Night of the Zombies

Filmed in 1979 as "Gamma 693", Night of the Zombies is a failed horror film that has an unusual premise but not enough budget to carry it out. Writer-director Joel M. Reed (whose earlier gore opus "Bloodsucking Freaks" continues in release) has included oddball humor but doesn't deliver the scares. Picture displays an "R' rating, but has never been rated according to the MPAA.

C. I. A. Agent Nick Monroe (Jamie Gillis) is sent to West German to investigate the murder of two NATO officers and to find missing canisters of Gamma 693, a U. S. experimental gas developed in 1944. Teaming up with scientist Dr. Proud (Ryan HIlliard) and his niece Susan (Samantha Grey), her ventures to a remote, snow-scaped Bavarian village where local legend claims zombies now inhabit the site of a W. W. II battlefield.

Far-fetched science fiction premise maintains that the missing Gamma 693 was invented to put wounded soldiers in a state of suspended animation, attempting to prolong their lives. In practice, it has been used to extend the lives of unaging U. S. and German W. W. II soldiers, who prey on human flesh in order to counteract the decaying side-effect of the gas. The opposing troops are supposedly still fighting the war, a corny gimmick that reflects "Zombies" having originally been set in the Far East about an isolated Japanese regiment before a budget-induced rewrite switched locale and lessened story credibility.

Disarmingly silly dialog and spoofing of the international intrigue genre makes this slow-paced picture watchable. Cheap makeup on the soldier zombies plus too-bright lighting renders fright scenes ineffective. Reed's conception of light-hearted zombies, who lack the expected catatonic stare and like to joke around, bears little connection to earlier screen versions, though an expert notes authoritatively: "Zombies don't devour human flesh -ghouls do".

Location lensing in Germany is attractive, but lengthy, static exposition scenes and lack of convincing action footage betray the film's low budget, financed by legit theater produce ("George M.", etc.) Lorin Price. Familiar porn star Jamie Gillis is physically right as the tough-guy hero bht too laid-back for the role. Supporting cast is unimpressive and features many of the behind-the-camera personnel doubling as performers.

The box says Night of the Zombies but the opening titles say Night of the Zombies 2. I'll call it Part 2 and call it a bad Part 2 at that. If you're watching a zombie movie about Nazi's, it's bound to be bad. Zombie Lake, Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies, they're all terrible. This one is a real snoozer complete with stock footage of the Pentagon and laughing zombies. The funniest thing though is the props: radiation detector (hair dryer) and foam sprayer (jet pack from a 50's sci-fi flick). The twist ending is not bad, but most people will quit watching after the first ten minutes. I know I wanted to. Even the most hardcore zombie fans will get no enjoyment out of this movie.

"We zombies are destined to rule the universe."

The plot of Joel M. Reed's "Night of the Zombies" concerns a group of investigators searching for the bodies of missing soldiers.They encounter a group of undead WWII soldiers who've apparently been kept alive by some chemical gas called Gamma 693 or something like that.Deadly dull and uninteresting horror film that is as dreary as they come.The action is utterly lifeless and there is not enough blood-in fact the film is pretty goreless.I can't believe that the same director directed outrageously sleazy "Bloodsucking Freaks"."Night of the Wehrmacht Zombies" is far from the worst horror movie ever made,but I was bored senseless whilst watching this low-budget atrocity.You have been warned.3 out of 10.

Well, I guess I am the second person to say this movie is kind of good. This movie gets boring a lot. I think the advantage of this movie is the gore. The gore was great. The zombies moved really slow unlike other zombies I have seen in other zombie movies. The most bad part about the movie is that it is dark at times and you can't see what is going on. I give this movie 2.5 stars out of 5 stars (average).

Night of the Zombies (1981)

* (out of 4)

Nick Monroe (Jamie Gillis) leads up a team of investigators who are looking for some missing soldiers. They end up finding a group of WWII zombies that were apparently brought back by a deadly gas and soon the team are fighting for their lives.

This here was director Joel M. Reed's follow-up to BLOODSUCKING FREAKS and it seems as if the director wanted to get as far away from that film's subject matter as he could. The film shares some similarities with THE FROZEN DEAD but if you're expecting any type of blood, gore, violence or shock matter then you're going to be mighty disappointed. In fact, this falls well below other zombie-war films from this period like SHOCK WAVES and ZOMBIE LAKE but it was still slightly better than Jess Franco's OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES.

There are all sorts of problems with this film but it's obvious that they weren't working with too much money. I say this because the zombies don't even turn up until the forty minute mark and when they do show up their make-up is less than stellar. The make-up might have been okay in the early 70s but after the work of Tom Savini and what was being seen in the Italian horror market, what's here is just lame. There's also not any gore to be found and in fact the one major attack sequence happens in a long shot so that you can't see anything! The performances are pretty much what you'd expect and nearly every scene appears to be shot on the same set. The lighting is extremely dark as I'm guessing this was done to hide how cheap everything was. The only thing that keeps NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES from being a complete bomb is the fact that, somehow, director Reed manages to build up a rather strange atmosphere. Yes, that same low-budget and nasty atmosphere that he brought to BLOODSUCKING FREAKS can also be found here.

NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES has pretty much been forgotten through time, although it never really got a good release anywhere. It's been listed under at least six different titles but without the shock value of Reed's previous film there's really no point in searching it out.