Movies
[BD Review] ‘Oasis of the Zombies’ is an Absolute Bore
Reviewed by Patrick Cooper
Jess Franco was a prolific erotic horror director who has made about 200 films since the 1950s. I can’t imagine that Oasis of the Zombies is one of his more beloved films. He’s best known for his softcore sleaze-fests starring his wife and muse Lina Romay. Even while working within the genre he was known for he was barely capable of making a coherent film. Venturing into zombie territory was a departure for him (possibly why he used the pseudonym A.M. Frank) – there’s no immature zoom-ins on female private parts or uncomfortably long takes of women writhing around on beds. The film did make me writhe around on my couch though, itching the fast-forward button.
Oasis of the Zombies begins with two girls lurching around the titular oasis. They’re holding hands, so you’d think Franco would have them be lesbians out for a romp in the sand. Instead he just zooms-in on their butts and as they stumble across a bunch of human bones and Nazi helmets. There are only a couple of dead ferns covering all of the Nazi paraphernalia, so you’d figure someone would’ve discovered these historically important artifacts by now. There’s even a cannon sticking out of some brush and an exposed swastika! Maybe it’s all an elaborate booby-trap set by the undead Nazi soldiers? In my mind it is.
The film then mechanically goes through a bunch of flashbacks and obligatory exposition. Back in WWII, a convoy in the desert lost $6 million in Nazi gold during a British raid. The battle is shamelessly made up of stock war footage from a different movie. The only survivor is an English soldier, Blabert. A creepy local sheik and his daughter, who Blabert later impregnates, take him in. His illegitimate son, Robert, is sent back to England and Blabert goes native.
Jump to the present and a German veteran tricks Blabert into showing him where the oasis is so he can steal the $6 mill. Also looking for the gold is grown-up Robert and his group of rich university friends. Basically the protagonists we’re supposed to be rooting for are a bunch of privileged rich kids looking to get richer. Get outta my face – I hope they all die slow. When they arrive at the oasis, both parties awaken the undead Nazis and you see where this is going.
More than anything, Oasis of the Zombies is an absolute bore. Like most low-budget fare, it’s edited poorly and takes are always several seconds longer than they need to be. Excruciatingly long scenes are devoted to plot points of absolutely no importance. The acting is typically hokey but at least the zombies are kinda cool. Their makeup is so carelessly thrown on that they’re almost hypnotizing in their shittiness. You sort of have to admire the DIY spirit of the film. It’s not a good zombie movie but as with other Franco films there’s no self-importance behind it. It is what it is, man. Zombie enthusiasts should check this film out, everyone else stay the hell away.
A/V
Kino/Redemption Films presents Oasis of the Zombies in 1080p 1.66:1 widescreen with 2.0 audio. The film has been remastered for the first time, but a lot of its scratches, dirt, and random warps are present. The imperfections are appropriate for this type of low-budget film though and I don’t think they’re necessarily distracting. The colors and details look great and there’s no oversaturation.
Special Features
Trailers for other Kino/Redemption Films releases: Zombie Lake, Female Vampire, and Exorcism.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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