Shock Waves [Blu-ray]

This is a good film for people who want a creepy story but don't like blood and gore. It's very atmospheric and the tension starts almost immediately and never lets up. The film does a great job of setting up the characters without slowing down the story, and the cast are all excellent. It's not really a zombie movie. There are undead Nazis but they are more like drowned soldiers rather than shambling ghouls, and although they exist only to kill, they don't eat people. Still, the make-up to show the soldiers as drowned men is quite effective, and the dark goggles give the soldiers a more inhuman vibe. The only downside of this film is the lack of a role for Peter Cushing. His character exists only to explain the backstory, but he doesn't do anything beyond that. You kind of expect him to be the villain of the story, and although the film says "starring Peter Cushing" he's hardly in it, which is a pity because he can do villain really well. This film was the year before Star Wars, and interestingly his character is not too different than Grand Moff Tarkin, which makes it even more of a wasted opportunity.

CONTAINS SPOILERSDer Tode Corps, . .. or the DEATH Corps; a secret batalion of soldiers created by the medical science division of the Third Reich in the secret laboratories of Kovlance coupled with the the Riechs clandestine occult practices initiated just prior to the onset of World War 2, and fashioned from the corpses of hoodlums, pathological murderers and sadists, . .. "creatures not dead, nor alive, but somewhere in between"! When the war ended an S.S. commanding officer ( played by Peter Cushing ), assigned to a group designed for nautical maneuvers, had deliberately sank his vessel and it's diabolical crew to the bottom of the ocean off the coast of an obscure and nameless isle where he'd since resided in voluntary exile. Then, many decades later, a group of shipwrecked and stranded vacationers ( including "B" movie great John Caradine as a gruff old captain and the gorgeous feme Brook Addams from 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers ) accidentally arrive at the secluded setting, thus providing a cast of hapless victims for the emerging evil from the surrounding deep ( "Hell's ocean"), .. . for "Now THEY have returned"!!Although typically overlooked, I have always considered THIS film to be one of the BEST and most underrated movies in the entire lexicon of zombie cinema. Truly exceptional and one of the few besides Night of the Living Dead I'd deem genuinely worthy of legitimate classic status.To begin with, it's one of the very few movies of the whole zombie subgenre that was original and influential at all in it's own right instead of just being another NOTLD imitator ( like most other zombie flicks have been during the past forty so years ). It certainly had a unique, fascinating, scarry and, at the time it was made, novel basis and theme behind it's zombies, involving the mythical secret occult experiments of the nazis ( for more on THIS particular subject I suggest the book Occult Roots of Nazism by Nickolas Goodrick Clark ). This was also, I believe, the first movie in history, and still one of the few, to feature zombies that are AMPHIBIOUS ( and I don't mean bi-sexual mind you, . .. but in the sense that they can live underwater ) which is another thing which distinguished it at it's time and has since proven somewhat influential, even having been "ripped-off" ( so to speak ) itself by a few other films made in it's wake, namely and most notably Zombie Lake, Oasis of the Dead, and even the famous underwater scene ( involving the shark ) in Lucio Fulci's Zombie I suspect was influenced by THIS somewhat earlier film.The zombies in this film are also quite sinister and frightening. They're fierce, ruthless, violent, murderous yet totally cold in manner and seemingly intelligent ( unlike in allot of other zombie flicks ). Also, and most refreshingly, they don't do any of the usual and expected stuff like eat people or rip out guts and play with them or slobber, grunt, growel, groan, or walk in a silly staggering manner or any of THAT standard hokum.This movie basically has all the qualities which I certainly value and admire in a horror film - t's eerrie, atmospheric, has a good original story and concept which is also genuinely frightening, is well made ( over all ) and, despite it's modest budget and though not jam-crammed with a $%!#load of really elaborate special effects, it does feature some VISUALLY striking and powerful scenes ( like particularly the very creepy and surreal shots of the undead soldiers walking about underwater without any kind of gear or artificial breathing apparatus ). I think that any other TRUE horror fan will like this flick too, especially if they're in the mood for a somewhat older fashioned one.To wrap it up, I think that THIS is a movie that shows that ones name does NOT necesarily need to be Geaorge Romero or, for that matter, Lucio Fulci to make a good, well made, original, clever, scarry and truly classic zombie flick ( Bob Clarks Deathdream, I'll mention here, is another film I consider to be an example of same,.. but I'll talk about THAT one in another review ).

