Zombie's
Lake
France/Spain
1980. Director: J.A Lazer (Jean Rollin)
Cast: Howard Vernon, Nadine Pascale, Anouchka, Marcia Sharif
Aka: Le
Lac des Morts-Vivants
You know you have some tough 90 minutes ahead
of you when you learn that even Jesse Franco refused to direct this
film because he thought it was too cheap. Or so the legend has it. Art
director Jean Rollin took over but the presence of Franco regular Howard
Vernon here reveals that the project could have been originally intended
for him. Zombie's Lake is truly awful. Or a truly lovable little
turd, if you're in the right mood. During the war (that's WW2) a gang
of German soldiers were shot down dead by the locals and then dumped
in a lake. Many years later the greenfaced soldiers rises again whenever
something catches their interest. One of them even has a love affair
he intend to keep up.
It's easy to see why Rollin doesn't want to talk about his involvment. But it has a few scenes of comic Rollin brilliance such as the very first scene with the nude girl who is attacked by an underwater nazi zombie. And the scene where a whole busload of naked girls are attacked by underwater nazi zombies. You can clearly see the plastic tarpaulin at the back of the pool in which these scenes were filmed. Fortunately, if nothing else, Rollin knows his exploitation and how to kill beautiful girls and zooming in on their you know what. Nudity is the cheapest special effect and in the case of Jean Rollin there's always tons of it. Compared to Jess Franco's zombie film Oasis Of The Living Dead this film stands out fairly well, but that's no real recommendation. Try to catch Fascination if you want the real Rollin.
© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.