1943: Allied officer Captain Blabert (Javier Maiza) and his men intercept a German convoy transporting a fortune in Nazi gold; only Blabert survives the battle, and is later found wandering the desert by nomads. Nursed back to health by Sheik Mohamed Al-Kafir (Antonio Mayans), Blabert falls for the sheikh's sexy daughter Aisha (Doris Regina), knocking her up before heading back to war. Years later, Blabert reveals the location of the lost Nazi gold to a rascal named Kurt, who promptly kills the captain and hotfoots it to the oasis. Meanwhile, Robert Blabert (Manuel Gélin), having heard of his father's death, reads some of his old man's notes and also learns about the gold; together with a handful of his college pals, he goes to meet Sheikh Mohamed, who points him in the right direction. The only problem is that the horde ($6m of it) is guarded by the undead German soldiers, who rise from the sand at night to kill!
To say that Oasis of the Zombies is Jess Franco's worst film is quite the bold statement - there are, after all, quite a few serious contenders for the title - but it definitely isn't one of his better films. While the zombie scenes themselves are reasonably fun, with quite a few craptabulous examples of the walking dead to delight fans of trashy Euro-horror, almost everything in between is pretty dire. The flimsy plot is fairly diabolical, and Franco resorts to padding out his film with a prolonged battle flashback, some local colour (including a visit to a souk for Robert and pals), and a spot of skinny-dipping and sex for Robert's pal Ronald (Eric Viellard) and documentary film-maker's assistant Erika (France Lomay, who provides the obligatory nudity). Franco also seems obsessed with a spider in a web that has zero bearing on the story, giving us lots of out-of-focus shots of the arachnid for no apparent reason.
The amazingly bad script includes these unintentional howlers: "Let's get some bottles and make molotov cocktails - like in school." and this cringe-worthy closing exchange of dialogue "Did you find what you were looking for?" "I mainly found myself." Wow, that's deep!
In terms of splatter, the film is rather disappointing, the only gory scene being the removal of one victim's innards by the hungry zombies (the zombie extras enthusiastically yanking out animal offal).
As bad as Oasis of the Zombies undeniably is, the worm-eaten zombies - some with bug-eyes, some with pin-hole eyes, and some without eyes - and the occasional spot of nudity (sadly, not from cutie Caroline Audret as Robert's friend Sylvie) stop this from being totally worthless.
3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.
To say that Oasis of the Zombies is Jess Franco's worst film is quite the bold statement - there are, after all, quite a few serious contenders for the title - but it definitely isn't one of his better films. While the zombie scenes themselves are reasonably fun, with quite a few craptabulous examples of the walking dead to delight fans of trashy Euro-horror, almost everything in between is pretty dire. The flimsy plot is fairly diabolical, and Franco resorts to padding out his film with a prolonged battle flashback, some local colour (including a visit to a souk for Robert and pals), and a spot of skinny-dipping and sex for Robert's pal Ronald (Eric Viellard) and documentary film-maker's assistant Erika (France Lomay, who provides the obligatory nudity). Franco also seems obsessed with a spider in a web that has zero bearing on the story, giving us lots of out-of-focus shots of the arachnid for no apparent reason.
The amazingly bad script includes these unintentional howlers: "Let's get some bottles and make molotov cocktails - like in school." and this cringe-worthy closing exchange of dialogue "Did you find what you were looking for?" "I mainly found myself." Wow, that's deep!
In terms of splatter, the film is rather disappointing, the only gory scene being the removal of one victim's innards by the hungry zombies (the zombie extras enthusiastically yanking out animal offal).
As bad as Oasis of the Zombies undeniably is, the worm-eaten zombies - some with bug-eyes, some with pin-hole eyes, and some without eyes - and the occasional spot of nudity (sadly, not from cutie Caroline Audret as Robert's friend Sylvie) stop this from being totally worthless.
3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.