U.S. DVD Release
Well, I gotta admit I’ve never seen this Naschy film before in any incarnation, uncut or otherwise, so I must say I was extremely looking forward to checking this release from Deimos Entertainment out. As some of you already know from my previous Naschy review this week (Night of the Werewolf), I consider myself a fan. Now I wouldn’t say I’m a diehard Molina fan but truth be told I’d rather watch Paul Naschy over George Romero or John Carpenter any day. Does that make me a bad horror fan?
*shrugs*
I can’t really say what I expected from this film when I first sat down to watch it but I can say this…I wasn’t expecting a ridiculous score, silly smiling zombies, constant (and lame) slow motion attack sequences and…well…ugly women. THAT’S RIGHT UGLY I SAID IT…UGLY!! I’m always down for a Paul Naschy film and ANYTHING with Mirta Miller in it should be considered powerful cinematic Viagra but yowza, this was just plain goofy shit. Vengeance of the Zombies is a messed up mish-mash of Giallo cinema, quasi-Satanic voodoo cult mumbo jumbo and Naschy playing an Indian named Krisna.
According to Mirek Lipinski, webmaster for Naschy.com, the film is believed to hold some kind of esoteric significance to those that practice black magic and it offers secrets and messages only true dark arts initiates are able to decipher. Hopefully one of those hidden messages in the film has something to do with raincoats because anybody claiming to find secret messages in this film is at risk of being full of shit and ready to explode. Vengeance of the Zombies features your typical sensationalized Voodoo and Satanism, the kind good old Geraldo and Phil Donahue used to feed the paranoid masses.
There’s a powerful evil at work in England when the daughters of influential English families begin to drop dead. Yup, you guessed it, murder most foul! Stranger still, their bodies are going missing and the only clues point to some type of strange ritual. Scotland Yard believes there’s a lunatic on the loose stealing bodies after he conducts the ritual but an author and “serious” researcher, Lawrence, believes these are actually voodoo rituals designed to raise the dead…ZOMBIES!
After Lawrence’s lady friend Elvire is almost murdered herself, she decides to head out to the countryside to be with her New Age guru, Krisna. Kala, Krisna’s woman, doesn’t like her staying with them one bit though as she worries Krisna’s affections may turn to Elvire. Despite warnings from some of the staff, Elvire begins to fall for Krisna and that spells trouble.
Meanwhile, bodies are still being resurrected and murders committed, could the zombies really be doing a killer’s dirty work and if so…who? Is Krisna the murderous voodoo killer? Perhaps it’s Lawrence or Kala?
You’re waaaaaaay off. Think sillier. Disney silly.
Vengeance of the Zombies isn’t a horrible film but it’s not all that good either; chances are I won’t watch it again. Romy and her browless mug, Naschy and his unibrow and Mirta Miller and her squandered body were merely icing on a very crappy, half-assed cake. I just can’t get over the idiotic police chief, the smiling (and ugly) zombie chicks and the atrocious score by Juan Carlos Calderón. If there’s one thing I hate about seventies movies its high-hat heavy Jazz scores with laser gun sound FX and some folky Jazz honky mimicking an instrument. Think Leon Redbone beatboxing to Star Wars disco and you’re on the right track.
Now, you’re probably wondering if there was anything I enjoyed about this film and the answer would be…yes…but not much. I thought Francisco (Night of the Seagulls) Sánchez’s cinematography was tolerable, though not particularly inspired, and there was enough nudity to draw my attention from lint balls on my T-shirt to the television screen. I was a bit pissed they didn’t show more of Mirta Miller but not even Mirta’s mams could have saved this sinking ship. Director León Klimovsky can’t be blamed for this entire mess though as Molina did come up with the story and screenplay. Let’s put it this way…it’s no A Dragonfly for Each Corpse. Hey, wouldn’t that be cool if Deimos Entertainment planned to release that instead of more duds like this?
Anyhow, the acting, action and bloodshed weren’t totally inept though you’ll probably laugh your ass off at some of the off-the-wall sequences including a scene in which the maid is beheaded and Elvire insists they call the police only to turn around, smile and make out with Naschy!
I won’t even bother pointing out the issues I had with the “authentic” voodoo rituals or anything like that because anybody with a basic knowledge of real voodoo can see it’s put on. I feel I should warn some of you before watching this that a live chicken is beheaded and it’s not done with a rubber Svengoolie chicken so be prepared.
Deimos Entertainment, once again, did a wonderful job with the transfer and extras including cool “clothed alternate scenes” but I can’t give a film a good rating simply because the work put into a release was better than the film itself. They certainly went out of their way for Naschy fans and that’s to be commended but somebody open a window and fan this film out because it’s 100%, Grade-A poot.
