Chad

clckworang

I really want to like this one more than I do, but something just fails to connect with me. I've watched it before, and it's a battle to stay awake every time I do. This time was no different. I fell asleep partway through last night and got back into it today.

The setting is great. It's a nice change when you have more of a sunny, brightly lit horror movie. There are some great images, but it just feels like it moves at a glacial pace. Then there are some real eye rolling moments. I would be interested in hearing more about how it was filmed. I bet it was a challenging shoot given how much was in the water.

As an aside, I kept thinking the one guy looked just like Buck Henry and one of the others reminded me of a young Colm Meaney.

Spiderbite

I enjoyed this one for what it was but definitely felt it could have been better. This would be a good horror movie to show younger kids to scare the piss out of them without there being any real gore or nudity.

All the shots of poor, frail looking Peter Cushing have to slog his way through the woods and water constantly probably added to the slight pacing issues that clckworang mentioned. I felt sorry for him! I could hear the director in my head saying to Cushing, "Now walk through here. No look over there. Now walk through this bog. Now walk through the water." Over and over again.

It had all the tropes of a "group of people stuck together in a horror movie" minus the "hysterical woman." I guess the jock who freaks out near the end could count as that. You have the male hero, the final girl, the jock, the whiny, selfish man and the creepy scientist.

I liked the idea of the soldiers but was confused over what started all this. Was it the weird solar event? Was it them brushing against the ship? Why are they suddenly attacking the commander now after all these years?

And what are the rules of how the soldiers are affected by the light? Sun doesn't seem to bother them but somehow if they lose their goggles they die? And only in sunlight? Or something?

The movie gave off a very Italian zombie movie vibe like the Fulci movie Zombie (1979) and those of its ilk, minus the gore and nudity.

Nothing great but it didn't seem to bore me as much as it did clckworang.

My rating: *** out of *****

Undeadcow

A heart warming yarn for those among us who've wondered - do zombies breath underwater?

I admire how painfully straight they made Shock Waves; its premise is far out cheese so its odd they would proceed to take it so seriously and low key. They had a great idea but didnt know how to pull it off. Seems like a waste to not lean into the eerie occult rheroric about the third reich. Im a sucker for aquatic based horror movies (the ocean depths are home to real horrors worse than nazi zombies) so appreciated that atmosphere. The nazi ghouls just stroll around so nonchalantly theyre more funny than scary; nevermind the odd random Peter Crushing walking. Peter Crushing's facial scar is distracting. Its a shame they didnt squeeze out more of Crushing's intense theatrical presence, he is more a phantom here than the water zombies. I think Shock Waves punches above its weight and holds up better than one would think, it has a sort of dreamy eurohorror jazz to it, but after about an hour it drags a bit.

Usually there is a scene to 'establish' a villain; some gruesome hook to warn about the worse case scenario. Here the nazi zombies never come to form giving them an ethereal quality (plus they are rarely in frame with anything but each other). Its almost like two different movies - a motely crew of used car salesmen surviving an island and the zombie. That swimming pool segment is very strangely out of place, ha.

WillieMLF

I think what you wrote is exactly how I feel every time I watch this movie. It's got Nazi zombies, and it HAS to be better than this.

numbercrunch

I first saw Shock Waves in its theatrical release in 1977 as an impressionable twelve year old. I was mesmerized by John Carradine and Peter Cushing. This zombie film I think still holds up today and is criminally underrated.
8/10

jholmes

I really, really like this film. I saw it for the first time a few months ago (for the They Shoot Zombies list) and liked it so much, I bought the blu ray. So I watched that tonight.
This is just my jam. I like the vintage feel of 70's stuff and enjoyed the good cast in this one -- Brooke Adams, Peter ushing, and John Carradine among them. It has a strong, creepy atmosphere from the start. And the Nazi zombies are really effective in scary, IMHO. There should be more horror movies on strange, unknown islands where weird shit is going on.

Obi-Wanma

I watched this last night, first time viewing. I wanted to like it more than I did. It had me with the intro about the Zombie SS faction, but I don't feel like the rest of the film lived up to that. I didn't find anything really scary, and found many of the characters to be annoying. Peter Cushing was good, in what little he was given to work with, and Brooke Adams was absolutely gorgeous. The opening made it anti-climactic that she would be the only survivor though.

Gobear

Watch Dead Snow. It also has Nazi zombies, but it's a better movie.