After Bob Mathews, leader of the white-nationalist terrorist organization the Order, was burned alive in his hideout by federal agents in 1984 and his followers were apprehended, it was inevitable that their dramatic and violent deeds would furnish Hollywood with story ideas. The most famous movie inspired by the Order is Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio (1988), an adaptation of Eric Bogosian’s 1987 play dramatizing the group’s 1984 assassination of Alan Berg. Beating it onto screens by two years, however, was Omega Syndrome (1986), a low-budget action film produced by George Zecevic’s Smart Egg Pictures (most notable for the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise), written by the obscure John Sharkey, and directed by Joseph Manduke, whose credits primarily consist of work for television. Marketed with eye-catching, horror-style poster art, Omega Syndrome is an unremarkable but amusing entry in the eighties neo-Nazi militia thriller subgenre that also includes Avenging Force (1986), Malone (1987), Betrayed (1988), and Dead Bang (1989).   

Wiseguy’s studly Ken Wahl stars as Jack Corbett, a Vietnam veteran, widower, and journalist struggling with alcoholism. When his daughter (Nicole Eggert) is kidnapped by members of an elusive terror organization known as Omega, police prove less than capable of handling the case and are more worried about the prospect of “two nights without watching Wheel of Fortune”, so Jack recruits his old war buddy Philly (George DiCenzo), worse for wear and now an “80% legit” gun dealer, for a two-man vigilante crusade to rescue the girl. Robert Gray is adequate as physically formidable Omega lieutenant Saxon, but Xander Berkeley steals the show as jittery, pill-popping henchman Yo-Yo, chewing every piece of scenery with his rotten teeth. Also notable is Doug McClure as LAPD sad-sack Detective Milnor, a comic relief character given to saying things like, “Buenos tacos, Fredo”, or complaining about yogurt: “They oughtta kill the dope who invented this crap.” Colm Meaney, meanwhile, has a small role as an Irish terrorist hired by Omega to make their bombs.

Omega is introduced to the audience when, as a mixed-race couple strolls at night to some Seinfeld-like cool funk, a pair of militiamen pull up and murder them in a scenario predictive of William Pierce’s 1989 novel Hunter. The plot is really set in motion, however, by the apprehension of Dunlap (George Fisher), an Omega member who agrees to testify against his comrades in exchange for a “new house, new life, a new name. We’ll even give you a new dick if you want one,” a federal agent tells him. When Dunlap survives an attack on the prison van transporting him between locations and ends up hospitalized, Omega’s leadership next hatches a plot to strongarm a doctor (Bill Morey) into murdering Dunlap by holding the doctor’s granddaughter hostage, not realizing that the girl’s father, who happens to be the highly skilled Jack, will present this “buncha fuckin’ fanatics out to save the white race” with a formidable opponent.   

As with many cinematic representations of Nazis, Omega Syndrome seems unable to make up its mind as to whether Omega’s doings are the work of criminal masterminds or merely hopeless bumblers. In the course of a single scene, for example, investigative journalist Harry (Bob Tzudiker) indicates that the terrorists are “so secretive they make the KGB look like a public relations firm” but then suggests that their membership consists of hardened criminals and “lobotomy experiments gone awry”. Until now, Omega has eluded detection, and yet they are so careless with operational security that they think nothing of spray-painting their emblem on one of the windows of their hideout. Then, too, as with Avenging Force, which was in theaters during the same period as Omega Syndrome, there is an attempt to associate white nationalism with pedophilia. Terry Lampson (John Lisbon Wood), a character probably inspired by Jewish child rapist and National Socialist Party of America founder Frank Collin, is a neo-Nazi who “used to run somethin’ called the Aryan Patriots Party till they kicked him out for bein’ weird.” Lampson is a “mama’s boy”, Detective Milnor explains: “Still goes home on weekends to suck on her tit. […] Your big stormtrooper’s a convicted child molester. […] He likes boys, strictly boys.”

Omega Syndrome is not terribly good, but not all bad either, notwithstanding some corny moments and cheesy lines as when Philly tells a villain “Say goodnight, Gracie” before shooting him. Also annoying are the instances of casual sadism – assumed to be especially justified by the antagonists’ ideology – such as when Philly grabs an Omega associate’s testicles for interrogation or puts a tire necklace around another after a beating and threatens to set him ablaze. To its credit, Omega Syndrome contains a surprisingly competent chase sequence with a few great car stunts, the humor hits at least as often as it misses, and the film moves along at a fast-enough clip never to become intolerably dull. Primarily, however, it serves as a revealing pop-historical document of the concerned but not entirely earnest treatment of white nationalism and domestic terrorism during the Reagan era – and hardly delivers the “thriller of the year” promised by the trailer.

Rainer Chlodwig von K.

Rainer is the author of Drugs, Jungles, and Jingoism.