Shock Waves DVD Review
In Shock Waves, a charter boat hired by two couples for recreation bottoms out near a deserted island which once housed a resort. When the crew and passengers of the boat seek help and refuge on the island, they encounter a hermit of sorts (Peter Cushing). One by one the castaways are killed in unexplained manners as the hermit’s past as an SS commander in charge of an immortal platoon of Nazi commandos comes to light. The surviving crew and passengers run from the undead Nazis in a futile attempt to stay alive and leave the island.
I was pretty disappointed in this movie. Once again, Nazi Zombies piqued my interest only to leave my hopes of a great film dashed on the rocks. With star power like Peter Cushing and John Carradine in a horror movie, and a hook like Nazi Zombies, you’d think you’d have horror movie gold, but Shock Waves is just plain boring. Every single victim dies by being drowned. You just see them go under water all scared and then find them later, dead. No gore, no interesting kill scenes and not a whole lot of suspense.
What little special effects make-up their was was pretty effective and cool. The zombies looked good when there was a close up for detail, but for the most part they were just blond haired dudes with goggles and SS uniforms.
The acting was good and the cinematography was interesting, but the story just lagged and never really went anywhere cohesive. There was one scene that stirred my emotions **SPOILER** when the sail boat gets away from the pilot despite his attempt to swim after it **END SPOILER** but other than that, it was work to finish this movie. This is supposedly a classic horror film, but I guess that it’s more because of it’s alumni than actual quality. If you see a poster for Shock Waves, pick it up, it’s bound to look frickin’ sweet, but go ahead and pass on actually seeing it.
You didn’t like ShockWaves!? That’s a travesty and telling people to pass on watching it is blasphemous.
I would have thought so too, before I saw it. I went into watching the movie without thinking of my expectations, but was just bored out of my mind as it began to wander to other things. I very much wanted this movie to be awesome, because the poster art is fantastic and Peter Cushing is an awesome asset to any horror movie. But, I really think it fell flat on it’s ass.
I do understand your outrage, but I think my opinion of the movie is fair.
I haven’t seen this, and any film where their greatest PR claim is “The best of the Nazi zombie movies” does not seem like it is of any consequence. “Zombies” is barely a genre, had no idea Nazi zombies were in the running along with Ninja Zombies.
Barely a genre? There are something like two hundred zombie movies out there, with more being made every year. And believe it or not, Nazi zombies make up a small but significant subset of them.
I’ll second that. If zombies are barely a genre, why are there sites like this and others dedicated to the zombie genre? Major companies have zombie films in the works and there’s a HUGE cult following, the comic industry is booming with zombie comics that are being optioned for film.
As mentioned, there are quite a few nazi zombie films…Oasis of the zombies,Night of the zombies,Zombie Lake..and a lot more.
I must say that I sort of agree with you that it can be slow at times and the kill scenes were lacklustered but there were moments that got me going in the movie. Like when they crawled into that tank to wait out the night. If my details are hazzy it’s been years since I’ve seen the movie so please excuse me. Overall though I kind of agree with you about certain aspects of your review. Great site by the way.
-W
I wasn’t really trying to get into a debate, just make an impish comment I thought was funny about this movie. But I’m inherently and thoroughly impish, so of course I will counter.
Disagree with you:
Zombie movies have only really become a genre as a result of them being defined as a genre by sites like this and the fans that run them. Just looking at horror, Vampires or Ghost Stories comprise legitimately large genres; whereas outside of a few dozen movies, what constitutes “zombie movie” is generally vague, thus the feature *on this site* “Zombie Movie OR Not?”.
Agree with you:
I think genrefication is just another result the human brain’s inability to understand and comprehend without grouping thoughts. That said, I think genres are often very useful - we can’t totally break out of our own programming mentally. And certainly when there are works by seperate indivuduals that strike the same chords in the viewing audience, that alone can make a genre.
I’m a dualistic thinker.
I like the fact that NetFlix has a sub-genre for zombies under horror.
Did that just sound like Ralph Wiggum?
Granted that zombie films are a subgenre of horror there is a very established catalog of zombie films. I really have to disagree with you about this quote…
“Zombie movies have only really become a genre as a result of them being defined as a genre by sites like this and the fans that run them. Just looking at horror, Vampires or Ghost Stories comprise legitimately large genres; whereas outside of a few dozen movies, what constitutes “zombie movie” is generally vague, thus the feature *on this site* “Zombie Movie OR Not?”.
Zombie films have been just that, they make a name and define themselves…it’s not just us horror journalists that created the label “zombie genre”, it’s been given that label for decades, there are books cataloging the entire span of zombie film works there are documentaries solely on the subgenre. So I have to fully disagree with your statement. It’s not like Romero is making a general horror film with these undead things in them and we labeled his films “zombie films”. No, he sets out to make a zombie film. In addition, I’d bet dollars to donuts that there are just as many zombie films as there are ‘ghost story’ films.
I think the nature of what constitutes a “zombie film” is generally pretty clear. There are of course some films that utilize the same motives as the undead, that could be deemed zombie films but I think it’s pretty clear cut what is and what isn’t. It really depends on who you ask, which is the appeal of the ‘Zombie Movie, Or not?”
I think with the “Zombie Movie or Not?” approach here, it highlights films that are overtly on the fence about whether or not it’s a zombie film…I’ve seen some films highlighted here that are definitely zombie films but, again it really depends on who you’re asking. There are traditional, conventional zombie films and there are the ones that kind of skirt the typical and try to be something different. It’s a pretty broad subgenre and it’s ever-changing.
-FD