The October Zombie-Thon! - Day 22: Shock Waves
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.22.2006
Nazi zombies. Again. Only, this time it's a good movie!
SHOCK WAVES (1977)
Directed by: Ken Weiderhorn Written by: John Kent Harrison, Ken Pare, & Ken Weiderhorn Country: USA
Damn Nazi zombies! Here they are, rearing their ugly heads in the Zombie-Thon once again, only 10 days after their aimless wandering about in Jean Rollin's amazingly inept Zombie Lake. Of course, at least in that film you could say that they didn't come back of their own will; that, in fact, the town they terrorized kinda brought it upon themselves by inadvertently creating the zombies. Not so in 1977's truly eerie Shock Waves. No, these undead bastards were the product of the Third Reich themselves.
It seems that during WWII the Nazi's enlisted a team of scientists to transform their dead soldiers into a new breed of unstoppable, bloodthirsty killers. And, as the film's monotone opening narration (shades of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to be sure) explains, only one of these elite SS units never saw a single member captured by the Allies, their whereabouts remaining unknown. Hmm, I wonder if the rest of the movie will have something to do with that.
Flash forward to modern times (well, modern times in 1977, when the movies takes place), where we meet up with a group of vacationers are on a cruise aboard the yacht of an irritable sea captain (John Carradine). When the ship accidentally crashes into the mysterious wreck of a freighter, the group has no choice to abandon ship and head over to a nearby tropical island. This would be all well and good if it led to Gilligan's Island-style hijinks, but, alas, this is not meant to be (so, no, unfortunately no Harlem Globetrotters appearance). Instead, in a spot of very bad luck for our shipwrecked heroes, they learn from an old hermit living on the island (horror legend Peter Cushing) that this was the final destination of the aforementioned never-captured Death Corps. And the hermit should know it turns out he was the squad's Commander, who brought the undead soldiers to the island and purposely sunk their vessel, with them onboard, once they were exiled in the final days of the war. But, wouldn't you know it, his former comrades have chosen this day as the perfect time to rise from their watery graves and continue their mission of destruction, which doesn't spell good news for either the commander or the stranded vacationers.
Shock Waves probably shouldn't be anywhere near as good as it actually is. Not only is the overall concept of Nazi zombies a pretty corny one when you get right down to it, but director Ken Weiderhorn freely admits on the DVD that he doesn't really care for or about the horror genre, and isn't even all that impressed with his final product here. That's a shame, because whether he realizes it or not, Weiderhorn has created one heck of a creepy movie, and certainly one of the best, and scariest, PG-rated horror films I've watched in a long time.
In case you're wondering; yes, I said it's rated PG, and yes, that means there's no nudity, or even the slightest trace of gore. I know, I was disappointed at first, too (particularly since the very-cute Brooke Adams spends much of the movie in a bikini I've become so used to senseless nudity in my zombie movies that I was spending the entire film waiting for that top to drop). But what Shock Waves lacks in boobs and blood, it more than makes up for with its heavy sense of tension and dread. Aided immensely by the harsh, bleak island locale, and a spine-chilling electronic score by Richard Einhorn, the film drips (literally ha!) with atmosphere. So while gore-hounds or exploitation fans may be disappointed with the film's slow build and dreamlike ambiance, anyone looking for a genuinely eerie and haunting zombie film (which, I admit, have been pretty few and far between, at least in this column) should give Shock Waves a serious look.
Then again, serious horror fans shouldn't need much more motivation to check out Shock Waves than Carradine and Cushing. Yes, the rest of cast is perfectly serviceable especially Adams and Halpin, both of whom bring a relatable likeability to their roles but it's the two legends you'll remember, despite both their screen-time being little more than extended cameos. Of course, Carradine's cantankerous old captain probably wasn't too tough of a stretch for him, but it's quite amusing, and provides the film's first act with some nice tension-breaking humor. And while Cushing's "German" accent is questionable, he's Peter Cushing, dammit. His very presence lends the film a level of prestige not often afforded to low-budget zombie fare. That's not to say he phones it in, however. Quite the opposite, actually with only a few scenes he delivers the film's most compelling performance (his speech about the original fate of the Death Squad, in particular, is one of the movie's best moments). It's a shame the filmmakers couldn't afford him for more than 4 days, as you'll find yourself wishing his character was a larger presence in the film.
There are a few problems with the movie, particularly the occasional dips into repetitiveness. Although the initial images of the zombies rising from the water are striking and effectively creepy, they begin to wear a little thin as the movie goes on. This is definitely a case where less of the zombies would have been more; the constant shots of them wandering around the island start to feel a little tedious after awhile. There are also a couple frustrating moments when characters reference things that seem to be missing from the movie and, in fact, that's exactly the case, as Weiderhorn explains on the DVD commentary that a number of scenes were cut and, it being his first film, he was too inexperienced to think about also getting rid of any dialogue that referred to those scenes.
And although I applaud the movie for managing to be as disturbing and scary as it is without relying on bloodshed, there's no doubt that the film's death scenes are somewhat lacking. You can't help but be disappointed that the ultra-evil Death Corps created to be unstoppable, inhuman killing machines only ever dispatch their victims by strangulation or drowning (hell, one poor schmo they take care of by simply walking towards him until he accidentally steps on a sea urchin and kills himself).
Perhaps that's why, as much as I enjoyed Shock Waves, I feel like it might be due for a remake. Before the remake-hating masses jump down my throat, let me clarify. It's not that I feel the story needs to be improved on, nor would I even really expect a remake to match the original's haunting mood, but I do think it's a film that would lend itself nicely to a far grislier and more action-packed re-telling. I doubt a new version would surpass the original, but in hands of the right director, a re-imagining of such strong source material could make for one hell of a wicked movie.
Perhaps any potential remake producers could just try to find a director with little to no interest in the horror genre, as that certainly seemed to work for the original. Despite his admitted disinterest in the genre, director Ken Wiederhorn crafted a surprisingly effective horror film with Shock Waves in fact, he would go on to helm the wacky 1988 zombie comedy Return of the Living Dead Part II, which, while not at all in the same spirit as Shock Waves, is still an amusing little movie in its own right Not bad for a guy who doesn't really like the genre.
Then again, it might be his very ambivalence towards the genre that helped Wiederhorn make such a fine film. By ignoring the genre's usual trappings, like the excessive gore and sudden jump-moments designed to startle the audience, Wiederhorn instead was able to focus on a less common, much more unique approach to a zombie film. Wiederhorn's determination to concentrate on a sense of dread and anxiety, rather than go for the easy scares, is a big part of the reason Shock Waves is, as a blurb on the DVD cover proclaims, "the best of the Nazi zombie movies." Now, true, if its primary competition for that prize is tripe like Zombie Lake, then it's not exactly that high of praise. Regardless, Shock Waves is pretty damn good, and certainly worth any zombie fan's time.
The 411: The term "Nazi zombies" might elicit more giggles than scares, but Ken Weiderhorn's Shock Waves actually manages to get it right. A genuinely eerie horror film, Shock Waves gets by on real tension and a frighteningly unnerving mood, rather than on gore or gratuitous nudity. The pace is slow, the death scenes are tame, and it's two biggest stars John Carradine and Peter Cushing really only have extended cameos. But the movie's unforgettable atmosphere, amplified by a effectively bizarre score and an appropriately bleak finale, make it one of the more truly haunting zombie films you'll encounter.
