It took... (checks the time)... at least 16-17 years for me to finally sit down and watch Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake. Did I miss something? No, but it was a blast for several reasons. The legend says Jess Franco signed on to direct it, but he disappeared (it's understandable) and Rollin agreed to do the directional duties on it. He did regret it as soon as he read the script, but did his best to do it as quickly as possible so he could go back to his usual poetic creations instead. So what the hell is this? It's bascially a "Nazi zombie dad reunites with annoying little daughter" set in a small French village where the villagers acts more zombie-like than the zombies themselves. Howard Vernon is there - often talking loud to himself - and a female reporter, channeling the photographer-lady in The Living Dead Girl runs around doing nothing really. The zombies is a blonde dude and poor Antonio Mayans with a bunch of stumbling zombie extras behind them in most sequences.
I'm fascinated by Mayans. He obviously had a career - and still have - but still he did something so pointless as playing Hugo Stiglitz cameraman (for five minutes) in Nightmare City and this absurdly silly zombie with green paint in his face and reaching after every nude basketball-playing woman he can find. I guess he signed on to work with Franco, but when Franco didn't show up he had to do what he promised to. I need to talk with the guy sometime, let him tell me everything about this acting gig!
Oh, the story? To quote my buddy John Kostka, "8-38 years ago" a bunch of lovable nazis was killed by the French resistance and dumped in a nearby idyllic lake. Now they're back for revenge (Why? I don't know now, but one of them has a daughter who he wants to cuddle with again) and when they're not doing inserts in a indoor swimming pool somewhere they're walking around in the woods, hunting down women to kill and suck blood from. But the village fights back, with guns and a cunning plan!
It feels more like something directed by Andrea Bianchi, the Commando Mengele-period, than Jean Rollin - and not so much Jess Franco either to be honest, even if it's closer to Franco than anything else made by Rollin. The small village, the villagers sitting on cafés, country roads, a castle - that's all Rollin, but the rest is actually among the most incompetent I ever seen. It's too much details to go in to, but imagine a movie where absolutely every shot has something wrong with it - from just lazy framing to goofs of every possible kind. I admit there's some stuff I like. The finale is quite okay, some cool fire-stunts (where they obviously just sat the extras on fire) and some of the footage shot looks beautiful. But everything is so sloppy, so trashy, so simple, so naive... and very entertaining.
Yeah, if you manage to survive the first 10-20 minutes you WILL be brainwashed and keep watching until the bitter end!
Watch out for Jean Rollin himself as a cop getting smooched to death by nazi zombies!
See the all female basketball team strip nude and throw dirty water at each other!
Behold when the female reporter stares directly into camera!
A cast of dozens!
You find everything and more in Zombie Lake. Even love, prosperity and happiness.
"It took... (checks the time)... at least 16-17 years for me to finally sit down and watch Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake. Did I miss something? No, but it was a blast for several reasons."
Better late then never.
"I'm fascinated by Mayans. He obviously had a career - and still have - but still he did something so pointless as playing Hugo Stiglitz cameraman (for five minutes) in Nightmare City and this absurdly silly zombie with green paint in his face and reaching after every nude basketball-playing woman he can find."
He needed the cash maybe...?
"Yeah, if you manage to survive the first 10-20 minutes you WILL be brainwashed and keep watching until the bitter end!"
No surrender....NO RETREAT!
hahahhahahahha......
"See the all female basketball team strip nude and throw dirty water at each other!"
Yep, I look forward to that...hahahhahah
"You find everything and more in Zombie Lake."
And the title is just great......good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | July 12, 2013 at 14:43