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And here we have another edition of Dead Man Still Walking, *the* Zombie Movie Podcast starring Dr. Walking Dead himself, the distinguished Dr. Kyle Bishop! For this embalmed but exhumed excursion into the murkiest depths of zombie cinema, the good doctor welcomes first-time DMSW guest Mister Watson — a man whose exceptional movie picks have earned him praise from Jay of the Dead. Naturally, Dr. Bishop rewards Watson’s exemplary taste by subjecting him to a movie widely considered to be “one of the worst zombie movies ever made”: Zombie Lake (1981). Set in a French village roughly 10 years after World War II, “Zombie Lake” concerns a squad of slain German soldiers whose bodies were dumped into a mysterious lake — only for the waterlogged Nazis to rise again and terrorize the townspeople.
Also in Episode 187, Dr. Walking Dead and Mister Watson discuss the film’s painfully poor makeup, historically questionable uniforms, gratuitous Euro-sleaze, interminable flashback and truly baffling zombie behavior. Are these creatures flesh-eating zombies, blood-drinking vampires or merely undead horndogs with an irresistible attraction to skinny-dippers? And yet, buried beneath the green face paint and woeful execution, our reviewers discover the remains of a potentially compelling movie. The mythology of a lake that demands human sacrifices, a forbidden wartime romance, a zombie father who remembers and protects his daughter, and a community haunted by the consequences of its past all suggest that “Zombie Lake” might deserve that rarest of cinematic opportunities: a remake of a bad movie. Join Dr. Bishop and Mister Watson as they attempt to find intelligent thematic possibilities in a film that stubbornly refuses to contain them!
Note: This episode reveals major plot spoilers from “Zombie Lake” (1981).
Also, to view ALL of Dr. Bishop’s Dead Man Still Walking solocast episodes can USE THIS LINK. And to view ALL of Dr. Bishop’s episode-by-episode commentaries on The Last of Us – Seasons 1 and 2, with Jay of the Dead, then USE THIS LINK.
Dead Man Still Walking is a biweekly, short-form solocast hosted by Dr. Walking Dead Kyle Bishop, author of American Zombie Gothic and How Zombies Conquered Popular Culture. Dr. Walking Dead also presents a popular segment called The Dead Zone on regular episodes of this podcast. For his Dead Man Still Walking solocast episodes, Dr. Bishop will focus exclusively on zombie films, with the occasional exploration of zombie-related themes, zombie television, and other zombie media (e.g., comics, literature, etc.).
Dr. Bishop is an academic and professional scholar of zombie films and other zombie narratives. He has been teaching for 26 years. Dr. Bishop serves as an English professor, Film Studies professor, and he’s currently the English Department Chair at Southern Utah University.
You are welcome to reach out to Dr. Bishop with comments or questions via email: bishopk@suu.edu, X: @DrWalkingDead, BlueSky and Instagram (@DrWalkingDead). You can also watch the documentary, Doc of the Dead (2014), which features Dr. Walking Dead. Find more links below for Dr. Bishop.
Be sure to subscribe to Jay of the Dead’s new Horror movie podcast on:
You are welcome to email our show at HauntingYourHeadphones@gmail.com. You can also follow Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies on X: @HorrorAvengers
Dead Man Still Walking with Dr. Kyle Bishop is brought to you by Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies, an audio Horror movie podcast. It features 10 experienced Horror hosts review new Horror movies and deliver specialty Horror segments. Your hosts are Jay of the Dead, Dr. Shock, Gillman Joel, Mister Watson, Dr. Walking Dead, GregaMortis, Mackula, Ron Martin, Dave Zee and Spawn of the Dead! Due to the large number and busy schedule of its nine Horror hosts, Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies will be recorded in segments, piecemeal, at various times and recording sessions. Therefore, as you listen to our episodes, you will notice a variety of revolving door hosts and segments, all sewn together and reanimated like the powerful Monster of Dr. Frankenstein!
SHOW NOTES
– Introduction
- Welcome to Dead Man Still Walking with Dr. Walking Dead
- Dr. Bishop welcomes first-time DMSW guest Mister Watson
1980s Zombie Movie:
Zombie Lake (1981) (SPOILERS!)
Mister Watson = 2.5 ( Avoid )
Dr. Walking Dead = 3 ( Low-priority Stream )
IMDb Premise:
In a small village somewhere in France, German soldiers return from the dead after being killed and thrown into the lake by the Resistance during World War II.
