NipPierce
Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!
ManiakJiggy
This is How Movies Should Be Made
Megamind
To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Blake Rivera
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Sam Panico
In Italy, an American military patrol discovers a crashed spaceship and its alien crew. It also finds itself up against a Nazi flank packed with soldiers and tanks. Also: Hitler gets punched in the face.Written by Paul De Meo (Eliminators) and directed by Danny Bilson (who also wrote The Rocketeer), this is a film long on humor and crazy ideas but short on plot. If you like Trancers, well, you'll like this as it shares a lot of the same actors. Tim Thomerson is great as the near-mythic Sarge, a man who never dies no matter how many times he's shot. If you've ever read Sergeant Rock, he'll seem pretty familiar.If Empire Pictures was around today, they'd be talking about a shared universe where characters from ReAnimator would battle Jack Deth from Trancers and The Dungeonmaster. Oh man - don't forget RoboJox, Dolls, The Eliminators and Klaus Kinski from Crawlspace!
gavin6942
In Italy, during World War II some American soldiers find an alien UFO.We have the usual Empire crew here, with Charlie Band taking the lead. With him are Debra Dion, John Carl Buechler, Tim Thomerson and even Ted Nicoleau. The production was done in Italy with dozens of Italian crew members. Oh, Empire, you really knew how to make a good movie!Directing this lost gem is Danny Bilson (who co-wrote it with his long-time writing partner Paul DeMeo), who Empire fans will know for "Trancers", others might know for "The Rocketeer", and those who do not know him may be more familiar with his daughter Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.").Richard Band's score seems to blatantly rip off the "Imperial March" from "Star Wars", which seems all too appropriate (I mean, you know, Nazi soldiers were called storm troopers). Is it better than ripping off the theme from "Psycho" for "Re-Animator"? Maybe... maybe not.
MartinHafer
For some reason, IMDb does not list the estimated cost to make this film--something that they almost always give for each film. However, it doesn't take a genius to see that this film was done on the cheap--sort of like an Ed Wood or Roger Corman flick. You've only got a very small number of actors fighting for the Germans and Americans--even though it's supposed to be WWII (and this was a relatively large tiff). The acting is also only fair and the film didn't seem to go anywhere despite an interesting idea. Here's the idea--American and German soldiers are killing each other when, out of the blue, an alien lands! Now the idea of aliens disrupting WWII is a great idea and the writer Harry Turtledove did a wonderful series of alternative histories based on the premise. But in Turtledove's case, there are LOTS of aliens and lots of action, whereas in "Zone Troopers" they obviously had no budget, so you only get the bare minimum of everything. An interesting idea but nothing more.
Scott_Mercer
Or why didn't someone with a larger film budget? Because this whole movie is a lot of fun. I just wish the special effects had been a little better. I'm sure that crashed spaceship mockup did cost them a pretty penny though.The cheesiness of the low budget, reflected in the alien costumes and minimal military paraphenelia is about the only bad thing I found in this genre effort. Badmouthing this film is like kicking a friendly puppy. The writing was great, the acting was much better than it had any right to be, and even the directing was absolutely appropriate.Yes, it is not realistic in the slightest. Yes, it is a version of World War 2 based not on the actual war, but based on other cheap movies about the War. And then it throws crash-landed aliens into the mix. But that just makes it so much more fun.There's a standard low budget WW2 movie setup: ragtag group of GIs is caught behind German lines and has to fight their way out. Luckily, this is in Italy so the Germans are a little ways out on the end of their supply lines as well. We get all the standard war movie clichés: the gruff Sarge who can't die (Tim Thomerson), the comic relief kid from Brooklyn with his pulp magazines, the green Lieutenant just out of training school, the grizzled Corporal who's been through hell and high water with The Sarge (the Tom Sizemore role, here Art LaFleur) and the hard-bitten, cynical reporter/photographer who tags along.Into this "haven't we seen this before a FEW times" setup comes strange goings-on in the form of a crash landed alien spaceship. And that, kids, is where things get interesting and fun. Things just get more ridiculous from there, with a blown-up spaceship, magical alien gizmos that make Rita Hayworth appear, and even a cameo appearance from Der Furher himself, just so one of the heroes can punch him right in the face. That's entertainment.Do check out Zone Troopers, but make sure your tongue is planted firmly in cheek, as they say.
