A group of women are
hired to assist with an
impromptu concert, spend the evening at
an ancient German castle.
While they arrive they are greeted by a
strange man named Herr Janowitz (Wolfgang
Wobeto) who seems to act a little too
friendly with them. They also meet an
obnoxious man named Vincent (Ralph
Fellows) in which they feel nervous about
these two situations.
Ralph also seemed to have conjured up
some of the living dead at a nearby
graveyard in which these zombie's visit
this castle every sixty years on that
very night whom were the Templar Knights.
They start to feast on the living as well
as resurrecting the victims that they've
killed into one of their people.
Vincent tries to warn the women there
about what is going on as they will be
gone during sunlight as they try to
struggle but it seems that these knights
from the living dead have ways to get
into the castle by climbing up walls and
into bedroom windows.
Vincent seems to get some help with two
women there named Lana (Sonja Kerskes)
and Beth (Fiana de Guzman) who seem to be
very interested in him sexually which
causes a problem between the two of them.
When I saw this
film was by Schnaas Film GmbH I was
expecting it to be a crappy made on video
flick with nothing but gore and skin
galore and a weak plot since the other
stuff I saw was like that due to their
reputation with others who worked for
this company. But I was in for a
surprise. This was probably their best
effort ever and it had a bit pf a better
storyline than in their previous films.
Also, you think to yourself where's the
graphic gore during the first bit of the
story since it showed little of it at
first but you are in for a big surprise
as the makers delivered that along with
beautiful women showing it off here and
there too.
Of course the beautiful women are
enjoying themselves and having a good
time along with meeting strange
characters too which helps this film
being mysterious before the terror starts
to happen plus good flashback sequences
with a Grim reaper sort of killer and his
evil zombie soldiers which was exciting
to watch too.
Once resurrected from the grave has a
total great dark horror feel to it as
well as someone insanely doing a chant
too which is what we need which would be
great to watch on Halloween.
We spot some suggested lesbian
flirtatious type moments but yet one of
the characters seems to be drawm in by
the head male for this flick which seems
a bit confusing too.
It's great watching some of the people
who were killed by this army of zombie's
being born again into a zombie killer
themselves as well as similar elements in
the plot that borrows ideas from American
films like Night of the Demons
and Return of the Living Dead
(Without alot of the slapstick comedy of
course).
Sometimes the story runs around in
circles but later on it picks up with a
new kind of idea too. Of course while
they try to find away to survive the
night with the mandess going on the two
main character's find time to have sex
with one another which is also common for
one of those unintelligent horror films.
There's an exciting ending to the film
too which looked suspenseful too.
There's also some good humor too with a
band of zombie's performing a heavy metal
number with other zombie's dancing which
almost reminds me of a scene used in
From Dusk Till Dawn but of
course that film was about vampires.
Still a similar idea.
Bottom line is this film can be
categorised as so bad it's good and the
company can definetely say goodbye to
their roots in filmmaking the god awful Violent
Shit trilogy. In my mind those
were the worst movies ever!!! It's also a
bit Americanised as these cast members
spoke English and some had strong German
accents but others seemed to pull off
their role quite well wondering if they
are American or not (Probably did this
cause Nikos the Impaler
became a cult favourite to gorehounds in
certain parts of the States). It's both a
zombie and splatter flick combined into
one. This flick is worth checking out as
it looks like they put effort into
budgeting this piece surprisingly.
The acting is not
too bad in which the lead actor Ralph
Fellows (Vincent) really came across well as
someone who is a strange man to encounter
plus has a great aggression and rage to
his role in which he brought that across
incredibly well. He does a nice job as
well being protective towards other along
with his sword fighting too as he
portrayed a nice warrior. There's a good moment with him going to the graveyard doing
his chant and acting outrageous and crazy
with his aggressions which shows off a
terrific dark horror feel to the picture. There's a great aggressive reaction with him running to the graveyard during a certain scene.
Sonja Kerskes (Lana) seemed to be a great
one for this horror flick in which she
really knew how to act outgoing and does
a fairly good job with her screaming and
pulling off alot of energy while
struggling against the madness of what's
happening proving she can be a worthy
type of horror victim character for films
like this. Does well by staring out in a bedroom
window of the castle wondering what he's
doing in which she does show some good
mysterious expressions on her face. A great
screaming reaction on her when she spots something terrifying.
Fiana
de Guzman (Beth) tried to do her best by
playing a drunk but yet she tries too
hard at times but yet she does well with
pulling off an attitude too. She seemed
to come across nicely onto the screen
nonetheless. She was just average in her
performance though which isn't terrible. There's a good moment with her acting
drunk and obnoxious towards her fellow actor by telling everyone about him being
responsible for what is happening.
I was very impressed with Carolyn
Schmidt (Jessie) as a gothic type of chick
with a shaved head in which she seems
alot of fun watching her perform in the
film with her flirtatious and charming
attitude. She seemed to fit in
terrifically well with the other cast
members. She also does well as a
resurrected living dead girl too and can
see her getting more work in these types
of horror films.
Amy Lee (Veronica) was another great attention
grabber with her whiney type and paranoid
attitude. She certainly knew how to put
on an interesting act and appearance. She
never seemed to lack or slow down at all
when she was doing a scene and it really
shows. She was always on top.
But the one who stood out the most I must
say was Wolfgang
Wobeto (Herr Janowitz) with his creepy like
expressions and actions bringing some wit
to his role too. He really came across as
one of those eccentric types from an old
black and white horror flick with his
speaking. He was a definete character
actor without a doubt.
A woman appears
topless while dancing with a band
Someone takes off their top while
changing into another shirt breasts fully
revealed
Zombies strip a woman on top of her car
all the way down
Zombies enter a room and pull open her
shirt boobs fully revealed before shes
slaughtered by them
A woman is bare breasted while getting
out of a bathtub
A woman is barebreasted while fornicating
What is a Schnaas
film without the gore?
Bodies are split in half
Heads cut off with blood splurting out
Bodies sliced in two
Lots of bloody stabbings
Hearts are torn out
Zombie heads are smashed in
The music was composed very
powerfully and superbly by Marc
Trinkhaus with alot of great
classical music in which we hear alot of
weeping violin playing plus some piano
tapping too. There's also great chating
sounds when the zombie's are resurrected
or anything else to do with their evil
ceremonies. He certainly made his music
sound more appropriate for a horror flick
than he did in Nikos the Impaler
which was just plain heavy guitar and
synthesizer riffs. There's also good
rumbling windy sound effects which suits
what is happening on the screen.
He does show a great stompin metal
songtrack for the flick with a gothic
heavy metal band playing at the castle
which seemed to work nicely. |
