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 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.
Sonja Kerskes 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.
Fiana
de Guzman 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.
I was very impressed with Carolyn
Schmidt 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 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 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
Andreas Schnaas
seemed to really focus on his directing
alot more than he used to in which he
shows nice blurry shots on the past with
the supporting cast fighting with swords
and killing one another.
Schnaas shows alot of great camera shots
on the cast driving in their van with
cars going by and acting aggressive when
passing by with a good close up camera
shot on Fiana de Guzman driving
and flipping them the bird which shows
some descent humor.
There's a good moment with the cast of
women entering the castle and then a nice
quick shot zooming towards supporting
actor Wolfgang Wobeto staring
creepily towards them and greeting them
like an Igor type of fashion which was
very effective thanks to Schnaas'
good work on this.
There's a good moment with Ralph
Fellows 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
as well as a good close up shot on him
cutting his hand and letting his blood
drip. Plus there's nice camera shots on Sonja
Kerskes 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.
There's a nice close up shot on Carolin
Schmidt slipping on the floor and
then a nice shot on her head hitting a
bathtub.
There's nice dark camera shots
surrounding Guzman looking at
some wine bottles in a cellar which
leaves a nice still moment.
There's a great presence with Fellows
approaching Wobeto and
introducing himself in a strange fashion
with good reactions on Amy Lee just
acting concerned about who this person
was which was failry impressive as well
as a tale told by Wobeto on the
histroy of what happened in the castle.
There's a great aggressive reaction with Fellows
running to the graveyard with good close
up camera shots on him aggressively
speaking to Wobeto and then a
nice close up shot on him about to take
out a weapon with a nice fast shot on Fellows
using his blade by cutting off his arm.
There's a good camera shot looking up on Wobeto
crying in pain.
There's nice close up shots on the
supporting actors as zombie's rising from
the grave like a hand coming out of the
dirt or from a coffin with great dark
shots of mist flying around as well as a
jiggling camera shot walking along the
ground area along with Fellows
trying to battle them.
There's a good shot on Guzman
panting and running with a wine bottle
and then getting startled by spotting an
object with a good shot on her dropping
the bottle.
There's a good camera shot creeping up on
bit part actress Wolfgang Noack
as well as her screaming with the
supporting cast as zombie's pinning her
on the front of her car with good shots
on her getting stripped down by them and
their hands covering her.
There's a nice shot on supporting actress
Courntey Pelzer screaming and
being dragged away by supporting actor Thomas
Donahue as a NAZI zombie.
There's a great energtetic reaction and
camera shot on Julia Casper running
into the castle and crying about what is
happening.
Next there's a nice shot on Pelzer
being put on a tombstone with Donahue
using his hands to revive her into a
zombie with great wide eyed and sneering
expressions on her.
There's a nice shot on Cristiane
Malia lying in bed along with a good
camera shot on Donahue climbing
up to her window and then attacking her
with other supporting cast members
attacking her as she shows a great
anxious reaction on her being attacked.
There's a good camera looking down on
some blood and then looking up on Malia
with her back turned and Sonja
Kerskes approaching trying to talk
with a good turning motion on Malia glaring
at her evilly and zombielike and a great
screaming reaction on Kerskes.
There's a good dialogue sequence between Fellows
and Guzman as a nice blocking
moment with them aboput to kiss and then
a good moment with Lee storming
in to break the silence.
There's great shots on Lee demanding to
go out with Fellows blocking her
telling her it isn't safe with great
intensity on both of them.
There's a great creepy moment with Pelzer
evilly talking towards Lee as
well as shot on the supporting cast as
zombies ganging up on her and impaling a
sharp object in her head.
There's nice dialogues between Fellows
and Kerskes by finding ways to
survive which looked pretty good as well
as the two of them having a lustful scene
together.
There's a good moment with Guzman acting
drunk and obnoxious towards Pelzer
telling everyone about him being
responsible for what is happening as well
as a good moment on her falling on some
broken glass and stabbed to death by it
which looked nicely done.
There's great shots on a heavy metal band
performed by Marc Trinkhaus
with him and the band as zombies
performing as well as camera shots
looking up on the supporting cast as
zombies dancing mainly on Malia doing
a gothic dance.
There's great moments with Lee
and Schmidt as zombie's speaking
coldly while trying to chase after the
survivors.
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.
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