Wednesday, July 16, 2008
MONSTERS, COMICS AND LINGERIE
I'm still trying to get all the kinks worked out of working digital... I have the tools now, just not the space. I have these awesome little tables that pull up to the couch so I can be with my family in the front room while I work, but the tables are not completely stable and every little tremor causes my digital ink lines to quiver a little. To fix this I'm working really big and shrinking the image down, just like a real comic page, but I think I need to move my wacom back to a real desk to completely solve it because I find myself drawing the same line over and over again trying to get it right. I guess this marks the end of couch drawing for me... at least no more "inking".
ON THE WEB
The webcomic Ugly Hill sums up exactly how I feel about comics. If you are not reading Ugly Hill I vastly recommend it.
Entertainment Weekly does some of the best video interviews with Bruce Campbell I've EVER seen!! Hilarity ensues!
Brandon Graham is posting the second book of his Eisner nominated series about everyone's favorite Cat Master, King City, on his blog for free... Tokyo Pop completely dropped the ball on a stateside release. Please put your eyes on it... I think you'll thank me.... At least you should... This stuff is amazing.
E3 and G4 provide a look at one of the new Ghostbusters games currently in production and I gotta say I am completely blown away that the designers put this much care into the design of a property they don't own. I have been dreaming of playing this game since 1984. Is it sad that I have an Xbox 360 just for this game?.... yeah... It probably is.
ON THE SHELF
A Sparrow box set is scheduled for release this week collecting the Sparrow art books of Ashley Wood, Phil Hale, Kent Williams, Shane Glines, and Phil Hale.... Glorious!
GENRE-XPLOSION
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
Horny, Hungry Monsters
Directed- John Gulager
Written- Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
This is a beer and pizza movie of epic proportions. Part of HBO's Project Greenlight series where they find, fund and follow the production of an independent feature, Feast is a flick that will satisfy hard core splatter fans for years to come.
The characters in Feast are fairly insignificant since they are basically cows lined up for the slaughter... EVERYONE in this flick is up for grabs. To drive this point home, each character gets a stat sheet at the beginning of the film listing their generic label, a fun fact about them and their characters' usual life expectancy in a movie like this. Considering that, the film makers lined up a pretty impressive cast, including Henry Rollins, Judah Friedlander, Veteran Actor Clu Gulager (also the director's father), Krista Allen, and Jason Mewes as, believe it or not, himself.
The most engaging thing about this picture is it goes way out of it way to be over-the-top and play with the usual worn out, cliche horror movie plot devices that you would expect in a film like this. In fact, some scenes are so over-the-top, even I was offended... and then later impressed that they actually offended me without putting me off the movie completely. It's a very tongue-in-cheek film that takes itself just seriously enough to keep the suspense rolling in. Much of the taboo comes from the monsters which only have two motivations: humping and eating. These things are either going to kill you or violate you (or sometimes both) and there's nothing you can do to stop them, short of running away or killing them.
All in all, Feast is a movie that I had very little hope for when I popped it in the DVD player, but ended up being glued to the screen the entire time with my jaw firmly on the floor. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Friday, May 02, 2008
GENRE-XPLOSION: SUPER-POWERED CANNIBALS!
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
RAVENOUS (1999)
Super-powered Cannibals
Directed- Antonia Bird
Written- Ted Griffin
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Capt. John Boyd (Guy Pearce) is transferred to Fort Spenser, a place for unwanted misfits in the military, during the Mexican-American War. Soon after his arrival, the inhabitants of the fort find a man (Robert Carlyle) outside in the snow who has come to the them for help. His traveling party has been trapped in cave for three months with no food and their guide, the heinous Col. Ives, has begun murdering members of the party and eating them. Several members from Fort Spenser travel to the cave to rescue any survivors and deal with Ives, whom the local Indian believes has become a Wendigo, a man who eats the flesh of another man and gains his strengths, steals his spirit and becomes insatiable.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There is very little nudity in this film besides a quick shot of naked man rump. On the contrast there are copious amounts of blood, bone and guts, all of which are handled in a very realistic manner and not played up for exploitive reasons.
