Rahul Jumani
- Michael Schwab as Adolf Hitler
Production
Lawson received the directorial assignment after reading the script and pitching himself as director in the fall of 2011. The film took less than four months to make. On Asylum, Lawson said "They are a low-budget film studio,[...] I knew pretty much going in that this was going to be a B movie. We had a 12-day shoot and a budget well south of $200,000."[3]
The entire movie was storyboarded by the director shot for shot before production began in November 2011.
Locations for the film included Willow Studios in Los Angeles (underground in the Nazi bunker and Nifleheim Station), Blue Cloud Ranch in Santa Clarita (opening war night scenes and the cavern), and the Asylum Studios (hallways, labs, medical rooms, rapelling scenes and green screen virtual sets).
The film features one of the highest visual effects shot counts in an Asylum film, 379, and the effects were completed in just four weeks.
In his commentary, director Joseph J. Lawson cites as his visual influences Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, John Landis, David Lean, J. J. Abrams and Robert Rodriguez.
Reception
Critical and audience reaction to the film has been mixed with everything from "absolute garbage" to "the Citizen Kane of Asylum films".[4]
References
- West, Steven (August 6, 2012). "FrightFest Gore in the Store review of Bloodstorm". FrightFest. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
“BLOODSTORM” is a feeble UK retitling of a movie called NAZIS AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Mathematically minded viewers will know that the original title is exactly 2984.3% superior to the generic new moniker – which itself might cause confusion with SUBSPECIES 4: BLOODSTORM.
- "Nazi Sky – Die Rückkehr des Bösen". Lexikon des internationalen Films (in German). Zweitausendeins. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
- Richard Ecke (30 April 2012). "Great Falls man directs Grade B feature-length film". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- "Dvd Review: Nazis At The Center Of The Earth". Wizbang Pop!. 2012-04-29. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-01.