Shock Waves (1976)
By: David Michael Brown on September 1, 2006.
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| Umbrella Entertainment (Australia). All Regions, NTSC. 1.66:1 (Non-anamorphic). English DD 2.0. 94 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Ken Wiederhorn
Starring: Brook Adams,
Peter Cushing, John Carradine
Screenplay: John Kent
Harrison, Ken Pare, Ken Wiederhorn
Country: USA
AKA: Death Corps
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Shock Waves gets you the minute
the sinister plot is revealed by a bitter and twisted
SS Commandant hiding on a deserted island. The nazis
developed zombie soldiers who could breathe underwater
to man their submarines. The commandant has been
busy resurrecting the corpses of dead nazi soldiers.
They now live in the depths of the ocean surrounding
a small island off Florida and now they want blood.
It's a slow build up to the zombies first
appearance but they provide some of horror cinema's
finest frissons when they slowly emerge from the
surf, en masse, wearing goggles and their old SS
uniforms, ready to terrorise a boat load of tourists
who have been shipwrecked.
A couple of horror legends add a stamp of authority
to the proceedings. John Carradine hams it up
as the boats captain and Peter Cushing gives his
small role as the SS Commandant a sense of underlying
evil. Brooke Adams (most readers will know from
her excellent performances in David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone and Philip Kaufman's
1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
makes her acting debut. The rest of the cast vary
from amateur to bearable but they are really only
waiting to meet their maker at the hands of the
marine menace.
The film may disappoint the gore hounds out there
as the film is relatively bloodless, relying on
its unnerving atmosphere and the omnipresent zombies
to build up the film's sense of dread. Richard
Eiderhorn's strange electronic score ably
assists the scares, when they come. The film is
beautifully shot for such a low budget horror
film. The afore mentioned zombie up-rising, the
derelict Nazi ship, the island location; all are
expertly captured by Wiederhorn. The undead soldiers
are a wonderful Arian fusion of blonde hair, rotting
skin and nazi apparel. Quite why they are happy
to lie in the water waiting for a victim who knows?
You wouldn't have thought they get too many
shipwrecks in the area but to be honest, who watches
a film like Shock Waves to get
logical plotting?
Not that the film's perfect by any means. It's
lacklustre characterisation of most of the cast
means you don't really care when the zombies
kill them and the film does take a bit too long
to get going but when it does you'll be
hooked; just give Shock Waves a chance to crank up the tension. |
| Video |
| The picture isn't that great but legend
has it that all prints of the film have been destroyed.
The transfer here is sourced from the directors
own 16mm print and thus we have to comment accordingly.
Watching the film, the look of the transfer actually
adds to the mood; its grainy in places and the print
has evidence of damage along the way but it's
always watchable. |
| Audio |
| The same goes for the film's soundtrack.
It's an adequate transfer but considering
the history of the film it's an acceptable
effort. |
| Extra Features |
| Umbrella have given us a nice line of extras.
The running commentary features director Ken Weiderhorn
along with the film's make up man Alan Ormsby,
the writer of Paul Schrader's Cat
People, and Fred Olen Ray, the film's
still photographer and the man who went on to bring
us Bikini A Go-Go and Genie
in a String Bikini.
"From Flipper to Shock Waves" is
an interesting interview with actor Luke Halpin
and follows this journey from swimming with a
friendly dolphin to running from an aquatic nazi
zombie.
Things are rounded off with the usual selection
of posters, stills and radio spots along with
the films original trailer and a selection of
Peter Cushing trailers available from Umbrella. |
| The Verdict |
| What it lacks in visceral thrills Shock
Waves more than makes up for in atmospheric
chills and an unsettling sense of dread. Throw in
a couple of legendary horror names and you have
a must see on your hands. |
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