For those of you who just can’t get enough of those classic ‘Nazi out of water’ stories comes “Iron Sky”. This one comes with a new twist: They aren’t goofy Nazis, or zombie Nazis, they’re space Nazis that have been chilling in a base on the dark side of the moon, hidden away from the rest of us for 70 years. Kind of makes you raise an eyebrow at NASA’s new space base plans, doesn’t it?Here’s the rundown from the film’s website:In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During 70 years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers.
When American astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) puts down his Lunar Lander a bit too close to the secret Nazi base, the Moon Führer (Udo Kier) decides the glorious moment of retaking the Earth has arrived sooner than expected. Washington claims the mission is just a publicity stunt for the President of the United States (Stephanie Paul), but what else could the man be but a scout for the imminent attack by Earth forces? The Fourth Reich must act!
Two Nazi officers, ruthless Klaus Adler (Götz Otto) and idealistic Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), travel to Earth to prepare the invasion. In the end when the Moon Nazi UFO armada darkens the skies, ready to strike at the unprepared Earth, every man, woman and nation alike, must re-evaluate their priorities."First things first, aren’t we all glad that Udo Kier is still working and still playing Nazis? I know I sure am.In all seriousness folks, when I first saw this trailer I thought “Oh, this is one of those idiotic Fangoria movies that my culty friends love to get their rocks off too,” but after repeat viewings I think I’ll rescind that snarky rush to judgement and consider myself among the excited. I’m especially looking forward to the satirical jabs “Iron Sky” takes at life in these horrid modern times, even if the Sarah Palinish U.S. President (complete with red blazer) is a bit too obvious for my tastes. Fuck it, it still gets a pass.Like me, when you first saw a poster for Iron Sky you probably thought you were in for a flick that was destined to go straight to Sci-Fi Channel’s movie of the week with fog everywhere, everything glowing all the time, and piss-poor green keying. Thankfully that’s not the case. In fact, this movie looks pretty great considering it’s relatively modest (for the genre) $9.8 million budget. The special effects look on par with most movies that cost twice as much, and the design looks like a cross between Hellboy, Indiana Jones, and Alien, which I fully back.I must also note that Iron Sky was produced with the help of the online community Wreck-A-Movie, meaning it may or may not herald a new era in participatory cinema. At Wreck-A-Movie the filmmakers actively solicited things like ideas and audio recordings from fans of the production. I’m still on the fence as to whether this is a cheap gimmick or a significant shift in the filmmaking paradigm. Either way, I think it’s pretty cool. What do you think?Follow O’Coin on Twitter @OCOIN
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