Plot: What’s it about?
After his father’s sudden death, Robert treks back to his former home in Africa to pay his respects and settle some affairs. As he looks through his father’s stuff for some explanation as to why he died so quickly and without warning, Robert finds a journal and decides to peer inside. As it turns out, the journal tells some story and Robert learns a lot about his father, as well as those around him. The book tells of a romance with a nurse named Ayesha during the war, when his father was injured and she nursed him back into healthy states. But this stroll down memory lane takes an odd turn when he reads about a hidden treasure, in the form of Nazi gold worth about six million dollars these days. The gold is buried in the scathing Sahara desert and if you believe the journal, it was guarded by the zombies of the men who died to protect the treasure. This doesn’t scare Robert however, who uses his inheritance to put together a band of folks to seek out the gold. But as he soon discovers, you can’t believe everything you read, but some of it just might be true indeed.
I do love a great zombie flick and even though this isn’t one, I still found Oasis of the Zombies to be a fun experience. The zombies were very cool and had much better makeup work than you’d expect, so I was into this one from the start. So if you just want to take in some well made zombies, then this flick delivers and then some, but as we all know, these movies are much more complicated than that. I think Oasis of the Zombies moves too slowly, given the expectations of zombie fans and how most flicks like this move. But I don’t think it gets boring by any means, although if given the choice, I would have liked this to be a little more brisk at times. The story is better than most zombie pictures, which is nice, but this one just needs a little juice here and there. The slower pace does allow for a more effective atmosphere however, so those just looking for a good zombie flick and not a blood soaked affair will be well served with this one. If you’re a fan of zombie movies and don’t mind the slower pace, Oasis of the Zombies is more than worth a look.
Although the credit is listed to one A.M. Frank, the true writer and director of this film was Jess Franco. That name should ring some bells with fans of lower profile horror flicks, as Franco was involved in some other cult level efforts as well. His films weren’t always solid in terms of traditional definitions, but horror fans should look into his work, as he made some very cool flicks, even his more recent movies haven’t been that bad. Franco likes to be reliant on the exploitation basics, which means lots of strange plot twists, naked ladies, and of course, a liberal dose of bloodshed. His career has spanned over three decades and hundreds of film, which means he knows what he’s doing in terms of direction and such. I know some will claim these kind of movies require no skill, but I beg to differ, as Franco worked with small budgets and low talent casts, still pushing out fun movies. Other films directed by Franco include Hellhole Women, Ilsa: The Wicked Warden, The Lustful Amazons, The Awful Dr. Orloff, Vampyros Lesbos, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, The Loves of Irina, and White Cannibal Queen.
Video: How does it look?
Oasis of the Zombies is presented in a 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. I am really surprised with this presentation, as the image looks cleaner and much less dated than I had expected. The source print shows minimal signs of debris and wear, which means the colors and contrast are allowed to come through in much richer form. The colors are very bright and vibrant here, almost no fading is present and flesh tones also look natural, very impressive indeed. In a few scenes the contrast looks a little dark, but most of the time it is well balanced and shows no problems. Given the age and nature of this production, I am very pleased with this edition and I think fans will be as well, very good work here.
Audio: How does it sound?
This disc contains mono tracks in both English and French languages, but no subtitles have been included. The audio here is about as good as you can expect, given the age and low budget nature of the feature involved. So while you shouldn’t get your hopes up too much, I doubt genre fans will be let down with the included options. The offbeat music is terrific and sounds decent here, although I’d love to hear a surround sound edition of the score, to be sure. The sound effects are also decent enough, while dialogue is very funny to listen to comes across in clean enough shape. This won’t be a good choice to showcase your home theater, but I think the basics are covered and in this case, that’s enough.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc contains no bonus materials.
