Zombie Lake

DVD

Review by C. Demetrius Morgan

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This week brings a review of something different. A movie that is one of the unheralded underdog cult classics that comprise the “Euroshock Collection”, Zombie Lake. That’s right a zombie movie, but not just any type of zombies, these are Nazi Zombies! What, you haven’t heard of Euroshock? That means it‘s not only a horror, it‘s gratuitously horrible. Just take a gander at those lovely young women skinny dipping down by the lake. Such a calm and pastoral setting. Of course you’d want to strip down to your skivvies to take a dip. Who wouldn’t? But look out, for the Nazi Zombies have risen to sate their lust for virgin blood! Well, ok, any young college age female’s blood will do.

Features:

Listed Running Time: 83 minutes

MPAA Rating: Not Rated. (Suggested for Mature Audiences only.)

Cast: Howard Vernon, Pierre-Marie Escourrou, Anouchka, Antonio Mayans, Nadine Pascal, Youri Radionow, Burt Altman, Gilda Arancio, Marcia Sharif, Yvonne Dany, Jean Rene Bleu, Jean Rollin, René Douglas, et al..

Director: J. A. Lazer (Jean Rollins).

AKA: Le Lac des morts vivants/ El Lago de los muertos vivientes/ Lake of the Living Dead/ Zombies’ Lake

I once found a VHS copy of this in the bargain rack many years ago. My memory of the tape quality is it was grainy, out of focus, and a slightly washed out color depleted picture marred by the usual video artifacts common to EP tapes. In other words it was bad. So you can imagine how curious I was to pop the DVD in to my player and see what this fresh transfer looked like. To say I couldn’t believe how good the picture quality was would be like saying Star Wars was just another science fiction movie. In other words a major understatement. The picture is. . . It’s. . . such a major quality difference! As the first scene unfolded I literally couldn’t believe my eyes. The picture was crisp, the color vivid, and the lurid details clearly visible.

Summary

Heralded by some as the worst zombie movie of the genre this film is one of those rarified cult gems that next to no one will admit to liking, nevertheless every fan of bad movies has probably seen it at one time. Truth be told the movie’s pacing is parked somewhere near the intersection of Dull Street and Dreary Boulevard, but does that make it the worst zombie film ever made? Oh no, not by a long shot! There are far worse Z-grade zombie movies out there. (Troma I am looking at you!)

Then again, from the perspective of the gore movie fan, this movie is totally lacking. It makes a vainglorious attempt at drama, a word not in the vocabulary of most gore movie aficionados. There is also an attempt at bold war movie action in a flashback sequence that attempts to set up the back story, a bit of background involving a village girl and Nazi trooper meeting in a farm house to do what lovers do, however this attempt at action and depth really backfires due to the low budget constraints of the movie. Still it’s a valiant attempt. One well worth redoing, preferably using some occult Waffen-SS spin, and with a producer willing to shell out for period costumes.

The Setting: Somewhere in France? That is what the DVD jacket says. I believe that‘s what the characters say, but I am unconvinced. This looks like it was shot on location in the back yard acreage of some old European manor house. Could just be me though.

The Story: Virtually incomprehensible. The movie opens with a solo skinny dipper getting dragged to her doom by a zombie wearing a costume patterned after the regular army uniform of either the Wehrmacht or Panzergrenadiers. What? An innocent nubile young woman is attacked by an Aqua Nazi Zombie while skinny dipping- in broad daylight no less- in a lake? How very strange. Worse, now aroused by the sweet flesh of freshly devoured naked victim Mr. Nazi Zombie suddenly shambles forth from the murky depths after some hapless woman walking a cart over a bridge.

What? There’s a bridge with regular foot traffic over a lake full of Zombies?! A bridge? Over a lake? Talk about your exaggerating real estate agents turning log cabins into rustic country mansions. As if that’s not bizarre enough get this: Hungry Aqua Nazi Zombie attacks Ms. Innocent Victim’s neck and proceeds to slurp up her blood! Blood? Zombie? Aqua Nazi Blood Drinking Force? Nubile skinny dippers? What the BLEEP!?

Yeah, that’s not much of a set up, but that‘s how the movie starts. On the bright side you know the cameraman and crew probably had fun filming the sequences. And bless them for the close ups! The downside, it looks like the scenes were only shot once and the editors had to take the good with the bad as that‘s all they had. While there is a flashback sequence a bit later in the movie that attempts to fill in some back story all it manages to show are that the German soldiers- meaning the Nazi zombies, were part of an stock footage (?) mobile armored column. Considering the uniforms that’s a nice bit of detail, if accurate. And the point?

