SHOCK WAVES - 1977
Zopix Company
Rating: USA: R |
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Underwater Nazi Zombies. It practically writes itself!
SHOCK WAVES was directed by Ken Wiederhorn (EYES OF A STRANGER, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II, DARK TOWER) and written by Mr. Wiederhorn along with John Kent Harrison (MURDER BY PHONE) and Ken Pare. The story opens with a short bit of narration
describing the German High Command's interest in the supernatural and
how SS scientists had created a squad of undead soldiers that were devastating
on the battlefield but were ultimately unusable because they were very
difficult to control. In other words we start with a brief description
of the monster we'll finally meet much later in the film. Rather heavy
handed foreshadowing.
Cut to a girl named Rose (Brooke Adams: INVASION
OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE DEAD ZONE, THE STUFF, SOMETIMES THEY COME
BACK) adrift in a rowboat. She's found by fishermen and taken to
a hospital where she takes over the narrating duties. We flash back to
a few days before when Rose was a passenger on a small passenger ship
in (I think) the Caribbean. The passengers are all tourists and the ship
is run by Captain Ben (John Carradine: EVIL SPAWN, THE NESTING, DOCTOR DRACULA, SATAN'S MISTRESS, THE HOWLING, VAMPIRE HOOKERS, SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS, and many more).
A pleasant day turns ugly when the strange orange clouds cover the sun. Not long
after the ship runs aground and Captain Ben goes missing. Passengers and
the small crew take a dinghy to a nearby island to look for help and find
Captain Ben's corpse, thus ending Carradine's cameo. A bit of wandering
leads to the discovery of a seemingly abandoned hotel on this otherwise
empty island.
But it's not quite abandoned. An old Nazi SS commander (Peter Cushing: MONSTER ISLAND, AT THE EARTH'S CORE, THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA, FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, THE CREEPING FLESH, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, and
many, many more) is living a solitary life there. He has no interest
in company and demands they all leave. They'd love to if only their boat wasn't aground.
Meanwhile, as promised by the opening narration, the Nazi zombie soldiers, still
wearing their spotless uniforms, begin waking up. They are lying dormant
underwater in lagoons and off beaches all over and around the island.
These aren't shambling zombies as in NIGHT
OF THE LIVING DEAD. These are more like trained zombies, which reminded
me of Bub in DAY OF THE DEAD.
Will the former Nazi guy help these people? Is there any way to stop trained Nazi
zombies? Why do the zombies spend so much time under water? Will Peter
Cushing's appearance later this same year in Star Wars revitalize his
career? All good questions. Instead of answering any of them, I'll tell
you this: as B movie monsters the underwater Nazi zombies weren't bad.
I give SHOCK WAVES three shriek girls.
This review
copyright 2005 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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