PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I was so excited when I opened my Vinegar Syndrome review package and found a 2k restoration Blu-ray of Randall M. Badat’s cult film, Surf II: The End Of The Trilogy. Gnarly! Despite this being the filmmaker’s only time in the director’s chair, he managed to pull together a story that incorporates Airplane!-style satire, ’60s beach comedy, ’70s horror film clichés, and ’80s teen-comedy hijinks into a single package. There are so many shoutouts to other films and pop culture references that I nearly broke my neck trying to catch them all. Is Surf II a perfect film? No. But will you remember it after you watch it? Heck, yeah!
Can you relate?
Synopsis for Surf II:
- Long ago in The Good Old Days, surfers ruled. It was bitchin’! That was before the threat of chemical pollution, nuclear waste and the horror of Buzzz Cola.
- Menlo Schwartzer was a high school genius who hated surfers. He invented a weird soft drink, involved local businessmen and set out to rule the coast. He nearly succeeded. This is the story of Buzzz Cola and Menlo’s revenge.
Deep in his secret underwater laboratory, teenage mad scientist Menlo Schwartzer plots to rid the beaches of his greatest enemies: surfers. Having been driven to revenge following a cruel practical joke gone awry, Menlo concocts an addictive chemical agent which turns its drinkers into mutated, garbage-ingesting zombie punks. With the reluctant help of his girlfriend Sparkle and a pair of greedy, cigar-chomping soda businessmen, Menlo distributes the chemical under the guise of Buzzz Cola, and one by one begins to build an army of brainless zombie slaves to do his bidding.
After several of their friends fall victim to Buzzz Cola, airheaded surfer dudes Chuck and Bob begin to piece together the parts of Menlo’s evil scheme. Finding no help from their spaced-out parents or the bumbling efforts of the local police force, the two enlist the services of their eccentric science teacher and vow to stop Menlo for good, or else they will not be able to compete in the big surf contest this weekend.
Written and directed by Randall M. Badat, Surf II stars some familiar faces such as Eric Stoltz (Mask 1985), Jeffrey Rogers (Friday the 13th Part III 1982), the late Lyle Waggoner (Wonder Woman TV series), Terry Kiser (Weekend At Bernie’s 1989, Final Exam 1988 – read our review here), Linda Kerridge (Alien From L.A. 1988), Eddie Deezen (WarGames 1983), Cleavon Little (Blazing Saddles 1974, Once Bitten 1985), Corinne Bohrer (Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol 1987), Ron Palillo (Welcome Back, Kotter TV series), Ralph Seymour (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure 1985, The Relic 1997), Joshua Cadman (The Sure Thing 1985), and Tom Villard (Popcorn 1991, One Crazy Summer 1986).
From Vinegar Syndrome’s Surf II page:
Surfing is the only thing to do for high school students Chuck and Bob who are in preparation for the big surf competition. However, their fathers, sales reps for a new soda named Buzzz Cola, disapprove of surfing as a whole. Everything is going swell until the area’s surfing population start getting kidnapped by Menlo, a vengeful nerd turned mad scientist, with a particular vengeance aimed at surfers. Using Buzzz Cola, Menlo has begun turning surfers into brain dead zombies, with the aid of his assistant, Sparkle. Can Chuck and Bob thwart his evil master plan in time to save the surfing competition?
A completely wild and thoroughly unhinged comedy that manages to integrate slapstick humor, surreal sight gags, horror and sci-fi elements, T&A, as well as having possibly served as an influence to the most famous animated TV series in history, Randall Badat’s one of a kind and completely bonkers gem, SURF II (The End of a Trilogy) stars Eddie Deezen (Grease, War Games), Lyle Waggoner (TV’s Wonder Woman), Linda Kerridge (Fade to Black), Terry Kiser (Tammy & the T-Rex), and Eric Stoltz (Back to the Future, Pulp Fiction), in one of his earliest roles. Never released on disc, Vinegar Syndrome brings SURF II to Blu-ray, newly restored from long lost 35mm elements and presented both in its commonly seen theatrical version as well as in its unreleased and radically different original director’s cut.
Bonus Features:
1. Region Free 2-disc Blu-ray Set
2. Newly scanned & restored in 2k from 35mm archival prints
3. Includes the original director’s cut as well as the theatrical re-edit
4. “The Stupidest Movie Ever Made: Drinking the Drink of Surf II” – an extended making-of documentary featuring interviews with: Randall Badat (director), George Braunstein (producer), Scott Easton (assistant director), Peter Bernstein (composer), Carin Berger (costume designer) Fern Champion (casting director), along with actors Eddie Deezen, Peter Isacksen, Linda Kerridge, and Joshua Cadman
5. Commentary track with director Randall Badat (director’s cut)
6. Commentary track with director Randall Badat (theatrical cut)
7. Commentary track with actor Eddie Deezen (director’s cut)
8. Commentary track with Zack Carlson & Bryan Connolly (theatrical cut)
9. Behind-the-scenes still gallery
10. Original sizzle reel video
11. 20 Page booklet featuring writings by Mike McPadden and Zack Carlson
12. Reversible cover artwork
13. English SDH subtitles
What Works
I love the surfer vs. punk aspect in Surf II, although the nerd revenge storyline feels a little forced. Whenever Bob and Chuck were with their families, the two households sat opposite each other (with a wall between then, natch) and said everything in unison, like all parents said the same things to their kids every time they talked. I was impressed with the synchronicity of the actors pulling this off every time in a single take.
The humor in Surf II is parody and satire-ific. The character names—policemen named Chief “Don’t call me Chef” Boyardie (Waggoner) and Inspector Underwear (Palillo), a principal called Daddy O by his students, a human bulldozer nicknamed Big Head, surfers Bob and Chuck and their girlfriends Cindy Lou and Linda Sue—are childishly inventive. There’s a few Jaws shoutouts, like when the surfers and their teach do an autopsy on one of the punks and start yanking things out of his guy like Hooper and Brody did in the greatest shark movie ever made. They even pulled out a little wooden sign that said Orca… and a pair of boxers belonging to J. Hoffa.
The boppin’ soundtrack includes “I Get Around,” Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Stoked” by The Beach Boys, “Built For Speed” by The Stray Cats, “Pipeline” by The Chantays, “She Blinded Me With Science” by Thomas Dolby, “Hold Me Back” and “Only A Lad” by Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo, and “Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo.
The resulting picture is clear, the colors bright and the sound on point. Vinegar Syndrome’s 2k restoration of Surf II is near perfect, and I couldn’t be happier with it.
What Doesn’t Work
As I mentioned above, the humor in Surf II is good but could have been laid on a little thicker. If you’re going to go for a satire in the vein of Airplane!, you need to take it to the limit. I also noticed a few striations in some of the scenes left over from the 35mm archival print, but nothing bad enough to ruin the film experience.
There are so many cool goodies in this release! Between the 2-disc Blu-ray set with both the theatrical and director’s cut, the four different commentaries, the booklet, and “The Stupidest Movie Ever Made: Drinking the Drink of Surf II,” the extended making-of documentary, there is so much to explore here! Plus the humor and soundtrack are spot on. You guys have to pick this one up! Surf II will release on Vinegar Syndrome on July 27, 2021.