The Living Dead want only to grab and tear you and...and no place to hide for long... If you like Nazi Zombies, swampy islands, and a cameo from Peter Cushing, well then this is you. There's a good chance the pace is too slow for today's horror aficionados. But the creep factor is a 10 and it's a great throwback piece! What it lacks in gore, it makes up for in mood and atmosphere.

I went into Shock Waves (1977) not expecting a whole lot as I read a review on another website a long time ago that really ripped the film to shreds...which was strange because after watching the movie, it wasn't as bad as they said (and usually they're right on the money), but then I soon realized the review I had read so long ago was for a different soggy Nazi zombie movie, one called Zombie Lake (1980)...but back to this film, which was Ken Wiederhorn's (Meatballs Part II, Return of the Living Dead Part II) directorial debut, stars Brooke Adams (The Lord's of Flatbush, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Luke Halpin (Flipper). Also appearing is Jack Davidson (The Secret of My Succe$s), Fred Buch (Porky's II: The Next Day), John Carradine (The Wizard of Mars, Munster, Go Home), and Peter Cushing (Twins of Evil, The Creeping Flesh).The film begins with a slow pan on an old photo of some Nazi soldiers and voice over talking about secret experiments perform by SS scientists sometime around WWII. We then cut to a fishing boat finding a dingy floating in the water, containing one bruised and bloodied individual. This sets up for the rest of the story to be told in a flashback, which eventually leads back to this point. As the flashback begins we find ourselves touring the Caribbean aboard a modest yacht, operated by the curmudgeonly Captain Ben (Carradine) and piloted by feathered haired, bell bottomed Keith (Halpin). Among the passengers are Norman (Davidson) and his wife Beverly, Chuck (Buch), who looks like a muscularly version of Richard Simmons, and Rose (Adams)...and then let's not forget the portly, unshaven, hard drinking cook...anyway, while cruising the waters the yacht has an accident with a once sunken freighter that has now come to the surface, and due to damages sustained, the crew and passengers must leave to the relative safety of a nearby deserted island...but is it deserted? Or safe? It sure ain't deserted (or safe, as we find out later) as not only do they find an old, seemingly abandoned hotel, but also an old, seemingly abandoned Nazi officer played by Peter Cushing. After they relate to him what happened (the sunken freighter rising to the surface, the accident, etc.), Cushing's character warns them they must leave immediately, but events transpire that cause them to have to stay, to which Cushing's character reveals all, specifically the once sunken freighter is inhabited by a group of undead super soldiers modified to survive in nearly any environment, and now something has awoken them. Oh yeah, we also learn that while the Nazis were successful in creating these undead warriors, the program was ultimately nixed as the soldiers became uncontrollable, probably due to the fact they were created from criminals, thugs, sadists, and pathological murderers with an innate desire violence...oh dear...shortly after this undead Nazi soldiers begin washing up on the beach, and the real fun (or nightmare, depending on your point of view) begins, sort of a The Most Dangerous Game scenario, with the passengers and crew as the prey...Overall I enjoyed this moody nugget and was surprised to see the violence was quite minimal despite being a film populated with killer zombies. Generally these films are soaked in gore and flesh rendering, but that wasn't the case here. The focus was more on the terror being pursued by an undead menace, rather than the visceral mayhem. I wasn't sure if the inclusion of John Carradine in the film would be a good thing as his later career in films seemed to consist of very meager, pointless appearances (check out 1981's Frankenstein Island for a prime example of what I'm talking about), but here I felt he really put something into the role and sold it well, creating an interesting character (and he was in the film for all of about 20 minutes!). As far as Peter Cushing, I thought he also did well (that giant scar on his face was a nice touch), but he seemed a little underused as much of his part consisted of him running around the beach, and what not. As far as the other actors, they also performed well, helped by a decent script not populated by inane or expository lines of dialog. Brooke Adams was a good choice for the female lead and it doesn't hurt that she's really easy on the eyes and appears often in a bikini...yowsa! As far as Halprin goes, it's obvious he knows he way around a set, and his performance decent most of the time, but there were one or two scenes where he fell out of character. I also give the actors a lot of credit, as there are many scenes where they had to slog around in muddy bogs, marshes, and creeks. The scenes with the Nazi zombies emerging from the waters are probably the most memorable, and the make-up on these characters ranges from quite good (the close-up scenes) to passable (given the low budget nature of the film, I was more inclined not to get too picky about this). As far as the zombies, they seemed a little too well preserved after spending some 40 years underwater, as they were quite fleshy and mobile. And the choice of having them wear goggles worked well for me giving them an ominous appearance of what they actually were, undead, soulless creatures from the ocean (like sharks...have you ever seen a shark's eyes?) with one objective...to kill! As far as the direction, I think Wiederhorn did really well in keeping the viewer's interest by developing a real sense of suspense and in the use of some really excellent location shots, especially getting the use of that old hotel.The widescreen anamorphic (1.85:1) picture on this DVD looks good, but does show some minor flaws inherent within the source material. The Dolby Digital 2.0 comes through clear and clean. Special features include an 8 minute piece called `From Flipper to Shock Waves: A Interview with Luke Halprin, a trailer, TV and radio spots, a poster, still and production photo gallery, and an audio commentary track featuring director Wiederhorn, make-up designer Alan Ormsby and filmmaker Fred Olen Ray.Cookieman108

