Ahhh, the zombie Nazi, renowned as a faithful staple of the shallow end of the popular culture pool for decades. Its debatable where this sub-sub-sub genre actually originated from, but its been featured as a playable mode on Call Of Duty; its been satirised by South Park; theres even a few dozen Lego versions on YouTube. Oasis Of The Zombies (1982), known as more profitably as Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies, may be the first of its kind but its a terrible movie. Directed by the prolific exploitation movie auteur Jesus Franco (most famous for the Fu Manchu movies starring Christopher Lee, and the inimitable and terrible Vampyros Lesbos), its supposedly about treasure hunters tracking down a lost fortune in Nazi gold, only to find that the dead Afrika Korps who died transporting it are still guarding it today. We say supposedly, because it makes no sense whatsoever. Much more recently, writer/director partners Peter John Ross and John Whitney attempted to deliver a definitive version in the US indie effort Horrors Of War (2006). Instead of the more traditional dead-Nazis-return-from-the-grave-to-eat-us spin, Ross and Whitney tell the tale of Hitlers greatest secret weapon in World War II: the creation of invincible zombie and monstrous werewolf soldiers. Like Saving Private Ryan (with werewolves and zombies) on a shoestring budget, Horrors Of War really isnt too bad a film if, like us, youve spent half your lives deliberately seeking out the most esoteric low budget horror movies to watch on the Friday night before payday. If your expectations for cinema run a little higher, you may not get through the first twenty minutes.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
