I could sum up this film in just 2 words... "Jess Franco"
(or "utter crap" for that matter). But for the benefit of those unfamiliar with this infamous Spanish director's works, allow me to continue.
Set in the African desert (though probably California, judging by those Redwood trees), English student Robert Blabart and his American University chums set out to find a stash of Nazi gold bullion which, as we see through a series of flashbacks, was abandoned at a secluded oasis by a group of German soldiers during WW2 after being ambushed by allied troops. Only Robert's Father, a former British army captain, knows the location. But when Robert finds him murdered, he suspects that someone else is after the gold.
Turns out some former German soldier has mounted his own expedition, and decided to kill off the competition. But after Robert and his friends find their bodies at the oasis, they realise the supposedly dead Nazi's aren't willing to give up their gold just yet. Yes it seems the dead German soldiers have come back as very badly made up zombies, in varying states of decay, who kill anybody that comes near the oasis, and so it isn't too long before the plucky group of prospectors are fighting for their lives.
Quite why the Nazi soldiers came back as zombies, and more to the point why the allied troops didn't, is never explained. But then that's par for the course being a Jess Franco's film, which bears all his other usual trademarks. Shaky camera work, awkward zooms and jump cuts, annoying music, bad dubbing, worse acting and even worse special effects. Not to mention night shots that were obviously filmed during the day, plot holes you could drive a tank through and zombie noises that sounded like somebody scraping a washboard!
Released by the same studio who gave us the earlier, and similarly crass, "Zombie Lake", this film doesn't even make the "so bad it's good" category, it's just plain bad. Stick with "Zombie Lake" instead (or better still "Shock Waves")
