Shock Waves

aka Almost Human

aka Death Corps 

Director - Ken Wiederhorn (Return of the Living Dead II, Freddy's Nightmare)

Starring - Peter Cushing (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires), John Carradine (Jack O, Evil Spawn), and Brooke Adams (The Stuff, Murders in the Rue Morgue)

Release Date - 1977

Genre - Horror

Tagline(s) - "The deep end of horror" and "Once they were almost human! Beneath the living...beyond the dead...from the depths of Hell's oceans"

Format - BluRay (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was in high school my obsession into horror was in full swing with most of my spare time being spent visiting the local video store where I ventured to the dark section of the store where many people did not and digging through the tapes that most people just ignored.  The owner would often make jokes as I dug through his cheap horror flicks until I found one I had never seen.  I had visited that store almost a thousand times before they finally closed their doors and one film I always said I would get next time and never did was the 1977 Peter Cushing film Shock Waves.  The film looked a little goofy but I was fond of Peter Cushing and always wanted to check it out.  Once the place shut the doors I never had a chance until a friend of mine ordered the Blue Underground release of the film on DVD some years later.  We would sometimes get drunk and watch it along with another Blue release, Two Evil Eyes.  Recently. the film was released on bluray and Blue Underground was nice enough to send me a copy for review and like every blu review I do I have to review the film separately from the blu review itself.

     The film follows a group of tourists as they head out to sea on a small boat.  While out to sea they find an island and get too close snagging a coral reef.  During the crash they lose their captain and seek refuge on the island.  They are able to find an abandoned hotel and enter it to find an old hermit (Peter Cushing) living there all alone.  They tell him about crashing and about an old freight liner out there.  He then realizes that his past horrors has come back to finish the job.  The old hermit was once a scientist for the Nazi party and created a super solider to help them win the war.  These super-soldiers could live under water and could not be destroyed.  Now the scientists and the tourists are stuck on the island and have to fight for their lives against a foe built for war.
     When Shock Waves was released it was considered a sleeper hit.  Typically, a sleeper hit is a film that becomes a hit much later after the release.  Sleepers tend to open to very poor numbers only to steadily gain them.  However, the term "sleeper hit" may mean something a little different in the case of this film.  It may refer to how this film moves at a snails pace but is still able to hold the viewer's attention.  Very few films are able to pull that off.  The acting in this one is spectacular and for a damn good reason.  The film features amazing performances from two aging horror vets, Peter Cushing and John Carradine.  Carradine is only in the film for a few moments but definitely lets his presence known but the real star of the film is the always amazing Peter Cushing.  This is far from his best role but he still knows how to deliver those lines.  The remainder of the cast does exceptionally well and that only adds to the value of the film.  The story for this one is fun and at the time was not that common compared to the hundreds of films we have now that follow a very similar story.  However, what sets this film apart is the great camera shots and building of the suspense.  Sadly, this does make the film rather slow and at times boring to watch.  With that being said, the film does gain in momentum and deliver a very enjoyable movie.  Finally, the film does have a few on screen kills but they are nothing that graphic or bloody.  This is my biggest gripe with the film.  One would expect the film to be filled with gore and amazing practical effects but it is not.  Overall, Shock Waves is a fun film that may not be in a hurry to tell a story but tells it nonetheless.  It is a great film once you slow down and watch it with an open mind.