A bit of a strange one, I must say but after seeing the films trailer, I was intrigue to seek the film out to watch. When I saw the title of the film, I was not sure what to expect as other films bearing the same title has people enter some tunnel via a volcano looking for the centre of the earth but the trailer looked oh so different. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is terrible, the special effects are a joke, and still it was a good watch.
As far-fetched as the premise of Antarctic researchers being captured by decaying Nazi soldiers living in a pristine valley deep within the earth, much of what occurs during the first 55 minutes teeters closely to the territory often described as torture porn. The set-up may be silly, but what happens to some of these researchers is quite grisly and disturbing: flesh peeling, gory human experimentation, Nazi zombie shower rape, and even a forced abortion.
The film opens in 1945 with the diabolical Nazi mad scientist Dr. Josef Mengele and a handful of Nazis making a narrow escape from Allied Forces as they board a plane with a cylindrical device. Mengele proves to be a better shot than any Nazi in any movie I have ever seen, single-handedly taking out a tank, several soldiers, and even slashing a throat with a scalpel before the plane gets airborne.
Flash-forward to modern times when some Antarctic researchers drilling into the ice hit something metal. That something metal has a swastika on it. Then two of the scientists are captured by some Nazi Stormtroopers who are wearing gas masks who take them down deep into the earth. There they come face to face with Dr. Mengele who for the fun of it rips off one of their faces and the other is given the option of either assisting him or face the same fate but she quickly agrees.
The rest of the scientific team go in search of their missing colleagues. Despite the trail sending them further and further underground, no matter how far they climb or slide, nobody really ever expresses much concern over how exactly they intend to get back up to the surface. They soon find themselves in the much-fabled world-within-a-world, a hollow earth paradise deep beneath the Antarctic ice. Unfortunately, this Shangri-La is home to the last remnants of the Third Reich preparing to unleash a Fourth Reich.
Surrounded by zombified S.S. soldiers in uniform, some with blackened skin looking like they suffer from full body frostbite, others with hideous scars from recent flesh transplants that haven’t fully healed. Mengele gives them the same option as their colleague to die or work for him. The only Jew in the group doesn’t get an option he is vaporized on the spot.
Much of the movie early on is quite mean-spirited and fairly brutal; at the same time, it really is hard to take any of it seriously, because the premise is so out there to begin with and some of the plot twists are nothing short of hysterical. You got hollow earth, Nazi zombies, mad scientist experiments, people being skinned alive, Nazi zombie gangbangs, flesh-eating bacteria, disintegration ray gun shootouts, a gigantic freedom-crushing Nazi UFO.
Where would Mengele be without his boss? Well Adolf Hitler is there all jazzy up in a robot dreaming of the Fourth Reich and looking for some pay back on the USA. His plans involves a biological attack by way of releasing flesh-eating bacteria above the major cities. This of course leads into a battle between the U.S. Air Force and a UFO over Antarctica, but as to be expected, the fighter jets are no match for this Doomsday Machine and it's up to our escaped heroes to take it down from the inside
But you know what? Dark and brooding one minute, laugh out loud ludicrous the next, pacing that goes from methodical to madcap in the blink of an eye, blood, boobs, and even a biomechanical beast, such are the makings of your quintessential worthy film. On that dark, violent, and nuttier than a fruitcake level, it certainly entertains. It doesn’t always work, but somehow it works. You know what I’m saying. If you do, this movie is for you.
My film rating
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