A real favourite from my VHS rental days. An eye catching video cover in a large oversized box looked great on the shelf.....pity about the jumping picture and impossible to fix tracking problems. Thankfully all that's gone now and we can enjoy Ken Wiederhorn's 1976 entry in the Nazi zombie sub-genre in all it's glory. Don't expect the usual gut munching and extreme violence usually associated with these things, this is almost totally blood free with the killings pretty much hidden from view. Lets face it though, the film works really well as it is and so the focus is more on the basics such as a great setting, an atmospheric sun drenched island with it's isolated mansion and Caribbean vistas, eventually put under siege by our zombie friends, rising from the depths in a very effective and convincing manner.Tremendous to see the likes of Peter Cushing and John Carradine adding a quality dimension to the proceedings, although neither get a great deal to do. Cushing in particular spends most of his time walking around as if on a mission.Yes, picture quality varies throughout and film grain is certainly evident, but this can't be eradicated totally and does add that vintage feel reminiscent of old times (if you can remember the old times).Not to everyone's taste of course, in fact if you've been weaned on super smooth, super slick fare with fast paced editing you may be disappointed. If not, then this deserves a place in your collection.Just to point out, the release here is Blue Underground's original region free dvd and NOT their Special Edition.**** BLU-RAY***A word about Blue Underground's Blu-ray release. Picture quality is sharper and looks more effective on a bigger screen, however this has increased the grain factor (the film was shot on 16mm), and while this is acceptable, it's still a little disappointing. If viewing on a 60'+ screen you might want to be a little wary.

This is the best of the so called "Video Nazis".A very decent cast star in this creepy zombie flick where the results of old Nazi experiments rise from their watery graves to attack some stranded tourists on a swampy desert island.Excellent picture and sound with some good bonus materials.

Peter Cushing - John Carradine and Nazi Zombies - well if that hasn't sold you what about the fact that the oddness of the film adds to the eeriness of the film. The Zombies aren't to bad either. Well worth buying as its Region free!

Classic bit of old horror, Strange looking zombies, I probably wouldn't class as zombies but still a good watch when having some beers round a mates

Cult film on bluray,image quality is not great,but it's the best there is...