By all accounts, this film looks bad. But you might be pleasantly surprised after viewing it. Yeah, it has a super cheesy name and the plot seems questionable, but if you're a fan of European/Italian horror, you've found a film that you'll enjoy.
         Let's begin with the plot. This is a very simple film to follow. We follow a German soldier (during WW2) who ends up having an affair with a peasant woman in a small French village. After their one-night porking session, the man leaves to continue fighting the war. Approximately a year later, he returns to the village to discover he's a father and the mother died during childbirth. Soon after discovering this, his infantry division is ambushed by the local militia and he is killed. The militia, not knowing what to do with all the rotting Nazi corpses, decides to throw them all in the local lake. -- cut to ten years later -- The locals now call the notorious lake "The Lake of Ghosts" because of it's violent past and warn people to stay away. When the mutilated corpses of naked women begin showing up, many feel the lake is to blame... and their suspicions are correct. From then on, everytime a naked woman swims in the lake (which coincidentally happens alot, sometimes in groups, see video clip below) the dead Nazi soldiers rise from their watery graves to eat some pussy *ahem* brains. And the man with the daughter? He returns as well with a special surprise.
         This is another prime example of tits and gore taking the place of a well written script. Which isn't all bad, as you know, if you've read my reviews in the past. I have to warn you though, the make-up effects are terrible. The green face paint (which looks like the cheap kind you buy during Halloween) is applied with embarrassing results. Most of them missed the sections behind their ears and the paint is often running off their face and onto their uniforms. When the zombies rise from the water, there is barley any left. But, who cares right? Because...
         There are more tits in this film than in most full-length porn films. Not only are there tits, not only are their big bushy beavers, but they actually show a few pairs of meat curtains. Oh yes, my peoples, they show some pink. Now, I know what you're all thinking, "J.P. Butcher is getting excited over some pussy lips?" My answer to that is, yes. The fact that there are times when you feel as though you could sniff them is not why I'm impressed. It's that the filmmakers actually had the balls to show full nudity, knowing they would either get an X-rating or would have to promote it without a rating. Either is usually a disaster for a horror film. There are exceptions, like The Evil Dead, but reaching a larger audience with an X, or no rating at all, is nearly impossible. So, kudos to director Jean Rollin for having the courage to give the ratings commission a, "FUCK YOU!" Zombie Lake is unrated.
         The Italian feel to Zombie Lake is unmistakable. If you're a fan of Dario Argento or Lamberto Bava, you'll get a kick out of Zombie Lake. It's not the best film by any means, but I still enjoyed it for it's fun factor. Bad effects, mediocre voice-overs, more naked women than you can shake a stick at (no pun intended) and a somewhat silly plot, makes for a good watch. All Italian horror fans should take notice. Zombie Lake is a riot!