ceejayred 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.

thelastblogontheleft I AM SUCH A SUCKER FOR NAZI ZOMBIES. Don't ask me why, but my love was ignited when I first saw Dead Snow, and now Shock Waves has just sealed the deal (really, it's too bad I didn't see them in reverse order).A group of tourists are on a commercial boat and they start having some engine issues, naturally (because any time there is a boat in a horror movie expect some crap to go down). They see this eerie orange glow which perplexes everyone and sort of sets the mood, and soon its nighttime and they sideswipe an unknown object before spotting the apparent carcass of a huge vessel nearby. By morning they realize that not only is the captain missing but the boat is taking on water, so they escape via a dinghy to a nearby island where they find said captain… dead on the shore. They look around for help and find an old rundown hotel with a single reclusive resident (played by the awesome Peter Cushing). It turns out that the mysterious vessel they spotted had been previously sunk by Cushing, a retired SS Commander, because it contained The Death Corps, ultra-powerful aquatic soldiers that were meant to be a secret weapon for the Nazis during World War II but proved to be impossible to control. When Cushing realizes the soldiers are back, now zombified, he is convinced they are doomed… and he may be right.** SPOILERS! **The story itself vaguely reminded me of "Dagon", a short story by H.P. Lovecraft — not in all aspects, of course, but the boat landing on shore, a monster that lives in the water, and the survivor going mad re-telling the story.It is not your typical zombie movie in many senses. I mean, not only are they NAZI ZOMBIES (yesss), but they operate almost exclusively in the water. It's not nearly as gory as one might expect (or want) a zombie movie to be, but, honestly, I didn't mind that. It was just quirky and weird enough for me to not expect it to adhere to normal zombie standards. They also have a cool look to them — still the white, dead looking zombies that you expect, but with more water-logged goodness!There's a few particularly badass scenes. The glass bottom dinghy gliding over the dead body of the captain, for one. The first few scenes of the zombie soldiers emerging from the ship and walking, fully clothed, underwater… so freaking cool. Just this slow motion dread. The side shot of the zombies rising up out of the water… unnggghhh so good.The score — done by Richard Einhorn in his feature film debut — was pretty awesome as well.Overall, not the strongest plot in the world and the movie generally lacks a good deal of action (or strong character development), but it has this air of dread to it that I enjoyed — and, again, with waterlogged Nazi zombies, how can you really go wrong?

Scott LeBrun Considered by genre fans to be the best of the "Nazi zombie" sub genre, "Shock Waves" is a thickly and palpably atmospheric horror film with enough spooky and creepy moments and images to make it very satisfying viewing. Co-written & directed by Ken Wiederhorn ("Return of the Living Dead Part II"), it's got a mostly unfamiliar cast, eerie music by Richard Einhorn, impressive makeup by Alan Ormsby, and some striking Florida location work.The idea is that the SS attempted to create the ultimate warrior during WWII. So they came up with the Death Corps, which have quietly been hidden away on an island for many years, accompanied by their protector of sorts, an unnamed commander (the great Peter Cushing). Into their realm stumble some people who were on a pleasure cruise, and wrecked their boat after colliding into a phantom freighter."Shock Waves" has a lot going for it. It's got a perfect "late show" feel, always an asset in this viewers' humble opinion. It would play very well on a TV set in the wee hours of the morning. It has the kind of weird but compelling lack of logic to be found in any nightmare. The bit players in the roles of The Death Corps are very chilling in their unspeaking menace, and the scenes where they rise from their watery rest are always extremely effective. The cast is very good, although one of the intended victims is a complainer named Norman (Jack Davidson). You watch this just hoping that he will get his. The lovely and appealing Brooke Adams has her first major feature film role, and she rocks a yellow bikini in a few scenes. Luke Halpin of 'Flipper' fame is engaging as the studly hero. And John Carradine adds his expertise as the crusty skipper; his reading of one line is pretty damn funny.This is a little gem of an independent horror film that I would recommend to any newcomer to the genre.Eight out of 10.

bkoganbing A group of passengers charter John Carradine's boat for a little pleasure cruise and find themselves on a mysterious island where an old SS Commander Peter Cushing is keeping an old experiment going from World War II. Back in the day when manpower was getting scarce the Nazis started creating zombies out of dead soldiers. A few even got into combat as legends tell. But it was too late and now Cushing sits out on Caribbean island waiting the day when the Reich shall rise again.The only surprise here is that John Carradine is not the mad scientist, but merely an eccentric old sea salt. The whole thing is fun and quite campy. But in an unintentional way.