Shock

Mario Bava's "Shock" is a strange film. It deals with a woman named Dora (Daria Nicolodi, who does an awesome job), her new husband Bruno, and their son Marco moving into a creepy new house that has a mysterious past, involving Dora and her druggie husband, who committed suicide. Soon weird things start happening and Dora suspects that sweet little Marco is possessed by her dead husbands. Soon she begins to hallucinate and weird things happen. This is kind of a mish-mash of elements from "Repulsion", "The Exorcist", and "The Amityville Horror". Daria Nicolodi is first-rate and she is a superb actress, but the film is too slow and the "shocks" are a long time coming. There are some great jump scenes, an eerie mood, good photography, and wow---I loved that Goblin music. Of course it isn't anything like the music in Dario Argento's "Suspiria", but it is still quite good. Check this film out if you get a chance, just don't expect a classic.

The final film from Italian horror director Mario Bava was this chilling tale.

Upon returning to the home where her former husband died, a woman begins to believe that her young son is possessed and is attempting to kill her.

Plot-wise Schock is slim on sense, but those of us that love the films of Bava (or most any Italian horror period) know that the entertainment is all in the style and Bava's direction flourishes with style in this film as well. Schock carries a strong atmosphere of darkness and an increasing feeling of dread that drives it to nightmarish proportions at times. The film's scenic locations, creepy music score, and its female star add all the more to the elegance that is this twisted spooker.

The cast is good over all, but it is Daria Nicolodi that really shines as a wife/mother who begins to question her sanity.

Granted, Schock may not be the greatest of Bava's films, but it certainly was a great last work. Worth seeking out.

*** out of ****

The other night, an excellent documentary was on tv about Mario Bava. I had never seen a film of his before, but I had heard of him. After the doco, they played 'Shock'. The guy who introduced the film said that it wasn't Bava's best film but that it was a film that gets better every year.

Bava's films are hard to get in Australia so I watched this one without any expectation.

I wasn't more than pleasantly surprised. I felt that it was probably the best haunted house flick that I had seen. I enjoyed the twists and the turns of the plot, and the economy of the size of the cast,(3 principals). The whole film left me with a very creepy feeling and for that I feel that the film worked completely.

I could see the influence on other films such as 'The Sixth Sense', 'Stir Of Echoes', and 'What Lies Beneath', and I can safely say that I enjoyed 'Shock' more than all these others. I suppose it's because Mario Bava's direction was not flashy and concentrated more on telling his story and keeping us guessing.

Finally, my enjoyment of this film has encouraged me to seek out Bava's other films and that can only be a good thing.

A deceased man possesses his son in order to accomplish some dark things in this late 70's unofficial sequel to Beyond The Door.

The film starts with us meeting Dora, her new husband Bruno, and young son Marco. She has decided to move back into her former house where she lived with her ex-husband Carlo who killed himself at sea. After that traumatic event, Dora was given electro shock therapy to cope with the death of Carlo. We learn that Carlo was a drug addict who was taking LSD and heroin leading up to his death. As the film moves along, Dora reveals to everyone around her that she feels her young son Marco is being possessed by the deceased Carlo. Is this true, or is Dora simply going made from guilt she feels surrounding Carlo's death?

This unofficial sequel to Beyond the Door has absolutely no connection the original film. Shock is an original story that tells the tale of a young child who seems to possessed by his deceased father who was a serious drug addict that killed himself. The story lets the viewer know that the father may have in fact NOT committed suicide, and was perhaps murdered by our lead character Dora.

My issue with Beyond the Door II: Shock is how slow it moves. The plot is laid out very straight forward and is easy to follow, but it moves at a snail's pace. There are very little action scenes or moments of terror until the end of the film. Daria Nicolodi leads the way for me in the acting department. I thought gave a strong performance as the lead protagonist, Dora. The others were background noise for me for the most part. Noteworthy as the appearance of David Colin Jr. who was in the first Beyond The Door film. He definitely had a larger role in this one and did a fine job.

Overall, Shock (or Beyond the Door II) is a mediocre horror film done by the legend Mario Bava. I'd give it a viewing to make an opinion for yourself, but I was underwhelmed.

5/10

Mario Bava's final film proved that his one true strength was surreal, nightmarish imagery (when that kid runs up to Daria Nicolodi...), and though I've found most of his body of work to be overrated and dull, I was able to tolerate, even enjoy "Shock" (though it does become talky and drawn-out); the presence of Nicolodi ("Deep Red," "Tenebre") as a mentally unbalanced mother adjusting to her family's new (and haunted) house, offers up enough paranoia and sex appeal to make the final act as suspenseful as the workings of a bad dream. Shades of this film can also be seen in Lucio Fulci's "House by the Cemetery" (another good exercise in Italian horror).