THOUGHTS:
RAVENOUS (1999)
Super-powered Cannibals
Directed- Antonia Bird
Written- Ted Griffin
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Capt. John Boyd (Guy Pearce) is transferred to Fort Spenser, a place for unwanted misfits in the military, during the Mexican-American War. Soon after his arrival, the inhabitants of the fort find a man (Robert Carlyle) outside in the snow who has come to the them for help. His traveling party has been trapped in cave for three months with no food and their guide, the heinous Col. Ives, has begun murdering members of the party and eating them. Several members from Fort Spenser travel to the cave to rescue any survivors and deal with Ives, whom the local Indian believes has become a Wendigo, a man who eats the flesh of another man and gains his strengths, steals his spirit and becomes insatiable.
There is very little nudity in this film besides a quick shot of naked man rump. On the contrast there are copious amounts of blood, bone and guts, all of which are handled in a very realistic manner and not played up for exploitive reasons.
THOUGHTS:
Ravenous is a brilliantly unique type of film. As soon as I got halfway into it, I realized I had never seen a movie like this before. It flawlessly weaves together a satirical commentary on man's selfish desire to consume, regardless of anyone or anything else, with a very thrilling and well paced storyline peppered with small bits of dark comedy. All of this is accentuated with a haunting score by Damon Albarn (Blur) and Michael Nyman that is repeated throughout the picture. I can only imagine that this movie is not more well known because of its trailer, which portrays the film as a goofy comedy about cannibalism. It really has much more depth than that. It's an amazing movie with a rich, wonderfully portrayed, cast of characters. If you like brainy horror films that deliver sharp wit along with biting terror, I suggest you check it out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: SPOOKY HAUNTED CASTLE!
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
CASTLE OF THE WALKING DEAD (1967)
Spooky Haunted Castle
Directed- Harald Reinl
Written- Manfred R. Kohler, Edgar Allan Poe
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Count Frederic Regula (Christopher Lee) is sentenced to have a spiked mask (with a strangely silly expression forged on it) belted to his face and to be ripped apart by horses for torturing and killing twelve young virgins in his remote castle. Before the sentence is carried out, he swears vengeance from beyond the grave towards the Judge who found him guilty, and the thirteenth virgin whom escaped his torture chamber and turned him in. 35 Years later, Roger Mont Elise (Lex Barker) and Baroness Lilian von Brabant (Karin Dor) receive separate letters from the long dead Count Regula asking them to journey to his castle to learn the secrets of their pasts.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
Featuring no nudity (unless you count Karin Dor's cleavage) and very little blood (of which was green), this is really the kind of rare horror movie that can be fun for the entire family.
THOUGHTS:
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this movie! It is just really, really FUN! Based on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (there's both a pit and a pendulum in this flick and that's about as close as it gets to Poe's original work), Castle of the Walking Dead is one of those atmospheric movies that just sticks with you long after it's over. From the richly colored visuals to the bombastic 60's instrumental score, to the various skulls, spiders, vultures, scorpions and amazingly creepy old locations, this flick is a treat for the eyeballs and the kid buried deep inside you. The characters are interesting and well portrayed (even when dubbed) and the story is a non-stop thrill ride through a gloomy haunted landscape... and seriously, who does not love Christopher Lee?
The overall plot of the movie may be a bit predictable, but there are enough twists and turns and the movie moves at such a rate, that it never stops being enjoyable. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
CASTLE OF THE WALKING DEAD (1967)
Spooky Haunted Castle
Directed- Harald Reinl
Written- Manfred R. Kohler, Edgar Allan Poe
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Count Frederic Regula (Christopher Lee) is sentenced to have a spiked mask (with a strangely silly expression forged on it) belted to his face and to be ripped apart by horses for torturing and killing twelve young virgins in his remote castle. Before the sentence is carried out, he swears vengeance from beyond the grave towards the Judge who found him guilty, and the thirteenth virgin whom escaped his torture chamber and turned him in. 35 Years later, Roger Mont Elise (Lex Barker) and Baroness Lilian von Brabant (Karin Dor) receive separate letters from the long dead Count Regula asking them to journey to his castle to learn the secrets of their pasts.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
Featuring no nudity (unless you count Karin Dor's cleavage) and very little blood (of which was green), this is really the kind of rare horror movie that can be fun for the entire family.
