SURF NAZIS MUST DIE (1987) – The ideal companion piece to the original Point Break! Rest assured, the Surf Nazis are depicted as the scummy villains they are and that they do get their just desserts in this 83-minute bundle from So Bad It’s Good movie Heaven. Though distributed by the venerable Troma Team, Surf Nazis Must Die was actually produced by the Institute. The film was directed by Peter George and written by George with Jon Ayre.
This post-apocalypse flick is not the typically self-conscious, over-the-top Troma madness that we all love. Its more subdued but still energetically bizarre tone often provokes complaints from hardcore Troma fans who expected something like The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke ‘Em High or Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD.
Surf Nazis Must Die is refreshingly played mostly straight – but still howlingly bad – and the actors performers don’t spend their time practically winking at the audience over how absurd the whole thing is. That’s a nice change of pace in this age when there are way too many “look how bad and zany we are” low-budget flicks down on their knees begging for cult status.
Obviously, this Institute production is trying to fit into the post-apocalypse sub-genre of Mad Max imitators from the 1980s. SNMD earns its place with its originality. For one thing, rather than a global cataclysm, the movie is set in the aftermath of a very localized apocalypse – the California coastline has been ravaged by a series of monumental earthquakes. Continue reading
THIRTEEN AGAINST FATE (1966) – Based on thirteen stand-alone crime stories by Georges Simenon, the creator of Jules Maigret, this BBC series was long thought lost except for three episodes which had gone unwiped by the penny-wise and pound-foolish broadcasters. In September of 2010, the entire series was discovered in America’s Library of Congress, finally making all thirteen episodes available. 
TRAPPED (June 26th) – Louis Bert, a carpenter turned petty criminal, lives in Nice with Constance, a wealthy woman he is conning. On the side he romances Lulu, a prostitute whom he passes off as his sister to the wealthy Constance. 
DELTA STATE TAKES DOWN DIVISION ONE – The NCAA Division Two’s DELTA STATE STATESMEN welcomed NCAA Division ONE’s MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE DELTA DEVILS yesterday. The 1st Half was pretty tight with the Delta Devils clinging to a mere 7-6 edge at the break. The Statesmen came out of the locker room on fire and seized a 22-7 lead in the 3rd Quarter before blowing out Mississippi Valley State 35-7 in the 4th. 
MARATHON GAME OF THE WEEK – To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Never have so many football players played for so long for so few points.” The NEWBERRY COLLEGE WOLVES and their guests the EMORY & HENRY UNIVERSITY WASPS needed SIX OVERTIMES to finish their game. With that many OT’s you’d expect a score of at least forty-something points apiece instead of the 25-23 Wolves victory that we got. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER TEN – Down in NCAA Division Three, the 22nd ranked SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY RIVER HAWKS visited the number 10 CORTLAND STATE RED DRAGONS. The Red Dragons led 14-7 in the 1st Quarter and 21-14 at Halftime. A 35-21 Cortland State advantage to end the 3rd Quarter was followed by a furious River Hawks rally in the 4th as they came back to win it 38-35. 
KAMANDI Vol 1 #1 (November 1972) 
After some time, the young man gets caught in the middle of a large-scale battle between an army of tiger-men and an army of leopard-men, all wearing the clothing and wielding the weapons of the humans who used to rule the world. 
THE 14 AMAZONS (1972) – This often-overlooked Hong Kong martial arts film was directed and written by Cheng Kang and produced by the iconic Shaw Brothers studios. The 14 Amazons is a female-centric take on China’s historical Yang Family, many of whom were accomplished generals over the centuries. 
This 1972 film starts out with the death of one of the Yang men and proceeds from there. By this point there are so few male Yangs still alive that the wives, sisters, and other female relatives of the late hero band together and set out for revenge. 
ANOTHER WORLD (1873) – This highly detailed account of life in Montalluyah (“God’s own city”), the capitol city of Mars, was written by British author Benjamin Lumley under the pen name Hermes. The book is presented as excerpts from historical accounts, including a biography of the Great Martian Reformer Tootmanyoso. 
THE MASTER MYSTERY (1918-1919) – The first film footage of Harry Houdini performing his stage act dates to 1907, but it wasn’t until this 15-part serial that he hit the big screen in a series of adventures. Chapter One of The Master Mystery debuted on November 18th, 1918 and starred Houdini as a federal agent named Quentin Locke. 
Every cliffhanger ending for the chapters of the serials involves a deathtrap which Houdini escapes from at the start of the following installment. 
For obvious reasons I held off a day before posting this item about the very odd incident on September 11th, 1911. 
INDIANA WESLEYAN CONQUERS DIVISION ONE – Each year plenty of NAIA teams upset higher division opponents and sometimes a few will even topple Division ONE teams. The INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS welcomed D1’s VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY BEACONS yesterday. After a scoreless 1st Quarter, the Wildcats went up 17-7 by Halftime, then had to hold on against a Beacons rally to cement the Upset 24-22. 
NORTHWESTERN (IA) ALSO TAKES DOWN D1 – Not to be outdone, the NAIA’s NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS stunned their hosts the DRAKE UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS. The Bulldogs led 14-10 at the Half and 14-13 to end the 3rd Quarter but the Red Raiders tied it up 21-21 in the 4th. In Overtime, NC won out 27-24. 
ARIZONA CHRISTIAN TOPPLES DIVISION TWO – Speaking of the NAIA downing D2 teams, the ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM played host to the FORT LEWIS COLLEGE SKYHAWKS. The Firestorm completely dominated the Skyhawks, leading them 14-3 at the break enroute to a 49-25 smackdown victory. 
NOVA Vol 1 #1 (September 1976) 
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