5.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
An expedition searching for treasure supposedly buried by the German army in the African desert during WW II comes up against an army of Nazi zombies guarding the fortune.
Starring: Manuel Gélin, Eduardo Fajardo, France Lomay, Jeff Montgomery, Lina Romay (II)Horror | 100% |
Foreign | 34% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.65:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English: LPCM 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
On February 26th, Kino-Lorber and Redemption Films—as part of their ongoing distribution partnership—are releasing two of the shabbiest low-budget zombie films to have ever shambled into the cinema, 1981's Zombie Lake and 1982's Oasis of the Zombies. Besides a few minor differences in plot and setting, they're essentially the same movie, both involving cursed locales, flashbacks to World War II, illegitimate children fathered by soldiers, and Nazi zombies that rise from their mass graves to feast on sexy ladies. The similarities are no accident. Eurocine Productions initially hired cult horror/skin-flick filmmaker Jesús "Jess" Franco (Exorcism, Female Vampire) to helm Zombie Lake, but when he dropped out due to time-commitment issues, the directorial reins were passed to fellow euro-sleaze artiste Jean Rollin, the oddball sub-surrealist known for his many, many, many lesbian vampire movies. The following year, Franco would return to the premise and make his own version, Oasis of the Zombies. Both films are utter garbage—boring, poorly made, and prime examples of the kind of low- budget zombie knockoffs trailing in the wake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead—but they're somehow guileless and almost charming in their awfulness. I wouldn't say so bad they're good, but so bad I'm glad, in some perverse way, that they exist at all.
When Muppets go bad...
Like Zombie Lake and most of the other Kino/Redemption releases, Oasis of the Zombies is essentially presented "as-is," with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer of an archival negative that hasn't been significantly touched-up or restored. I may be in the minority here, but for a movie like this, I don't necessarily mind watching a battered, scratch and fleck-heavy transfer—the damage gives a sense of the film's history and seems appropriate for a low-budget grindhouse title. Along with the usual white specks and hairs and abrasions, you'll also notice some odd warping of the picture here from time to time. Is this distracting? A bit, but it is what it is. Overall, Oasis of the Zombies is in slightly poorer condition than Zombie Lake, but Kino's transfer is certainly the best the film has ever looked on home video, simply by merit of being mastered in high definition. The clarity of the 35mm production is markably improved from DVD, with sharper lines and finer textures, and color seems accurate and sufficiently dense, with no oversaturation or contrast issues. Of course, Kino's hands-off approach also means that the film's grain structure has been preserved, and that no excess filtering or sharpening has been applied. One might say Oasis of the Zombies is loveably grimy on Blu-ray.
The disc features two audio options, the original French or an English dub, both presented in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0. Usually, I'm no fan of dubs, but since all of the film's sound was added in post-production—it was filmed silently, like a lot of low-budget horror from the period—the difference between the two tracks is negligible. Even the French mix looks and feels badly dubbed. So, take your pick. Tonally, the mixes are much the same as well; both are bass-less and quite peaky in the high-end, with sometimes cringe-inducing harshness in gunshots and other loud effects. I'd recommend keeping your receiver at a lower than normal volume. Dialogue is, at the very least, understandable, and the film's vaguely North African- inspired score has a decent sense of clarity. The disc includes optional English subtitles in easy-to-read white lettering.
Trailers (HD): Includes trailers for Oasis of the Zombies, Zombie Lake, Female Vampire, and Exorcism/Demoniac.
Oasis of the Zombies is completely uncharacteristic for a Jess Franco movie—no prolonged softcore romping here, no over-gratuitous lady ogling —and it's an atypical zombie film as well, short on gore, slight of scares, and long in its let's-just-watch-these-characters-walk-around-for-a-bit tedium. It's a stretch in my opinion to call it the worst zombie move ever, but it is pretty damn unwatchable without hitting the fast-forward button. That said, it's one of those films that has permanently entered the pop culture canon of bad movies, and many cinematic masochists see it as a rite of passage. If you can make it through Oasis of the Zombies, welcome to the club.
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