THOUGHTS:
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this movie! It is just really, really FUN! Based on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (there's both a pit and a pendulum in this flick and that's about as close as it gets to Poe's original work), Castle of the Walking Dead is one of those atmospheric movies that just sticks with you long after it's over. From the richly colored visuals to the bombastic 60's instrumental score, to the various skulls, spiders, vultures, scorpions and amazingly creepy old locations, this flick is a treat for the eyeballs and the kid buried deep inside you. The characters are interesting and well portrayed (even when dubbed) and the story is a non-stop thrill ride through a gloomy haunted landscape... and seriously, who does not love Christopher Lee?
The overall plot of the movie may be a bit predictable, but there are enough twists and turns and the movie moves at such a rate, that it never stops being enjoyable. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: SWEDISH PORNO REVENGE!
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE (1974)
Swedish Porno Revenge
Directed- Bo Arne Vibenius
Written- Bo Arne Vibenius
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
As a young girl Frigga (Christina Lindberg) is molested in a park by an older man with a mouth full of chewing tobacco (I thought it was blood at first). This traumatizes her to such a degree that she stops speaking. 15 years later, she is kidnapped from her parent's farm, hooked on heroin and forced into a prostitution ring by a pimp named Tony (Heinz Hopf). Pushed to her limits, Frigga begins training herself in guns, karate and stunt car driving in preparation for the day she fights back.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
This movie contains pornographic levels of sex. No orifice or member is left unfilmed and the heroine is constantly in a state of undress. There's also lot of slo-mo blood in this flick and if you are not a fan of eyeball trauma stay far, far away from this one.
THOUGHTS:
I usually don't like movies that feature rape as a major plot point. When it is treated with respect, it's too uncomfortable a subject for me to sit through and when it is used in B-movies, it is all too often used as an excuse for a violent sex scene or voyeurism. Sadly, this movie falls more into the latter category, but it rides a very fine line. The sex scenes in this movie are the most graphic scenes I have ever seen in a movie with an actual plot line. In fact, this movie might even be classified as a porn flick by some (it's definitely pornographic), the only difference is the scenes in Thriller were not shot in an overly sexualized way. The music is intense and offsetting, the camera shots are way too close and unflattering and Frigga does not fight back nor does she enjoy the act either, causing the viewer to sympathize and want the scene to end, much in the same way Frigga does. Whether or not this was the director's intention, these graphic scenes (which are rumored to have been added later to get the movie shown in U.S. porn theaters) really helped to bring home how terrible Frigga's circumstances were, which was difficult since she didn't speak.
Don't get me wrong though, this movie is still an exploitation flick, but it is filmed in such a minimalistic way that everything has a very stark realism to it. There was very little music and the whole movie has a very, very slow pace. Even the fight scenes and death scenes are slowed down to an almost intolerable rate, which I found very intriguing.
Thriller is a strange, stylistic movie that turned a lot of mainstream motion picture conventions on their ear. In fact, Frigga's eye-patch sporting character is rumored to be the inspiration for Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE (1974)
Swedish Porno Revenge
Directed- Bo Arne Vibenius
Written- Bo Arne Vibenius
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
As a young girl Frigga (Christina Lindberg) is molested in a park by an older man with a mouth full of chewing tobacco (I thought it was blood at first). This traumatizes her to such a degree that she stops speaking. 15 years later, she is kidnapped from her parent's farm, hooked on heroin and forced into a prostitution ring by a pimp named Tony (Heinz Hopf). Pushed to her limits, Frigga begins training herself in guns, karate and stunt car driving in preparation for the day she fights back.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
This movie contains pornographic levels of sex. No orifice or member is left unfilmed and the heroine is constantly in a state of undress. There's also lot of slo-mo blood in this flick and if you are not a fan of eyeball trauma stay far, far away from this one.
THOUGHTS:
I usually don't like movies that feature rape as a major plot point. When it is treated with respect, it's too uncomfortable a subject for me to sit through and when it is used in B-movies, it is all too often used as an excuse for a violent sex scene or voyeurism. Sadly, this movie falls more into the latter category, but it rides a very fine line. The sex scenes in this movie are the most graphic scenes I have ever seen in a movie with an actual plot line. In fact, this movie might even be classified as a porn flick by some (it's definitely pornographic), the only difference is the scenes in Thriller were not shot in an overly sexualized way. The music is intense and offsetting, the camera shots are way too close and unflattering and Frigga does not fight back nor does she enjoy the act either, causing the viewer to sympathize and want the scene to end, much in the same way Frigga does. Whether or not this was the director's intention, these graphic scenes (which are rumored to have been added later to get the movie shown in U.S. porn theaters) really helped to bring home how terrible Frigga's circumstances were, which was difficult since she didn't speak.
Don't get me wrong though, this movie is still an exploitation flick, but it is filmed in such a minimalistic way that everything has a very stark realism to it. There was very little music and the whole movie has a very, very slow pace. Even the fight scenes and death scenes are slowed down to an almost intolerable rate, which I found very intriguing.
Thriller is a strange, stylistic movie that turned a lot of mainstream motion picture conventions on their ear. In fact, Frigga's eye-patch sporting character is rumored to be the inspiration for Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Thursday, September 13, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: CREEPY NUNS AND WATER DEMONS
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
DEAD WATERS (1994)
Creepy Nuns and Water Demons
Directed- Mariano Baino
Written- Mariano Baino, Andy Bark
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
While on his deathbed, Elizabeth's (Louise Salter) father informs her that she was born in a convent on a small, secluded Ukrainian island that he's been making secret payments to for the last 20 years. He makes her promise never to visit the island and to keep the payments up after his death. She agrees, but somehow talks her friend Teresa (Anna Rose Phipps) into investigating the island for her instead. Frustrated with her lack of updates, Elizabeth decides to join Teresa on the island to finally figure out where she came from and why she can't remember the first seven years of her life.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There's a good amount of blood and guts here for fans of that and one short topless scene, but it is all story driven. This movie is about the heebie jeebies and not something you should watch drunk with your buddies. In fact make sure you are well rested when you pop this one in, because the constant rain, dreamy score and lack of dialogue will make you sleepy for sure.
THOUGHTS:
I watched this movie as a U.S. released DVD titled "Dead Waters" it has since been re-released in the States as "Dark Waters". I don't know how different these two DVD's are, but I just wanted everyone to know they are the same movie.... not to be confused with "Dark Water" starring Jennifer Connelly. That's something completely different.
Dead Waters is a very dark and creepy movie... this one is all about the atmosphere. Most of the flick either takes place on the rocky, barren beaches of the island which are strangely littered with dead fish or inside the candle-lit, musty catacombs of the old church. The whole thing has a dirty, grimy feel to it that will take you a long while to shake off. Upon a first viewing, you'd never know you were watching a movie made in the mid-nineties. It feels much more like a 70 style Italian horror flick, complete with overdubbed sound effects, neat lighting and a haunting organ score. That being said, Dark Waters is a hard movie to figure out. There's very little dialogue, (besides two voice overs and some grunts and groans, there is absolutely no talking in the first 18 minutes.) and much of the dialog that is present is garbled or has such an accent to it, it is hard to make out. Hopefully this is fixed in the Dark Water DVD as I had to watch Dead Water three times to figure out exactly what was going on. Thankfully, with every viewing, I grew to like the movie more and more. Dead Waters is filled to the brim with scary old ladies, creepy postmen/morticians, insane fisherman, old blind nuns that mutter to interpreters and horribly, horribly creepy dream sequences making this movie one to remember. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
DEAD WATERS (1994)
Creepy Nuns and Water Demons
Directed- Mariano Baino
Written- Mariano Baino, Andy Bark
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
While on his deathbed, Elizabeth's (Louise Salter) father informs her that she was born in a convent on a small, secluded Ukrainian island that he's been making secret payments to for the last 20 years. He makes her promise never to visit the island and to keep the payments up after his death. She agrees, but somehow talks her friend Teresa (Anna Rose Phipps) into investigating the island for her instead. Frustrated with her lack of updates, Elizabeth decides to join Teresa on the island to finally figure out where she came from and why she can't remember the first seven years of her life.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There's a good amount of blood and guts here for fans of that and one short topless scene, but it is all story driven. This movie is about the heebie jeebies and not something you should watch drunk with your buddies. In fact make sure you are well rested when you pop this one in, because the constant rain, dreamy score and lack of dialogue will make you sleepy for sure.
THOUGHTS:
I watched this movie as a U.S. released DVD titled "Dead Waters" it has since been re-released in the States as "Dark Waters". I don't know how different these two DVD's are, but I just wanted everyone to know they are the same movie.... not to be confused with "Dark Water" starring Jennifer Connelly. That's something completely different.
Dead Waters is a very dark and creepy movie... this one is all about the atmosphere. Most of the flick either takes place on the rocky, barren beaches of the island which are strangely littered with dead fish or inside the candle-lit, musty catacombs of the old church. The whole thing has a dirty, grimy feel to it that will take you a long while to shake off. Upon a first viewing, you'd never know you were watching a movie made in the mid-nineties. It feels much more like a 70 style Italian horror flick, complete with overdubbed sound effects, neat lighting and a haunting organ score. That being said, Dark Waters is a hard movie to figure out. There's very little dialogue, (besides two voice overs and some grunts and groans, there is absolutely no talking in the first 18 minutes.) and much of the dialog that is present is garbled or has such an accent to it, it is hard to make out. Hopefully this is fixed in the Dark Water DVD as I had to watch Dead Water three times to figure out exactly what was going on. Thankfully, with every viewing, I grew to like the movie more and more. Dead Waters is filled to the brim with scary old ladies, creepy postmen/morticians, insane fisherman, old blind nuns that mutter to interpreters and horribly, horribly creepy dream sequences making this movie one to remember. If this sounds like your type of movie, I suggest you check it out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Thursday, August 23, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: EVIL SLUTTY TWIN
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
DOPPELGANGER (1993)
Evil, Slutty Twin
Directed- Avi Nesher
Written- Donald P. Borchers and Avi Nesher
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Poor Patrick Highsmith (George Newbern) is a failing screenwriter, just trying to make some extra cash by renting out his bedroom to a beautiful stranger named Holly Gooding (Drew Barrymore). What he doesn't know is, just four short years ago, Holly brutally stabbed her mother to death.... But was it Holly's split personality or her evil doppelganger?
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There's not a lot of gore in this movie, but there is a lot of blood, goopy bits and some pretty gross creature effects. There are also a few scenes of topless Drew Barrymore, which may make the whole movie worth it for some folks.
THOUGHTS:
This movie is a tough call... definitely not good, but not terrible. Doppelganger takes a very tongue-in-cheek look at its storyline, and at Los Angeles in general, that is meant to be humorous, but there is a lot of unintentional comedy there as well. From the overly conscious score, to the hammy dialogue, to the fact that the movie gets more and more ridiculous until culminating in a big stinking pile of crazy. This is one movie that I could not stop watching... and that's why, in the end, I liked this picture. It's colorful, well shot and keeps a pretty brisk pace... and it's just weird... Not even in an art school trying-to-be-weird way... It's just odd.
DOPPELGANGER (1993)
Evil, Slutty Twin
Directed- Avi Nesher
Written- Donald P. Borchers and Avi Nesher
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Poor Patrick Highsmith (George Newbern) is a failing screenwriter, just trying to make some extra cash by renting out his bedroom to a beautiful stranger named Holly Gooding (Drew Barrymore). What he doesn't know is, just four short years ago, Holly brutally stabbed her mother to death.... But was it Holly's split personality or her evil doppelganger?
