Vengeance of the Zombies is considered a film that defines the word Euro-Cult. In a sense the film does that in it’s overall cult like look. And to some this film may be a masterpiece, but to me; the fact that it was before my time and the overall over the top look and elongated scenes made this film must less excitable for myself, and well I found it to be boring most of the time. I guessing one must however make their own decision and while I found it hard to comprehend any part of the plot this film had. I think it’s best described by the synopsis by Mirek Lipinski written below.
Vengeance of the Zombies offers a triple threat performance by Naschy as a Hindu mystic, his evil brother and the Devil himself. Zombies, satanic voodoo rituals and gruesome killings combine to make Vengeance of the Zombies a bizarre ride in the best horror tradition, a film that defines the term “Euro-cult” as few other films can. Reportedly, practitioners of the black arts have found hidden meanings in the film that transcend the picture’s story-telling plotting, making the impact of Vengeance of the Zombies that much more intense–and frightful.
Here’s the deal, this film had so much going on and the scenes seemed to run right into one another, that you never had time to grasp any of the previous actions, and thus even make sense of them. There were these zombie women in robes running all over the place, there was this cop guy who showed up in every scene and seemed all pissed off. Honestly it just seemed to be a film that was all over the place. Not to mention that after the first twenty five minutes of this film threw me off completely, and I lost interest very quickly. I don’t know, maybe I need to be part of a cult to understand the overall lack luster meaning of this film.
The overall acting was not that bad for the type of film that it was. In a way you can kind of compare the directing style of León Klimovsky to that of Quentin Tarantino today. The way the actors were directed and the tense and talkie like dialogue the film offered, plus the overall use of shots and look of the film reminded of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. However getting back to the acting, the cast in the film being that they were well directed did a good job. Even though I had no clue nor did I care for where the story was headed.
As far as effects go the film did have a lot to offer visually though the elaborate sets and and the make-up effects. I mean for the time in which this film was shot, the great use of the sets and backdrops did help the films overall visual impression; and with this film being transferred from it’s original negative and being re-mastered on DVD. One can not say that the overall picture quality really helped with the great look and colors of the visuals in the film. However with the make-up effects they all looked very fake again, like the make-up was bought from a local Walmart and just creativity slopped together on the cast members who required make-up effects to be applied on them.
Overall, It’s obvious that the plot and overall story of this film did not interest me at all. It had it’s good things such as it’s visuals and good directing. But in my eyes I simply could not get into this film. I will however say this; that BCI did one hell of a job packaging this film and my god, if this does not have one of the best looking DVD covers ever, I don’t know what does.
– Horror Bob
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- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
