The Final Solution and the New Wave of Nazi Horror

Final Solution teaser poster 1Is calling your new movie The Final Solution a bit of an inflammatory move? That’s just what Danish director Martin Bech has done. You can see the trailer in the post below although it only offers a brief teaser. World War II has provided the backdrop for countless films over the years, not to mention videogames and TV series. The Nazis are perhaps the most popular villains ever but when it comes to horror films they have seldom featured. Perhaps because the real events are more chilling than a script writer could conjure.

The film is slated for a 2010 release and it seems to be inspired by actual events in Nazi occupied Denmark. Apparently during the Second World War many Jews fled through Denmark to the relative safety of Sweden but the trip was not a cheap one. Local fishermen would ferry escapees to freedom but the Nazis employed some of them and unfortunate refugees would end up at secret extermination camps deep in the Scandinavian forests.

The film focuses on the Landau family who befall just such a fate, leaving behind their daughter Emma. Years after the war she decides to follow in their foot steps and try to uncover what befell them. Unfortunately for her she uncovers more than she bargained for and along with a group of friends she discovers a terrible evil still lurking there.

The film proclaims it is based on actual events and the teaser tells us that 8,000 Jews made the journey from Denmark to Sweden but 141 of them disappeared without a trace. The idea that this is a historical exploration rather than a lurid and exploitative take on one of the worst events in human history is slightly damaged by the news that The Final Solution is a slasher flick. We can expect left over Nazis stalking teens through the woods and no doubt slaughtering them in gory and imaginative ways.

To be honest I’m surprised there haven’t been more Nazi based horror films over the years. The videogames industry has been quick to employ the Nazis as villains to be slaughtered and the Wolfenstein series made them actual monsters in a plot that tied together genetic experiment and supernatural evil.

There have been a few releases over the years with Nazis as horror villains, from Shock Waves to Hellboy or even The Boys From Brazil. More recently there was the Norwegian comedy horror Dead Snow which features Nazi zombies. Marathon Man was another memorable thriller with serious horror elements as an evil Nazi dentist tortured poor Dustin Hoffman. Then there was the 1983 release The Keep about the Nazis unlocking an ancient evil in a Romanian castle.

Pretty scant pickings but get ready for a wave of Nazi horror. Not only is The Final Solution on the way but there’s a film called The Fourth Reich which focuses on human experiments and has the legendary Tom Savini onboard. There’s also the Joel Schumacher directed Town Creek, a gorefest with an occult Nazi background.

It looks like Nazi horror is the next big thing in the genre. Is it distasteful or do you figure this subject is fair game for horror movies?