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There's not a lot of gore in this movie, but there is a lot of blood, goopy bits and some pretty gross creature effects. There are also a few scenes of topless Drew Barrymore, which may make the whole movie worth it for some folks.
THOUGHTS:
This movie is a tough call... definitely not good, but not terrible. Doppelganger takes a very tongue-in-cheek look at its storyline, and at Los Angeles in general, that is meant to be humorous, but there is a lot of unintentional comedy there as well. From the overly conscious score, to the hammy dialogue, to the fact that the movie gets more and more ridiculous until culminating in a big stinking pile of crazy. This is one movie that I could not stop watching... and that's why, in the end, I liked this picture. It's colorful, well shot and keeps a pretty brisk pace... and it's just weird... Not even in an art school trying-to-be-weird way... It's just odd.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: UNDERWATER ZOMBIE NAZIS!
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler-free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
SHOCK WAVES (1977)
Underwater Nazi zombies
Directed - Ken Wiederhorn
Written - John Kent Harrison, Ken Pare, Ken Wiederhorn
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity not quality.
SET-UP:
A group of tourists take a tour of "the islands" with a salty old captain (John Carradine) and his crew on a broken down boat. They become lost at sea and arrive at a deserted island where a paranoid ex-SS Commander (Peter Cushing) lives, haunted by a secret platoon of underwater zombie Nazi soldiers.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
No sex, no nudity, very little gore and almost no violence. Very few of the death scenes appear on camera and the makeup effects are mostly icky looking dead guy skin.
THOUGHTS:
This a very neat, but slow paced flick. Make sure you've got your taxes done, a hot plate of nachos and a special someone to sit down and enjoy this with because it is not going to fight for your attention. Shock Waves is in no hurry to get anywhere fast nor does it feel the need to always explain exactly what is going on and/or why. What it does deliver is some striking (albeit low-budget) visuals, a terrific slowly mounting tension and the eerie atmosphere that such a situation would create. This is not a jump-out-of-your-seat scary movie, this is a creepy there's-no-escape, impending doom kinda film. It also benefits greatly with roles from two horror legends, John Carradine and Peter Cushing, near the end of their careers and the attractive Brooke Adams near the beginning of hers. If the idea of dozens of low-budget underwater Nazi zombies soldiers chasing tourists around a deserted island sounds like your idea of a good time, definitely check this out.
SHOCK WAVES (1977)
Underwater Nazi zombies
Directed - Ken Wiederhorn
Written - John Kent Harrison, Ken Pare, Ken Wiederhorn
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity not quality.
SET-UP:
A group of tourists take a tour of "the islands" with a salty old captain (John Carradine) and his crew on a broken down boat. They become lost at sea and arrive at a deserted island where a paranoid ex-SS Commander (Peter Cushing) lives, haunted by a secret platoon of underwater zombie Nazi soldiers.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
No sex, no nudity, very little gore and almost no violence. Very few of the death scenes appear on camera and the makeup effects are mostly icky looking dead guy skin.
THOUGHTS:
This a very neat, but slow paced flick. Make sure you've got your taxes done, a hot plate of nachos and a special someone to sit down and enjoy this with because it is not going to fight for your attention. Shock Waves is in no hurry to get anywhere fast nor does it feel the need to always explain exactly what is going on and/or why. What it does deliver is some striking (albeit low-budget) visuals, a terrific slowly mounting tension and the eerie atmosphere that such a situation would create. This is not a jump-out-of-your-seat scary movie, this is a creepy there's-no-escape, impending doom kinda film. It also benefits greatly with roles from two horror legends, John Carradine and Peter Cushing, near the end of their careers and the attractive Brooke Adams near the beginning of hers. If the idea of dozens of low-budget underwater Nazi zombies soldiers chasing tourists around a deserted island sounds like your idea of a good time, definitely check this out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
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