A Few Discussion Points:
– The French title translates to “The Lake of the Living Dead”
– IMDb’s description of the movie as B-horror and zombie Horror
– The film’s reputation as one of the worst zombie movies ever made
– Criticism of the acting, atmosphere, storytelling and sluggish pacing
– A potentially beautiful village setting undermined by the movie’s limited execution
– Jess Franco’s involvement as a co-writer and his departure from the director’s chair
– Jean Rollin’s reported embarrassment over the finished movie
– Nazi zombies as an inherently appealing Horror concept
– Signs of zombie intelligence, including planning, stalking and a possible pecking order
– A zombie father recognizes his biological daughter and protects her from the other undead soldiers
– Dr. Bishop identifies the zombie-on-zombie conflict as a potentially early example of undead creatures fighting one another
– The zombie father’s memory anticipates similar cognitive behavior in “Day of the Dead” four years later
– A reporter visits the village mayor solely to facilitate an extraordinarily long flashback
– Dr. Bishop and Mister Watson wonder how explicitly the mayor is narrating the flashback’s prolonged love scene
– An unintentionally uncomfortable sequence featuring literal rolling in the hay
– The lake’s intriguing mythology and its alleged demand for human sacrifices
– Flamethrowers provide the movie’s remarkably simple solution to its undead invasion
– Underwater photography influenced by “Jaws” and Lucio Fulci’s “Zombie”
– The revelation that these zombies apparently drink blood instead of eating flesh
– Discussion over whether the creatures behave more like vampires than zombies
– Dr. Bishop concludes that they qualify as zombies
– A psychoanalytic and philosophical search for meaning in “Zombie Lake”
– The argument that filmmakers should remake poorly executed movies instead of repeatedly remaking masterpieces
– How a remake could explore the village’s wartime actions and the return of its buried trauma
– A possible theme about the horrors of war returning to haunt a society
– Dr. Bishop and Mister Watson successfully devise a compelling interpretation of a better movie that does not actually exist
– Dr. Walking Dead recommends the movie only as a historic curiosity for viewers who can find enjoyment in cinematic trash
– Mister Watson recommends Jean Rollin’s “The Living Dead Girl” as a far better alternative
– Dr. Bishop recounts his miserable experience watching “Zombie Lake” through Dailymotion’s repetitive advertisements
Next time: “Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror” (1981)
– The next installment will remain in 1980s zombie cinema
– “Burial Ground” will be a first-time watch for Dr. Walking Dead
– Mister Watson teases the film’s infamous and exceedingly strange family dynamic
Special thanks to website developer Jaxon Carroll and graphic designer Trump Widdop for their excellent work in helping Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies to have a nice, new website. Thank you! And big shout-out and thanks to Mister Watson and his son, Skylarr, for composing the music for Mister Watson’s Horror Hierarchy segment.
LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Links for Dr. Walking Dead Kyle Bishop:
Follow Dr. Walking Dead on Letterbox’d
Email Dr. Bishop here: bishopk@suu.edu
Dr. Walking Dead’s Bio Page
Book: American Zombie Gothic
Book: How Zombies Conquered Popular Culture
— Kyle’s Amazon Author Profile
— Doc of the Dead zombie culture documentary
— Kyle’s re-animated Twitter: @DrWalkingDead
– Learn more about Dr. Walking Dead
– Faculty Friday: Meet Dr. Kyle Bishop, English
– TEDx SUU Talk on YouTube: Why Zombies Matter
– YouTube: Zombies: An idea worth spreading about how ideas spread
– YouTube: 50+ Shades of Gothic: Zombies, Bodies and Boundaries
– YouTube: Why zombie culture is so popular?
Jay of the Dead’s NEW HORROR MOVIES podcast links:
Email: HauntingYourHeadphones@gmail.com
Voicemail: (801) 980-1375
Twitter: @HorrorAvengers
YouTube Channel: Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts
Subscribe via Spotify
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The soundtrack music for Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies is composed and performed by musicians Fred Ingram; Nate Johnivan; Mister Watson and his son, Skylarr; and Jason Pyles himself. Please support our talented musician friends by checking out more of Nate and Fred’s links below:
Links for musician Frederick Ingram:
Website: FrederickIngram.com
Frederick Ingram’s new album Initial Exposure (includes “Voltairine,” the theme music for Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies)
Frederick Ingram’s YouTube Music Channel
Listen to Frederick Ingram on SoundCloud
YouTube Music Video: “Voltairine” by Frederick Ingram (the theme music for Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies)
Interview: Hear Fred Ingram on Jay’s Songwriting Podcast
Frederick Ingram’s Fish Bowl (Funky Margarita Mix)
Links for musician Nate Johnivan:
Spotify Playlist
Quarantine Dream iii
Thank you for listening to Dead Man Still Walking with Dr. Walking Dead, proudly brought to you by Jay of the Dead’sNew Horror Movies, The Gold Standard of Horror Movie Podcasts.