| Zombie Lake 1980 83 min |
| aka Zombies' Lake Le Lac des Morts Vivants El Lago de los Muertos Vivientes The Lake of the Living Dead |
| It's usually a pretty bad sign if it is a difficult task to find out who is exactly responsible for the direction of a movie. The onscreen pseudonym used is J.A. Lazer. The inlay card included with the DVD tells how many suspected it was Jess Franco's baby due to the presence of Howard Vernon (Dr. Orfloff and several other Eurohorror films) and a bunch of music originally heard in The Female Vampire and The Awful Dr. Orloff. Others placed the blame on the father and son that ran Eurocine, Marius and Daniel Lesoeur. According to the latter though, the film was helmed by both Julian de Lasema and Jean Rollin. |
| Being a pretty big fan of Rollin's body of work, I would like to take a little time to excuse his involvment here. To begin with, he didn't direct most of the film. He was mostly involved in the zombie attack scenes (okay, maybe I'm not helping his case much here). It is notable though, that some of the photography is actually quite nice. The somewhat sentimental subplot involving the young girl seems like typical Rollin, I'd be willing to bet he had a hand in that. If people could sit back and not so severely critical, there is fun to be had with this. Most interesting though, is the fact that he had to spend time training the actors to move in slow motion because the camera was stuck at a slower frame rate. Now that's perseverance! |
| The film itself is terribly stupid but not without redeeming qualities. It comes out stronger than most Alan Smithee classics released in the States (Hellraiser: Bloodline and The Birds 2: Land's End come to mind). The plot centers around a lake where a group of fallen soldiers lurk. The lake is frequently disturbed by naked women, prompting the zombies to ogle, grope, and drown them! After a rash of murders, the inept town jumps into action. Headed by the prolific Howard Vernon as the town's mayor and even Jean Rollin as a police detective, the town is determined to solve the distubances at the 'Lake of Ghosts'. Aside from this melodramatic main plot, there is an important subplot about a young girl and her relation to one of the zombies. |
| All this sounds fine and good, but this is an ultra cheap outing. The acting and dubbing is distractingly bad. The zombies are hilariously unconvincing. The green greasepaint used to make them look dead is applied very unevenly and usually nowhere near the eyes. When coming out of the lake, the make up is often washed partially off, revealing an embarrased actor in its wake. |
| I don't want to sound like I hate this movie, far from it. In all of its ineptness, there is a lot to be said for this movie. It was written by Spanish autuer Jess Franco. You never really know what to expect from Franco, but chances are it's going to be pretty sleazy. He doesn't disappoint here, there's a ton goodies to be found in that department. The most notable include the senseless opening skinny dipping scene and the even more senseless group skinny dipping scene involving a female volleyball team. The latter of which is by far the most unforgettable scene in the movie. Everything comes together to culminate in a fantastic scene with silly music 'La La La La La La' and several lingering shots of the playfull cuties. If that weren't enough, we then get some underwater photography as the zombie's appear to be examining the girls' nether-regions. Overall there is a fantastic feeling in this bottom of the barrel sleazefest that you can't find anywhere else. |
| Be warned: Almost every single person that I know that has seen this film has hated it, almost violently! I know that this isn't right for most people; if you've been watching Hollywood movies all your life I could imagine this cheap sleazefest is going to be like nothing you've ever seen. I just don't really understand the downright hatred some people have. I would never question anybody's judgement for disliking this film but if when looking at some of the completely moronic reviews on the imdb I wonder why they even looked at this film in the first place. One particular comment struck me: 'Even the Nazis would be embarrased by this abysmal stinker.' What exactly is this fool basing this on? His extensive background in Nazi entertainment, I'm sure. Anyway, a movie that inspires feelings this strong in viewers should probably been seen by completionists simply for that's sake. I personally would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the ultra cheap horror fare being churned out of Europe in the early 80s. Also, if you enjoyed Oasis of the Zombies, you'll probably be able to have a good time with this one. |
| The DVD is released by Image Entertainment though their Euroshock line and it is an impressive release to say the least! It is presented in its 1.66:1 OTR and is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. I so dearly want a widescreen TV to see this movie in all its anamorphic glory! The transfer is far better than it has any right to be, I would have never imagined seeing this movie with such a brilliant pitcure (worlds better than the TZ video from 1992 that I had previously watched. There aren't a ton of extras, but still a good amount considering the relative unimportance of this film. Included here are a few alternate clothed sequences, which effectively suck all the fun out of the most fun scenes, an alternate English language title sequence, and the original trailer. All in all a superb release that blows away all my expectations for this film. |
| I give this one 2 1/2 undead gynaecologists out of 5! |
| review by Joe Canistro 03/03/2002 |
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