Troma’s War 1988

An uncharted island becomes the stage for disaster after a commercial airliner crashes, stranding a diverse cross-section of the US population—some with Tromaville roots—in a tense confrontation with armed, uniformed outsiders from multiple nations. Parker (Rick Washburn), a tough Nam veteran, and Taylor (Sean Bowen), an everyman with practical instincts, quickly step forward to lead the survivors toward a rough safe haven where they can regroup and plan.

The fragile shelter soon gives way to a harsher reality: a passenger who surrenders is shot, revealing the island is not a rescue zone but a terrorist infiltration camp. Parker fights back, killing one attacker, and with Taylor’s help the pair shepherd the others toward safety, though part of their group is captured and hauled to a nearby training base.

At the base, the captives are subjected to grim displays: neo-Nazi captors force them to witness the murder of an air steward and a priest. Armed with improvised weapons, the survivors rally to mount a desperate raid in hopes of reclaiming their friends and ending the threat.

Inside the camp, violence escalates in brutal fashion: a morbidly obese terrorist wields an AK-47 and shoots a band member. The bandleader, Sean (Alex Cserhart), fights the Nazi and loses, while the musician’s girlfriend is pulled aside to face a terrifying assault by Señor Sida, the leader of the AIDS brigade who aims to trigger an American AIDS epidemic.

Meanwhile, an alluring African-American woman is brought to the brains of the operation, a pair of Nazi twins conjoined at the head. Parker and Taylor lead the survivors in a surprise strike on the terrorists’ hideout. Sida is ultimately dispatched by his victim via a crossbow bolt lodged in the scrotum, a grim turning point that foreshadows the collapse of the terrorists’ network.

Transformed by her ordeal, the African-American woman sets out to finish the job: she hunts down the conjoined twins and hacks them apart with a machete, then turns her fury on a terrorist who tries to dominate her, stuffing a grenade into his mouth as a stark comeuppance.

Realizing the terrorists plan to invade America and unleash carnage and AIDS, the remaining survivors resolve to strike the terrorists’ main headquarters at dawn. The men prepare for the assault but hesitate to risk the women’s safety, a tension that underscores the group’s uneasy alliance. Hardwick (Charles Kay-Hune) volunteers to drive a truck loaded with explosives toward a cargo boat hauling the terrorists into the United States, but is shot down, stalling the plan.

With time running short, the group improvises one last gambit. Cooney (Ara Romanoff), a timid but eventually decisive passenger, takes up the cause. He fights his way through the terrorists to reach the truck, and just as the boat pulls away, he steers the explosives-laden vehicle off a ramp and into the boat, destroying it. The crew mourns Cooney’s apparent sacrifice, only to discover he has survived, having ditched the truck at the last moment.

In the aftermath, the remaining terrorists are defeated, America seems within reach of rescue, and the survivors erupt into a jubilant cry of “America!” as the long night of terror finally begins to fade.