DVD Review: BLOODSUCKING NAZI ZOMBIES (1981)

BLOODSUCKING NAZI ZOMBIES
Directed by:  Jesus Franco
Distributed by:  Cheezy Flicks

This might be the best title of a Zombie flick I have ever seen!  BLOODSUCKING NAZI ZOMBIES is also known as OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES, but I like that the great folks at Cheezy Flicks went with the BLOODSUCKING NAZI ZOMBIES.   That is just an awesome title.  Now...if only the movie were as good as the title......

Here is the plot from the Cheezy Flicks website:

During World War II, a small German squadron was assigned the task of carrying a shipment of Nazi gold across the African dessert. Along the way, the squadron was ambushed by the Allies, and only one American survived who knew the secret. Years later, the American survivor tells his story to a cutthroat German treasure hunter, who promptly murders him. The American survivor's son, upon learning of his father's death, vows to travel to Africa and find the lost gold himself. While the desert is hazardous enough by itself, the dangers lurking around this oasis are more than any of the treasure hunters flesh eating Nazi zombies stand in their way to an unknown fortune.

So the movie wasn't as good as that awesome title led me to believe it might be, but it was still a pretty good movie overall.   I bet this was considered an especially good zombie flick back in 1981 when it came out, unfortunately I think it just hasn't held up over the past 30 years like some superior zombie films from the 70's and 80's have  (DAWN OF THE DEAD, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, for example). 

The main problem I had with this film was from a technical aspect.  The movie was very grainy and out of focus at times and even had some "tracking" issues which I didn' even know was possible on a DVD.  It is basically like watching an old VHS tape.  While sometimes that can be cool and kinda nostalgic, here it was just really annoying.  It looked almost like to make this DVD they just recorded the film off a TV while they played an old VHS tape of the film.  The film was so dark in parts that you couldn't even see what was going on.

BUT.....the parts you could see were really good.   There is a bunch of dialog, so you gotta get past that, but once you get to the zombies, you are in for a treat!  The zombie make up is actually really good....much better than what I expected to see.  Some of the zombies reminded me of those from Fulci's ZOMBIE,  including the squiggling worms in the eye sockets!   Real worms add a huge amount of realism to seeing a freshly exhumed zombie, I wish more zombie films practiced the art of putting live worms on their zombies!!

So, overall, this was just an OK zombie flick.  Nothing too special, but not horrible either.  I think this is definitely worth a watch.  While not all horror fans will enjoy this one, you zombie fans should at least check this out for the great zombie effects if nothing else.

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD