Forces Of Hate!

Russell Crowe’s notorious neo-Nazi movie gets a controversial TV sequel

- Richard McClure

When Australian film Romper Stomper was released back in 1992, it caused huge controversy with its violent depiction of a group of neo-Nazis – led by Russell Crowe as skinhead Hando – fighting with Vietnamese gangs in the suburbs of Melbourne.

Now, more than 25 years later, director Geoffrey Wright has updated his film in a new TV sequel of the same name following a new generation of white supremacists. There’s no Russell Crowe this time (for reasons that are obvious to anyone who’s seen the movie), but the series still divided opinion when it was shown in Australia earlier this year, with one critic warning that the show ‘could and probably would’ inflame racial tensions.