Oasis of the Zombies

Development Oasis of the Zombies was meant to expand on the concept of 1981's Zombie Lake, which had done well for production company Eurociné. Jesús Franco was supposed to direct Zombie Lake but quit after the project was scaled back, reconciled with Eurociné boss Marius Lesoeur and his son Daniel, and embarked on the new film. Like its predecessor, Oasis was made to capitalize on the zombie trend which followed the success of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The Spanish helmer did not think much of Romero as a director, nor did he have any interest in zombies, as he found them inexpressive and non-threatening. However, he convinced himself to do it due to the adventure aspects of the hunt for Nazi gold. The director told French magazine Mad Movies that while he hardly ever loved his work, he was mostly satisfied with what he had achieved on the film, calling it "not bad". According to Thrower, Eurociné struck a belated deal with Spanish producer Arturo Marcos Tejedor for his home market, and the new footage was commissioned to qualify for Spanish tax relief. He presents circumstantial evidence that it was shot nearly one year after principal photography during filming of Franco's Diamonds of the Kilimandjaro, which also took place in Gran Canaria. == Release ==

Theatrical Like most Eurociné films, Oasis of the Zombies was sparsely distributed, even in France. It debuted in the provinces on 21 April 1982, and did not appear in Paris until 18 March 1987 for an exclusive engagement at exploitation theater :fr:Le Brady. In Spain, the film was distributed by Marte Films Internacional and drew a modest 37,530 admissions. Several domestic resources quote a 1 March 1983 release date, although this is not corroborated by major newspapers of the day. Some publications indicate that the film was also known in Spain as El desierto de los zombies. Television In the U.S., the video release was preceded by a few broadcasts on independent TV channels. The earliest that could be sourced at this time came on Nashville's Channel 30 on 13 July 1984. The film was sold as part of the Shock Around the Clock syndication package offered by Cinema Shares International, alongside two more Eurociné products, Zombie Lake and Orloff Against the Invisible Man. Home media In France, the film was released on VHS by Les Productions du Tigre around July 1983. In Spain, it was published by Video Fan and received its release certificate in December 1983. In the U.S., it was distributed by Charles Band's Wizard Video, which released it on VHS and Betamax in January 1986. A re-issue by Taurus Films changed the title to Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies. American exploitation director Fred Olen Ray, who also dabbled in film sales, recalled inquiring about the rights to Oasis of the Zombies and its predecessor Zombie Lake at the 1984 AFM, but arriving too late. Wizard's big box VHS was part of the first batch in a series of limited edition reprints by Band's successor company Full Moon, which began in February 2013. The film received en English language DVD from U.S. distributor Image Entertainment in Mars 2001. A French DVD followed in October 2007 from magazine Mad Movies. The Spanish version was re-issued on DVD by Ediciones Divisa in January 2003. The film made its Blu-ray debut through U.S. distributor Kino Lorber in February 2013. == Reception ==

Oasis of the Zombies has received overwhelmingly negative reviews. In France, Pierre Gires of ''L'Écran fantastique'' wrote that this "ultra cheap production, as poorly acted as it is photographed (and let's not even talk about the direction if you can call it that), tries to intrigue, then to scare, but only manages to bore." Writing in Mad Movies, Jean-Pierre Putters wrote that he was not sure whether the film had indeed been directed by Franco due to Eurociné's liberal use of pseudonyms, but "some out of focus zooms definitely settled the question." He added that "[t]he film has been directed with modest means". Of the narrative, he wrote: "The screenplay... What screenplay?" However, he still found it less appalling than Eurociné's own Cannibal Terror. British magazine Video World noted that "[t]his boring, ineffectual Jess Franco clunker was also released as Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies, but under any title it's a real stinker." Author Scott Aaron Stine concurred and noted that "the gore amounts to little more than smeared blood, although there is one obligatory gut-munching scene depicting desperate actors chewing on butcher shop leftovers." 1989's The Deep Red Horror Book, a spinoff of the eponymous magazine, called it "the world's worst walking dead film." Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog deemed the film "slow, but much better than Eurociné's Zombie Lake." Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle stated that "presents a simple, unhurried, and unpretending appreciation of zombies and their habitat, a fresh and provocative desert landscape." Ian Jane of DVD Talk rated it 3 out of 5 and wrote, "It's terrible, but somehow trance inducing in its own bizarre way." Gordon Sullivan of DVD Verdict wrote, "It's really a mess of tepid Eurosleaze masquerading as a zombie flick, and it doesn't even do that well." Video Nasty listing Although largely devoid of graphic content, Oasis of the Zombies was put on Section 3 of the Director of Public Prosecutions's Video Nasties list, which meant that, while not considered extreme enough to warrant a conviction in the English and Welsh High Court of Justice, any copy could still be confiscated and destroyed by authorities. ==Follow-up==

The following year, Franco directed another living dead film in Gran Canaria, Mansion of the Living Dead, for Spanish company Golden Films. ==Bibliography==