Color, 1977, 85 mins. / Directed by Ken Wiederhorn / Starring Peter Cushing, Brooke Adams, John Carradine, Jack Davidson, Luke Halpin, Don Stout, D.J. Sidney / Produced by Reuben Trane / Music by Richard Einhorn Format: DVD - Vipco (U.K. - PAL Region Free) (MSRP £16.59) / Full Frame / Dolby Digital Mono
Virtually forgotten today, this atmospheric zombie gem from the late '70s became a minor cult hit on the drive-in circuit and spawned the brief directorial career of Ken Wiederhorn, who went on to 1981's flawed but interesting Eyes of a Stranger before lapsing into mediocrity with Return of the Living Dead II. Here we have a fine genre cast, including
A lifeboat carrying a visibly traumatized survivor, Rose (a pre-Invasion of the Body Snatchers Brooke Adams), proves to be the only remnant of an ill-fated vacation cruise in the tropics. In flashback, Rose recalls the damage done to her companions' ship (captained by Carradine) by the submerged hull of a mysterious vessel, leaving them stranded on a remote island seemingly untouched by human hands. However, one resident, a former SS officer (Cushing), calls the island his home and uses his hidden facility to breed zombies from the bodies of his deceased Aryan soldiers. The blond, goggle-wearing members of Cushing's self-appointed Death Corps now lurk beneath the lake and ocean surfaces dotting the island,
Despite its lack of technical polish and obvious low budget, Shock Waves is one of those buried treasures horror fans love to discover and recommend to their friends. The surreal, dreamlike setting plays like a cross between Lucio Fulci's Zombie and the haunted wastelands of Val Lewton, and the detached, somnambulist peformances, coupled with a skin-crawling electronic score, make for a unique and unsettling experience. The images of soldiers rising from the water are the most memorable, but the film contains several other worthy sequences like Adams' tranquil swim across a lake and a tense showdown in a darkened laboratory. The dark little twist in the final scene isn't easy to overlook, either. Incidentally, the make-up chores were handled by director/producer Alan Ormsby, whose Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things would make a perfect double feature with this one.
relatively brief appearances by legends Peter Cushing and John Carradine, placed in a restrained, memorable mood piece which comes out short on blood but long on chills.
ready to drag the new visitors to a watery death.
First released on U.S. videotape by Prism in a soft but watchable transfer, Shock Waves has been difficult to locate for years. While one might expect it to be a surefire entry in the American DVD renaissance of obscure horror releases, Britain has instead given the film its DVD inauguration. Sadly the transfer isn't much of an improvement over the videotape; the print is colorful but extremely battered, particularly during the opening reel. The opening sequence in particular looks the worse for wear, and while the rest is watchable, detail fluctuates from acceptable to slightly smudgy. This title certainly deserves better treatment from more pristine elements, hopefully in the near future, but those who have tried to hunt it down should find this a passable but deeply compromised edition. The mono audio sounds muddy, but the music and dialogue are at least coherent and don't suffer from scratchiness or other distracting defects. The disc carries an "18" rating, which is most likely attributable to the presence of graphic trailers for Cannibal Holocaust, Mountain of the Cannibal God, and Psychic Killer. The film itself actually garnered a PG rating in the U.S. and a "15" in Britain, though the nightmarish ambience makes it less than ideal viewing for sensitive children.
