Oasis Of The Zombies
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
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Also Known As
- Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies (USA) (video title)
- The Oasis of the Living Dead (USA)
- The Treasure of the Living Dead (International: English title)
- Le Trésor des morts vivants (France)
Main Details
- Released in 1981
- Written and Directed by: Jess Franco
- Color
- Language: French/Spanish
- Runtime: 82 min.
- Cast: Manuel Gelin, France Lomay, Jeff Montgomery, Myriam Landson, Eric Viellard, Caroline Audret.
Film Review
Oasis of the Zombies was originally credited to director A.M. Frank, but, after much debate, it was determined that this was a pseudonym for exploitation legend, Jess Franco. The man has recently confirmed this fact himself, and now admits to the rare act of filming the movie twice, both in French and Spanish. The two versions shared some footage but utilized different casts for minor characters. The Spanish version (La Tumba de Los Muertos Vivientes / The Tombs of the Living Dead (1983)) has not yet been released in North America, but does play often on Spanish television.
Oasis is a rather slow paced movie about a group of young college kids using their holiday to search out Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's hidden treasure. A former SS soldier is also looking for the treasure and both parties find the gold guarded by flesh eating Nazi Zombies who rise from the dead and attack anyone who would attempt to steal their loot. Don't expect much splatter, apart from a scene where a girl gets her guts ripped out. Besides that scene, this low body count film would be best recomended for Jess Franco completists only.
Similar to John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) or Ken Wiederhorn's Shock Waves (1977), the movie rarely obtains a good review, and complaints range from the lack of gore to the lame zombie make-up. Comparisons are usually made to another French / Spanish production, Zombie Lake (1980), which was directed by erotic vampire master Jean Rollin and written by Franco. This often made comparison leads me to question if Rollin perhaps had helped with this film as well. Rumors abound on the internet that perhaps Oasis of the Zombies is somebody else's hack job on Franco's Spanish Tombs of the Living Dead.
Overall Oasis is for Franco fans only. I tried to like it, but it's just so damn hokey and boring.
Reviewed by Biohazard - 4/21/08
