Misunderstood masterpiece
Jess Franco must be one of the most frustrating directors I know: every time when I think I should just give up on him after sitting through three of four atrocious pictures, you get something like `Oasis of the Zombies', which makes you realize just why you sat through the previous duds. There's no director more unreliable than Franco, but when you think about it this may not be so strange after all. When you look at even the most talented directors in the world, like Sternberg, Hitchcock or Fellini, in the end they didn't make more than, say 10-20 films that were really great, if that. So it's obviously not fair to expect something else from Jess Franco and the only problem is of course he made so many of them! The sifting through can be rather tiresome at times, but I suppose it goes with the territory and ultimately makes those few pearls all the more satisfying.
Watching this immediately after `Zombie Lake', the first thing that really surprised me was that this...
Midnight At The Oasis
Once you become a Jess Franco fan and you try to view as many of his titles as you can find, you will discover many instances when he either believed in the project or just went through the motions. This film 'OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES' aka 'LA TUMBA DE LOS MUERTOS VIVIENTES' aka 'L' ABIME DES MORTS-VIVANTS'- 1981 is a perfect example of the latter. This is the Franco film which many Horror fans were turned onto and disappointed with when released on VHS by the Wizard label in the mid eighties and probably turned many viewers off to Franco's films from then onward. It also belongs to a series? of Nazi Zombie movies that erupted at this time including Director Jean Rollin's 'ZOMBIE LAKE' aka 'LES LAC DES ZOMBIES'- 1981 and Director Ken Weiderhorn's 'SHOCK WAVES'-1977. The son of a Nazi officer who was under Rommel's desert army tactics decides to take a bunch of friends to the North African desert to satisfy his curiosity on his fathers demise. It also involves buried treasure which...
Wasnt going to buy, glad I did.
I am super happy I picked up Redemptions ReRelease of Francos film. I watched the original print on tv once and it almost made my eyes bleed. Not this, someone put in some hard work to bring it back to life. Looks like it was filmed today, no lie. As for the movie, dont buy it if your wanting Dawn of The Dead or Zombi 2. Its Francos cheap idea of a Zombie film. I am a franco fan and just had to have it so its worth buying if your a fan of the man. Usual theme for Franco, low budget and all over the place with the story. Zombies look pretty good tho, and has some really amazing action scenes.
If you are on the fence, this is the copy to buy. The transfer is just beautiful and the sound is great. Very impressed.
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