'Oasis of The Zombies' (1981) – Jess Franco.

'Oasis of The Zombies' is arguably one of the more innately tweaked, exotically far-flung Euro-zombie nazisploitation gems. Much like, Jean Rollin's enjoyably bizarro 'Zombie Lake', it is all too readily dismissed as lugubriously unwatchable Eurocine cheapnis, yet I adore both unreservedly for their wholly unique narrative quirks. While Franco's filmmaking is undeniably rudimentary, some of the dusky death scenes have an eerie beauty, happy accident, or not, the stark zombie silhouettes remain visually enticing apparitions. The melodramatic 'Oasis of The Zombies', almost in spite of itself, successfully manages to engender a palpably weird atmosphere. While the crusty Zombie make-up FX are crudely unsophisticated, these tottering, bug-eyed, worm-ridden Nazis retain their rather unsettling aura!

With its funereal pace, and prosaic text, Franco's flesh-flaying folly is often hilariously inept, and yet, his haphazard mise en scène occasionally has a strangely compelling, dare I say it, surrealist quality. The increasingly less furtive rumours of 6 million dollars worth of Nazi gold bullion lures our rather nondescript protagonists to this cursed, far from idyllic desert oasis! The sadly forgotten B-Hero, muscular beef-lord, Henri Lambert's prolonged death scene in 'Oasis of The Zombies' is a bravura masterclass of manly acting prowess. As someone with modest thesping skills, I must bow deferentially to his dynamic display of unfiltered energy! At no point was I ever remotely in doubt that he had been terminally mauled by a narzee zombie, now THAT'S some propah acting, mate!!! I honestly find 'Oasis of The Zombies to be a far less arid version of 'Shockwaves', 'Schlockwaves', if you will!