Le lac des morts vivants (1981)

User Rating:

2.5/10   

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

Julián Esteban (story)
Jesus Franco (writer)

Release Date:

13 May 1981 (France)

Genre:

Horror | War

Tagline:

God help us if they rise again!

Plot:

In a small village, somewhere in France, German soldiers, killed and thrown into the lake by the Resistance during WW II, come back.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Soldier | Lake | France | Leg Spreading

Cast

Howard Vernon	...	The Mayor
Pierre-Marie Escourrou	...	German Soldier (as Pierre Escourrou)
Anouchka	...	Helena
Antonio Mayans	...	Morane (as Robert Foster)
Nadine Pascal	...	Helena's Mother
Youri Radionow	...	Chanac (as Youri Rad)
Burt Altman
Gilda Arancio	...	Blonde Girl Swimmer
Marcia Sharif	...	Katya
Yvonne Dany
Jean Rene Bleu
Jean Rollin	...	Stiltz
Edmond Besnard	...	Promizoulin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
René Douglas
Julián Esteban
Alain Petit
Jean Roville
Claude Sendron

Also Known As:

Zombie Lake (International: English title) (USA)
El lago de los muertos vivientes (Spain)
The Lake of the Living Dead
Zombies Lake (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

90 min | Germany:71 min | Spain:88 min | Argentina:89 min | UK:83 min

Country:

France | Spain

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:Not Rated | Germany:16 (heavily cut) | Germany:Not Rated | France:-12 | West Germany:16 | Argentina:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Eurociné

Trivia:

The medallion which the French girl gives to her German soldier lover is actually a finger rosary; hence the ten small balls around the outside.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: It's very obvious that all the "underwater" shots of the lake were shot in a swimming pool: during the first murder of the girl after the opening credits, you can even see an exit sign through the water. Near the end of the movie, as the Zombie are rising to the top, we can clearly see a bare pool wall.

Quotes:

Morane: Let's get away from this heap of hicks.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Død snø (2009)

Hillariously awful Zombie flick

Anyone who champions European cinema as being more stylish than American cinema needs to check this film out. It'll completely trump this notion and proves that Europeans are as fully capable of creating a laughably horrible movie as anyone in the States. "Zombie Lake" is completely inept on all levels but its also very entertaining to watch and is chock full of unintentional giggles derived from the stupidity. At least its never boring. Its rather shocking that the film is as lousy as it is, considering the amount of b-movie talent involved. Jean Rollin is well known for creating beautiful and stylish horror films that are full of dream like atmosphere, as is the original director Jess Franco. This is far from Rollin's most artistic project, but its probably the most entertaining (and certainly least pretentious) thing the man ever made.

An obvious lack of care or quality is everywhere in the film. For the zombie attacks, the soundtrack is full of highly inappropriate lounge music (a lot of which I recognized from Jess Franco's "Female Vampire"). The script is chock full of holes and lacks anything resembling logic (naked girls run into bars where the men are more interested in their safety, a dead Nazi's daughter is only 12 despite the fact the film takes place in the 70s (no one seems to age), to mention a few lapses of thought). Not to mention the Zombie makeup - I've seen kids fashion more convincing Halloween costumes. Also, the direction and editing are horrible - if you watch some of the scenes, you can clearly see the extras trying to hold back their giggles. I didn't - I laughed my head off throughout this entire hunk of junk. "Zombie Lake" is a truly great piece of schlock that provides more entertainment value than any recent Oscar winner. (7/10)