framptonhollis Released by Troma of all studios, "Combat Shock" is a deeply troubling dramatic thriller about a traumatized veteran's daily struggles. It provides a bleak and pessimistic outlook on life in which poverty runs rampant and positive resolutions cannot be found anywhere. The streets of New York slums are portrayed with a complete lack of any hope whatsoever, the characters never truly conquer their deep inner (and outer) pains, and there is NO HAPPY ENDING. Clearly, a movie so depressing and upsetting will not appeal to everybody, and it will likely divide viewers furthermore because of its low budget, sometimes iffy acting, graphic violence, and bitter philosophy. However, I for one absolutely loved this film. It is like an exploitation film that refuses to be exploitative, a REAL horror story, one that does not focus on the typical traits of the horror genre, but one that manages to fit under the genre's vast umbrella simply because of the sheer cruelty of it. "Combat Shock" is many things, it is a war drama, a psychological thriller, a work of astounding realism, a dark nihilistic tragedy, and a gory, shocking, boundary pushing horror film. It grapples the viewer by the neck with unstoppable rage, sucking them into a world of hopelessness and depravity, forcing them to witness the cruelest, darkest, and saddest aspects of humanity, always obscuring that glimmer of hope and lightheartedness your heart knows is there somewhere but just simply cannot find.After watching this it's safe to say that you may want to try to lighten up your mood because, although this movie is a masterpiece of tensity and shocks, this is a goddamn BUMMER!

tomgillespie2002 Certainly lacking in wise-cracking rubber monsters and outlandishly- dressed brain-dead punks, Combat Shock - a serious, if extremely low- budget drama/psychological horror by writer/director/producer Buddy Giovinazzo - proves that Troma Entertainment occasionally took their movies seriously. The shell-shocked Vietnam veteran story had been done many times before, and certainly a lot better, but never quite as unsettling. Far from a masterpiece, and riddled with terrible production values, Combat Shock nevertheless is a glowing statement as to just what scraping-the-piggy-bank film-making can sometimes offer.After an event during the Vietnam War that left a village dismembered and massacred, Frankie Dunlan (Rick Giovinazzo - brother to Buddy), struggles to adapt to civilian life. Living in poverty, unable to find work, and saddled with a whining wife (Veronica Stork) and a deformed baby, he is about the have the worst day of his life. Owing money to a group of drug-dealing punks, led by Paco (Mitch Maglio), Frankie wanders the battered streets of his native New York, coming into contact with various low-lives and looking for any way to make a buck. Seemingly without hope, and terrified to go back to his starving family empty- handed, he resorts to an act of violence.You could imagine running a finger along the negative of Combat Shock and immediately needing to wash your hands afterwards. The movie seems awash with grime, and the streets Frankie wanders down have an almost apocalyptic quality. This is utterly depressing stuff, nearly entirely devoid of laughs, where the types of people Frankie befriends are gun- wielding junkies or child prostitutes. It's sometimes laughably pessimistic, a journey into utter depravity, and combined with some extremely amateurish production values and an occasionally plodding narrative, can be a bit of a slog to get through at times.Yet for all it's sloppy editing and wide-eyed, over-the-top thesping, it is at times extremely effective. The baby, horribly disfigured due to Frankie's exposure to Agent Orange, looks cheap, but the way it moves and sounds, combined with the dump that surrounds it, is just as disturbing as Eraserhead (1977). There is also a horrible moment when a junkie, unable to find a needle for his fix, opens his damaged arm with a coat hanger and pours heroin into his black, bleeding vein. Some will find it's relentless depravity too much to take, but there's a gritty honesty here, going deep into the dark heart of a post-Vietnam America, where traumatised Vets were hung out to dry by a country that had forgotten them.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Grim Frog I've seen this movie on countless "most disturbing movies" lists and being a..errrr...disturbing movie junkie(?) i gave it a watch. Wow, was it a let down. The plot is very generic, the pacing is excruciating and there are dozens of scenes that add absolutely nothing to the plot. I don't think I've shrugged and said "What the fu** was that?" while watching a movie so many times in my life. One of the things that bugged me most about this movie is its score. its so god damned annoying that it gave me a headache and i had to turn the volume down but not only that the sound effects used for simple things such as water dripping from the faucet drove me into a fit of annoying digitized bad stock sound rage. For you gore hounds there is maybe 30 seconds of somewhat decent effects around the 13 minute mark, other than that the other "gore" effects consists of what appear to be ketchup and rootbeer. The things i liked about this film? The baby. I loved the puppet they used, not because its disturbing but because it has this just awesome low budget creepy look to it and i was impressed with the fact that it blinks. Oh, but don't forget that you are watching combat shock....so the baby constantly makes an absolutely horrible digitized cry in every scene it is in. I also liked the bleak slummy atmosphere of the apartment/neighborhood andddd thats about it. So should you watch combat shock? my recommendation is pass up this one. If you do end up watching it don't be afraid to fast forward a hour into the film. you wont be missing a thing at all.

InDaValley However, very boring throughout the entire middle of the movie. Seriously, after the first 10 minutes of the film's start (which was the most interesting part of the movie) we are treated with watching a man walk around town for like an hour. Wow, that was so exhilarating just watching this guy walk around and talk to people, it had me on the edge of my seat! The only time it gets exciting is at the end. And I won't say that it was worth the wait, but nevertheless, it was the highlight of the movie.I thought the "baby" character was.....special. The wife was decent. The main lead was, like his "baby",...special.Not Troma's worst film, but definitely not their best on either.