Night of the Zombies, 1981

 

         We open with a coupla’ Americans, one from ‘Army Graves Registration,’ the other from the ‘U.S. Archives Division,’are in a remote and wintery area of Germany in search of the remains of soldiers from a later battle in World War Two.

A visiting German border guard explains there were no battles in this region. He further warns them they would be better off staying in town at night while they do their research, as this area is frequented by bandits, and also, “If you believe the poor, ignorant villagers, zombies.”

Of course, the Americans laugh off the warnings and refuse the suggestion to stay in town, and sure enough, once night falls, the pair encounter a full squadron of, (Duhn-duhn-duh…)

Nazi Zombies! So, yeah. I’m in, right! Great original premise, snowy remote locale, this could be a good one! Ahem. To continue.

So, those guys were killed. News reaches Washington that they disappeared while seeking the graves of a German Platoon and and American Chemical Weapons Division, well, a new search team is assembled.

A former C.I.A. operative is called in. He begins to investigate locally and here begins an excessively long and dragged out series of exploring, exposition, and espionage. Agent Monroe, the C.I.A. agent proceeds to travel all over Munich interrogating and strong-arming informants about deserters from thirty years before, (remember this is 1981, and WWII is much more recent to the time this film was set, than from that time to now!)

Eventually, Monroe and team, scientists and a cop, head back out to the blustery and snow-covered countryside and the research basecamp.

No surprise, the undead show, but not quite as ‘zombie-esque’ as expected...

The zombie’s make-up is absolutely crap - just grey-painted faces. Perhaps some fake flesh. And that’s it. Plus the face paint ends at the collar so the actors’ real flesh tones are visible at the base! And the Z’s, although Nazi Z’s, are also ‘Type 6,’ Dead People, a z-type of which I don’t typically review.

The original and interesting premise, which lured me in, quickly became convoluted with sub-plots and unnecessary backstories, all of which, by the way, the filmmakers felt needed to be discussed and played out at length. Had 3 out of the 4 story arcs been edited from it, a nice little movie could have played out.

I did like the the initial duo of researchers. It was a shame they couldn’t have stuck around for the story, because the rest of the cast of characters was thin and two-dimensional. The ‘Hero,’ Monroe, is as cardboard as a pizza box and shows less emotion than the zombies, (this is not exaggeration! In one scene, he infiltrates a platoon, and overhears them talking and the undead are displaying MUCH more personality than he did all movie long!)

     

The remote setting of the basecamp was cool and atmospheric, and showed some neat scenes of the dead marching out of the snowy backdrop. Even the long, drawn scenes of Muich were foreign and exotic enough to make me stay with Monroe’s ongoing and painstaking fact-finding mission.

Sadly, my enthusiasm for Night of the Zombies waned as the film ran. The Night of the Zombies began with ambition, but lost its way. Held up to the Zombie Movie Rubric, Night of the Zombies landed a 1.4 out of a possible 4 points. This does not earn it a recommendation to watch, but it does not warn to avoid, either, so, there ya go.

But there is a YouTube trailer to convince you one way or the other: NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES