During WWII , six million dollars in gold gets stashed in a North African desert oasis. The soldiers transporting it were slaughtered and their corpses left to guard it.
Flash forward to the present, (well, not really. 1981,) a mercenary is hoping to find that gold, and nothing short of killing will stop him. Meanwhile, the son of the man recently killed by the aforementioned mercenary, and a group of his fellow students ALSO go gold seeking… only to find the Undead soldiers!
Lots of unfulfilled plot potential in the back-story, and the barely-kept promise of Nazi Zombies, along with deceptively cool poster art is the hook, and the bait. Sadly, there’s not all that much more.
The titular Zombies are slow and lumbering, (which can be good!) and subterranean. Not in a buried way, but more like the subaquatic Nazis Zs from Shockwaves. They also are repelled by sunlight and fire and are EXTREMELY combustible! (Almost as if they are dressed in oil-soaked newspaper!)
Also a plus is the lack of growling. Actually, they display no facial movements through their rubbery features. An occasion writhing worm gets camera attention, but unfortunately shows off the pop-eyed masks.
Also, these boys are only by the narrowest of margins classified as “Nazi Zombies.” And even then, they would disappoint.
The movie is slow to get going, and then slow-going. A decent editor could have pruned out 30 minutes of walking scenes, and another 30 minutes of unnecessary character development to make this movie only a LITTLE too long.
I imagine most of the blame for this falls on the attempt to create atmosphere. But suspense needs payoff. And thank goodness for the creepy organ music, so I knew when I should be scared.
The actual oasis also could’ve been utilized better, too. It looked more like storm damage in the tropics. As far as an exotic setting, it comes in like another unfulfilled promise.
I am obviously somewhat biased, so, to the ZMR we go for more objectivity!
The Zombie Movie Rubric gives this Jess Franco offering a solid 1 out of 4 uh, ‘stars?’ Points were scored primarily to the unfortunately underutilized undead and the way they moved.
Sadly, a 1 out of 4 translates to an “Don’t Bother,” rating, unless you’ve got time to kill, and just want to see how bad it is really is.
I personally feel a 1 is generous. Everything about Oasis of the Zombies was a completely forgettable Z-flick to me.
YouTube trailer, here: Oasis of the Zombies
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