The back story, as I see it, is this: During World War II French (?) resistance fighters ambush a German column- actually a single armored vehicle, this is a ultra cheapie flick after all- and dispose of the bodies in nearby lake. Thus deprived of a proper Christian burial the spirits of the dead remain restless. No rest for the wicked after all. Now skip forward to the relative present of the movie and, behold, peculiar happenings and mysterious deaths abound around “Ghost Lake”. That’s right within the movie that’s what the lake is actually referred to as! Apparently this is big new, big enough to bring a journalist from Paris to the otherwise quiet French village to investigate. That’s when things really start to happen!

The Characters: I would like to say the dramatis personae are very archetypal and thus easy to convert over into most game systems character types. But, in all honesty, the characters seem like bumbling idiots. I mean, really, if I lived in a small village with a lake around which people keep turning up dead I would be sooo out of there! So, yeah, they’re your archetypal village denizens, but with some major disadvantages. I’d say that GURPS would probably be the best system to bring the characters to life, though D20 Modern might also be suitable. (see Suggested Game Uses below)

The Zombies: While watching the movie I have to admit the phrase Aqua Nazi Zombie Powers Activate! popped unbidden into my head on more than one occasion. I have no idea why. But there it is, and that‘s pretty much my take on the zombies. They are laughable, in a low budget what the heck kind of make-up is that sort of way, while also being frighteningly disconcerting.

Moral: Pretty girls shouldn’t go skinny dipping in lakes with lilies because vicious lust crazed aqua Nazi zombies might just rise up out of the muck and eat you!

Say what you will about the quality, or lack thereof, of this movie but what it has in abundance are useable story detail. Granted the premise behind the creation of the zombies needs some work, I‘d probably have the soldiers be members of a secretive Waffen-SS occult group that came to town for debauched ritual blood revelry on a specific full moon night based on rare astrological significance, but who were killed mid-ritual and dumped unceremoniously into the lake. That, to me, sounds like a better rationale for how the zombies might return decades later. Also I‘d of had the skinny dipper accidentally cut herself while bathing, at dusk just as a full moon comes out overhead, thus the blood would serve to awaken the zombies. Who arise as shadowy figures later at night? Might be more atmospheric that way. As it is the zombies just seem to be there without any real rationale for how they came to be. Granted that’s some great underwater photography though. Opa!

Now the hard part, choosing a set of game rules. Be aware that these aren’t all the possibilities. Still there are a few role-playing games that may be more suitable to this genre than others. For instance there are the obvious choices of All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Army of Darkness: The Role-Playing Game (if it ever gets released), and GURPS Horror. Though D20 or D20 Modern may also be a feasible alternative given the existence of supplements like the Blood and Brains: The Zombie Hunter’s Guide splat book, The Slayers Guide to Undead, Come for the Reaping, and Lords of the Night: Zombies. However, while GURPS has a number of supplements like Undead and Zombietown U.S.A., this product line is currently out of print. So if you are not sure how much actual time you, the Game Master, will be able to dedicate to setting up a zombie game it may be a good idea to go with games still currently in print. Less foot work and haggling required. But let’s say you already have the perfect game system already in your library. Where to begin?

One idea that occurred to me was to take the basic story elements of the movie and use them as background for a story centering on occult investigators. For instance instead of having a single investigative reporter show up in town, make it a group, and play up the pulp occult aspect. As for the role-playing game perhaps one like Inspectres or Ghost Busters. Other role-playing games with potential to bring this movie to life include Dead Lands, Call of Cthulhu, or you could borrow material from a supplement for Savage Worlds or Ravenloft. Just remember that the critters you are creating are Aquatic Nazi Zombies! My main suggestion: Don’t even think about being politically correct with this one. Play up the schlock, rev up the camp, dig up the zombie Nazi stereotypes, and give your players both buckshot loaded barrels right in their zombified arses.

Appraisal

The picture is eye popping crisp with a clarity that allows you to make out very fine details, such as the number of leaves on a bush or the cracks in a wall. Something you couldn’t do with the VHS copy I had, many moons ago, and probably still have packed away in a box somewhere. To say the VHS transfer wasn’t as good as this one would be like saying gold and bronze are similar in color. There’s no real comparison as the DVD picture quality is simply superb. And the movie? I’ve seen better and worse. The story presented in the dub- and it is painfully obvious the dialogue has been dubbed- is not good. But it‘s not entirely terrible either. The movie is a bit of borderline cheesy low budget bafflement, in a entertaining way. You have director Jean Rollins to thank for that caveat for this movie was originally slated to be shot by Jess Franco (see Perspective) who, according to legend, either thought the budget was too low so he skipped town, or was passed over in favor of Rollins. Not that that stopped him from making his own Nazi Zombie flick a few years later. Of course if you’ve seen any of his work you know which movie is probably better.

Rating: 8 out of 10 worm infested golden candy apples. So rated for being a gold mine of ideas and the best print of the movie I‘ve seen to date. Perfect for Halloween parties, just be sure to spike the punch and get all warm and fuzzy first! *wink*

Perspective: Zombie Lake was made in 1980, a time when the main films that formed the cultus of the zombie movie genre were Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). While there were numerous imitations and low budget knock-offs produced prior to the release of Zombie Lake the next real cornerstone film of this horror sub-genre, Return of the Living Dead, would not be released until 1985. This is the same year George A. Romero's cult classic Day of the Dead would be released.

However what sets Zombie Lake apart from the usual run of the mill quickie imitations is the presence of Nazi zombies. A trope that, prior to this, was really used to effect only once in Shock Waves (1976). A movie that is really more of a mad scientist film with zombie undertones. In the interim since Zombie Lake first appeared there have been dozens of zombie films released, though only a handful have centered on Nazi zombies. One of the more notorious being Oasis of the Zombies (1983), which was filmed by infamous sleaze auteur Jess Franco (Sadomania, Vampyros Lesbos). By comparison Zombie Lake lacks the obvious exploitation elements favored by such film makers. This of course being gratuitous gore and excessive violence, both of which have become hallmarks of the zombie movie genre. So much so that many movies that lack buckets of blood in every scene, grotesquely severed limbs, and SFX such as prosthetics often get unfairly panned by critics.

In the final analysis the real judge is the audience. Just be aware that Zombie Lake is not meant to be Texas Chainsaw Massacre with zombies. Nor is it an attempt to recreate Night of the Living Dead. If that is what you are expecting to see in a zombie movie you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Negatives: I have two main complaints. First, the movie attempts to tackle too many genres and thus never quite manages to succeed at properly portraying any one genre. For instance the movie starts out as a nudie cutie, departs into the realm of sub sub-genre aquatic Nazi zombie horror, back tracks and attempts World War II action, which suddenly changes gears into romantic drama, skirts the edges of investigative occult detective drama, then goes back into a mind numbing spiral of low budget zombie schlock. Second, I would have liked to be able to choose to watch the movie uncut or with the alternate shots. As it is the movie contains a glorious abundance of female nudity, which subsequently means this movie is suitable only for mature adult audiences. Which is a shame because this is one of those low budget B-movies that, sans nudity, would be worthy of a MST3K marathon event.

Positives: This is the sort of movie that will scare the young and make the old laugh. The DVD has nice extras but sadly nothing really spectacular. No interview sound track or special documentary featurette. A bit disappointing, then again the real gem here is the transfer quality of the picture itself, which is light years beyond the VHS version I had. Best of all it‘s fun to watch the cut scenes between the women swimming on the lake surface, obviously shot in a large pond on someone‘s backyard estate (you can see a fence in some shots) and the underwater shots obviously not shot in any sort of lake. If you take a close look at the screenshots you will see what I am talking about. (Screenshots available in the PDF version of this review only.) It’s really funny, in a bad movie sort of way. Yet this is not the worst zombie movie I’ve ever seen. That distinction is split between the utterly vapid Zombie Island Massacre and a very bad VHS edit I had the misfortune to find that was a poorly done basement quality hack job of what had once been Virgin Among the Living Dead renamed something like Zombi 4. How bad was it? After seeing that bit of poorly edited trash I added the company to my “never buy from” list. They’re still on it.

Availability: Sighted on the shelves at both Best Buy and Borders (where I acquired my copy) and listed in most online DVD vendor databases. However, from what I have observed, the information on this DVD is not entirely accurate. Some vendors list this as an “R-rated” title with a running time of 92 minutes. The correct information on this unrated release can be found on the Image Entertainment web site. However this movie certainly does contains gratuitous nudity, gun battles, and Zombie violence. Therefore if you are thinking about adding this title to your video library consider yourself warned.

A PDF version of this review complete with screen captures can be found here.

Coming soon: Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter!