AKA: Zombies Lake

Tag Line : They're waiting for YOU just below the surface!

There are some zombie films that are just s-o-o-o-o-o hilariously bad they have to be seen to be believed, and yes this is one such example. Set in an unspecified French village, the locals are shocked when a group of girls skinny dipping in the nearby lake (all very tastefully done I hasten to add) are killed by a group of zombiefied Nazi soldiers, that spring up out of the waters and drag them down to their demise.

A couple of detectives are brought in to try and solve the mysterious murders, only to end up as the zombies next victims. It turns out that during the war, the French resistance ambushed and killed a squad of German soldiers and dumped the bodies into the nearby lake, but failed to take notice of any of the local superstitions (never a wise move). Although, seeing as this film appears to be set in the early 80's, why it's taken so long for them to emerge and start killing people is a bit of a mystery, but there you go.

Not-with-standing, the villagers quickly organise a lynch mob to take down the zombie menace, only to end up being decimated by the undead soldiers, who's 'convincing' zombie make-up basically consists of green paint, which doesn't even cover the whole of the actors faces and keeps washing off in the lake.

There's also a bizarre sub plot about one of the zombies visiting his former daughter, who strangely still looks all of 12 despite the fact she should be in her 40's if she was born near the end of the war, but then since when did logic ever come into these films? Such as why do their uniforms still look almost new despite being underwater for 40 years, or how come the skinny dipping girls are only knee deep in the water when viewed from the lakeside, yet appear to be swimming in 12 feet of it from the underwater shots?

Bad acting, naff zombie make-up (the aforementioned green face paint), painfully obvious underwater shots filmed in a swimming pool, not to mention the plot inconsistencies bigger than the aforementioned lake itself. Low budget doesn't even begin to describe this film, which quite unbelievably was directed by respected Eurohorror director Jean Rollin, albeit under the pseudo name J A Laser.

That's not to say the film isn't without merit. I bust a gut laughing at the thoroughly ridiculous scenes of the zombies attacking the naked young girls, and the equally ridiculous slapstick battle with the angry villagers. Utterly hilarious, grab the six pack and the popcorn and have a blast!

Overall marks : 5/10.

Other Information.

• The script was written by fellow director Jess Franco, who was originally given the directors job, but decided to pass it over.

• Jean Rollin, who eventually agreed to take over the directors job, is probably best known for directing "The Living Dead Girl".

• The music was by Jazz musician Daniel White, who re-used his earlier scores from the Franco films "Female Vampire" and "Awful Dr Orloff".

• The young girl playing Helena, the zombie soldier's former daughter, was played by Anouchka Lesour. The grand-daughter of producer Marius Lesour. She also played the young Lana in Jess Franco's "White Cannibal Queen".

• Some sources claim that the film was co-directed by Spanish director Julian de Laserna, which is where the "J A Laser" pseudo name came from.

• Howard Vernon, who plays the mayor, was the lead character of the Jess Franco film "The Awful Dr Orloff".

• Producer Marius Lesour also worked on "Oasis of the Zombies"

• The old UK pre-cert video on the "Modern Films Video" label was of a slightly different version, which replaced the "skinny dipping" scenes with alternate takes in which the girls keep their underwear on. It also used a different intro sequence, in which the opening titles are displayed on a plain black background, as opposed to the background shots of a girl sunbathing which appears in the original version.

• The current UK and US DVD's use the original "nude scenes" and intro titles. However, the US DVD includes the alternate intro titles and "clothed" sequences as extras.

Cast & Crew.

Cover Gallery.

Theatrical trailer. (1.63MB)

Buy the UK DVD

Buy the UK DVD.

Buy the US DVD (spec ed)

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