"Zombie Lake" is a tedious film with nothing much going for it aside from the ridiculousness of its central premise. It's about a lake... with zombies. Zombies come from the lake. They come out of the lake at night time and kill people. And what's more... they're Nazis. Nazi zombies that live in a lake. Got it? Good.The silliness doesn't stop there, as the movie is filled with revealing mistakes such as crew members wandering around, visible equipment, reflections of cameras in windows. And remember the lake? The "zombie" lake? Well, the movie features many underwater shots that are obviously actually filmed in a swimming pool. You can see the concrete wall of the pool in some shots, and even the reflection of an "exit" sign.The actors playing zombies seem to spend quite a bit of time underwater, and perhaps disliked being wet all the time, which may explain why they are completely dry in shots when we have just seen them come out of the water. Did Nazi uniforms contain self-drying mechanisms like the futuristic jacket Marty McFly wears in "Back to the Future 2"?

Jean Rollin replaced Jess Franco as director of Zombie Lake at the 11th hour, but to be honest, you would be hard pushed to tell: Rollin's direction is every bit as clumsy as Franco at his worst, and like so many of the Spaniard's films, the film is only worth watching for the full-on nudity from some quality Euro-crumpet and a few unintentional laughs derived from its overall sloppiness.Zombie Lake opens with a hot brunette sauntering over to the film's titular lake for a spot of skinny dipping, during which she is attacked by a zombie Nazi sporting green face paint that only extends as far as his jawline. The scene is gore-less, scare-less and technically inept (the underwater scenes having been filmed in what looks like a cunningly disguised swimming pool), but it does allow Rollin's audience to become very well acquainted with the girl's genitalia.The sneaky vag shots and lame zombie attacks continue throughout the film, the lake continually drawing fit French fillies to its waters to frolic in the buff—and when the naked chicks are on screen, all's right with the world; but whenever Rollin tries conjure up a creepy atmosphere, scare his viewers, or inject some drama into proceedings, it all goes horribly wrong, becoming a painfully embarrassing and dreary exercise in how not to make a zombie film.3 out of 10, all points awarded purely for the T&A, best scene being the arrival at the lake of an all-female basketball team, who strip off for a refreshing dip with inevitably disastrous results.

Needless to say, "Zombie Lake" is no masterpiece of filmmaking. It is, however, one hilariously bad Nazi-zombie flick with a few good points.1. Decent atmosphere throughout; the French countryside makes a FINE place for a pond of undead National Socialists, don't you think? 2.Nice little romantic side-story, with the Nazi-dad and his little girl.3. Plenty of athletically-built, scantily-clad chicks who seem to have little regard for decency as they regularly disrobe to take a dip in the pond.Obviously you are not going to get the next "Dawn of the Dead" here, but "Zombie Lake" is plenty entertaining to sit around and swig a couple beers, relax and have a laugh at.High points for me are the swimming pool ladders visible in some of the underwater scenes and the green makeup that even comes off onto one of the victims arms in a killing scene. The only thing that really drags this movie down is a lack of gore. The zombie killings look more like vampires biting their victims...maybe they were supposed to be vamps? Lost in translation perhaps. (After all, the literal translation of the title is "Lake of the Dead." Maybe they were in fact vampires.)At any rate, if they had thrown some of that good ole raw meat and a little gut-munching, "Zombie Lake" would have scored higher for sure.6 out of 10, kids.

"No fair, you're not wearing any panties!" The previous lines from the scene with the naked girls volleyball team make this worth at least a night's viewing with your drunk friends. Zombie Lake is classic! Whenever I find out a video store carries this film, I immediately rent it.Elaborate plot line boils down to this: Dead WWII soldiers dumped in a lake. One of them did the local farmers daughter the night before. Now the soldiers return as zombies, although the one has a soft spot for his daughter and helps her to save the locals from their flesh-eating ways.The Zombies seem as if they aren't so much out for blood as they are looking to get some lovin. Half the death scenes look like they're just making out with their victims. Euro-trash de jour! Bon appetit!