I caught Shock Waves on Amazon Prime. I have never caught this one before but always heard good things from other horror fans.
First, the good: the cast did an admirable job. Peter Cushing and Brooke Adams are pros, although this is early in Brooke's career here. John Carradine doesn't get a whole lot of screen time and is dead within the first 30 minutes (SPOILER ALERT!). The character of Norman (played by Jack Davidson) reminded me of George Costanza, so he was quite effective at being annoying. Fred Buch had a 70s James Caan thing going for him, while Luke Halpin pretty much took over as the film's male lead hero-type. The zombie Nazis were also quite effective, without even uttering a sound. The production values were quite low, but the filmmakers made the best out of locations, costumes and make-up. Give them an A for maximum effort.
The bad: it took a while for things to build. The zombie Nazis bobbed in and out of the water for much too long without killing anyone, and when they DID finally start to stalk and kill, the results were quite...dull. Basically, they grab someone and drown them. Some uninspired killing in this horror film. I don't need gore, but I would appreciate some creativity at least.
Ultimately, it's the bad that outweighs the good here. The plodding pacing and the uninspired deaths scenes really stick with me more than the tone or atmosphere. It was all a good idea in theory, and definitely a creative re-working of the zombie story, but it was all for naught when you don't really do anything with it from a story standpoint. Nice try, but falls short of expectations.
First, the good: the cast did an admirable job. Peter Cushing and Brooke Adams are pros, although this is early in Brooke's career here. John Carradine doesn't get a whole lot of screen time and is dead within the first 30 minutes (SPOILER ALERT!). The character of Norman (played by Jack Davidson) reminded me of George Costanza, so he was quite effective at being annoying. Fred Buch had a 70s James Caan thing going for him, while Luke Halpin pretty much took over as the film's male lead hero-type. The zombie Nazis were also quite effective, without even uttering a sound. The production values were quite low, but the filmmakers made the best out of locations, costumes and make-up. Give them an A for maximum effort.
The bad: it took a while for things to build. The zombie Nazis bobbed in and out of the water for much too long without killing anyone, and when they DID finally start to stalk and kill, the results were quite...dull. Basically, they grab someone and drown them. Some uninspired killing in this horror film. I don't need gore, but I would appreciate some creativity at least.
Ultimately, it's the bad that outweighs the good here. The plodding pacing and the uninspired deaths scenes really stick with me more than the tone or atmosphere. It was all a good idea in theory, and definitely a creative re-working of the zombie story, but it was all for naught when you don't really do anything with it from a story standpoint. Nice try, but falls short of expectations.