Shock Waves

Rather than re-watch Rob Zombie's homage to 70s flicks, or any of the modern remakes of the "Living Dead" films, why not just dig up some of the little seen but really good original 70s stuff? There's a lot of it out there that deserves to be seen, and this is one of them. There's a lot going for it, atmospheric soundtrack, decaying old structure, handful of frightened folks out of their normal element, the walking dead, plans for escape all go awry, very typical of the 70s pre-slasher horror genre. But this is one of the best entries, surprisingly better than I remember it to be when I saw it back in 1979 on tape. Back then, being an immature young kid, I though it was slow, but now I see it's a steady build of tension.

This is an underrated cult classic from the 70s, a great decade for atmospheric horror films. The eerie score, excellent location and spooky zombie makeup are all great. A few reviewers have complained about the makeup for the zombies but I thought it was good for the purposes and budget of this film. I assume these naysayers also belong to the "show us more guts" crowd. Some other complaints are about the daylight shooting. Apparently, according to some, this detracts from the movie's effectiveness to scare people. Hogwash. It takes more talent to create atmosphere and terror in broad daylight than at night. The director accomplishes this quite well and deserves to be applauded for it.

The cast is solid. Brooke Adams is a young and sexy lead. Solid support from horror vets Peter Cushing and John Carradine (whose arthritic hands are painful to look at and I can only imagine the poor man's suffering). The male lead is the mustachioed Luke Halpin (from Flipper) and he's very rootable.

On a side note I have to roll my eyes at some of the reviewers bemoaning the lack of gore and guts. This is not a zombie movie in the Romero mold. These are reanimated dead Nazis who kill. They don't eat brains or rip out guts. Why some need to see such visceral imagery to enjoy a horror film is perplexing to me but it takes all kinds I guess.

As a pre-production assistant and sound recordist on this film, I remember producer Reuben Trane and Director Ken Wiedernorn returning to the production office after taking co-star John Carradine from Miami's airport to his hotel.

Everyone on the crew was interested in how Carradine, in his late '70's and a movie icon if ever there was one, looked, acted, felt, etc. We were all keen to know if he seemed fit and ready for a role that required quite a bit of physical action, including moving as rapidly as possible from a small dinghy to a larger boat, while both were bobbing at sea.

Reuben and Ken came into the office looking morose as someone asked, "So, how IS he?" I don't remember which of them responded, but one of them said, "Let's put it this way, he has trouble walking on flat land with a cane!"

But, trooper that he was, Carradine did everything asked of him without complaint. He was also often "the life of the set", and in between takes or after a days' shooting, he would regale us all with wild tales of Hollywood and the stars and moguls he had known so well.

It's been about 25 years since I worked on "Shock Waves", but the memory of old man Carradine lives on vividly. He was a helluva guy.

Real movie summary: A U-boat with WW2 Nazi soldiers, killed and brought back to life to fight as "un-killable", is ship-wrecked on a Caribbean island. 30 yrs later, a "hire-boat" is also shipwrecked there. The Nazi commander of the unit, Cushing, is the only "survivor" on the island. BUT, the "Zombie un-killables" come back to do what they were experimentally used to do in battle ... kill without thought or feeling... uncontrollably... The movie has numerous images that stay with you long after the movie is over, and a musical background in the beginning which was very haunting. Good acting, a believable script, and nice film shooting, round it out to make it a memorable classic. I've had a really tough time locating the film at any video store. Good luck finding it!

This film isn't a big budget film which may put off some viewers from the outset. It is very good if you're into this kind of thing though. The horror is not too explicit, but is more suggestive, and this actually makes the film genuinely creepy in parts. The performances are a little amateurish by the lower cast members, but Peter Cushing is in commanding- if all too brief - form and John Carradine gives a good perf. Brooke Adams also registers well in her acting debut. The plot is daft yet manages to convince, mainly because there is a really neat exposition scene in which Cushing explains what is going on. He's such a persuasive actor that even though the whole idea is so preposterous, when he says it you kind of feel compeeled to believe him. I rate this flick and would hope that anyone reading this at the moment would go out of their way to try to see it. It's worth the time and has a weirdly effective way of sticking in your mind for a long time afterwards.