Shock Waves (1977)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Ken Wiederhorn

Writers:

John Kent Harrison (writer)
Ken Pare (writer)

Release Date:

15 July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Once They Were Almost Human! Beneath the living... Beyond the dead... From the depths of Hell's Ocean! The Deep End of Horror!

Plot:

Visitors to a remote island discover that a reclusive Nazi commandant has been breeding a group of Zombie soldiers.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Zombie | Soldier | SS Commander | Dinghy

Cast

Peter Cushing	...	SS Commander
Brooke Adams	...	Rose
Fred Buch	...	Chuck
Jack Davidson	...	Norman
Luke Halpin	...	Keith
D.J. Sidney	...	Beverly
Don Stout	...	Dobbs
John Carradine	...	Captain
Clarence Thomas	...	Fisherman
Sammy Graham
Preston White
Reid Finger
Mike Kennedy
Donahue Guillory
Jay Maeder	...	Zombie

Also Known As:

Almost Human (UK)
Death Corps

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | France:-12 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:M | Norway:16 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Italy:VM14

Filming Locations:

Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Company:

Zopix Company

Trivia:

The hotel in the film is an actual Biltmore hotel in Florida that was shut down for a two year period and abandoned at the time of filming and the director paid $250 to rent the building for the shoot. The hotel was renovated a couple of years after the shoot and now charges significantly more than $250 per room, per night.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Rose is sitting alone in the boat as it starts to drift away from the group, the boom and mike are briefly visible over Keith's head as he begins calling to her.

Movie Connections:

References Carnival of Souls (1962)

Quietly effective, low budget shocker

Ken Wiederhorn, who went on to direct the dull EYES OF A STRANGER, hits celluloid paydirt with this thoughtful, creepy and lyrical horror flick.

Mostly a work of effective moments, its images of dead Nazi soldiers emerging from the sea and advancing towards a distant shoreline have never left me or lost their power to evoke a sense of horror.

The story is a simple one, as the best horror stories are. Members of The Death Corps, an SS unit never apprehended by Allied Forces, return to menace holidaymakers with a little help from a friend.

The moderate pacing works in favor of the off-kilter narrative and the numerous sequences in which the undead soldiers attack the living are swift and highly effective.

Peter Cushing turns in a small but sincere performance, as does genre stalwart John Carradine.

Score by Richard Einhorn is memorable.

SHOCK WAVES has nothing in common with recent Hollywood horror films, but it has plenty in common with mostly unseen (outside their country of origin) Japanese horror outings such as LIVING SKELETON.