Friday, October 30, 2009

Shock Waves

Shock Waves is a 1977 horror movie starring Peter Cushing and John Carradine with music by Richard Einhorn. Oooo... Nazi Zombies! It begins with a voice-over narration and a photograph of WW2 troops:
Shortly before the start of World War 2, the German high command began a secret investigation into the powers of the supernatural. Ancient legend told of a race of warriors who used neither weapons nor shields and whose super-human power came from within the Earth itself. As Germany prepared for war, the SS secretly enlisted a group of scientists to create an invincible soldier. It is known that the bodies of soldiers killed in battle were returned to a secret laboratory near Koblenz, where they were used in a variety of scientific experiments. It was rumored that, toward the end of the war, Allied forces met German squads that fought without weapons, killing only with their bare hands. No one knows who they were or what became of them, but one thing is certain. Of all the SS units, there was only one that the Allies never captured a single member of.
The opening credits begin at this point. It's interesting how many horror films feature Nazi Zombies.

trailer:



Moria calls it "an impressive little low budget film" and says the zombies are "vivid screen monsters". 1000 Misspent Hours says it's "an extremely good film, in ways you'd never dare expect on the basis of its subject matter."

2 comments:

  1. I just did a remake of this over at my blog, igloo of the uncanny.

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  2. Fun review. I especially like your 4th point. I couldn't believe it when Carradine died so early in the film. I'm putting a direct link to that post here:
    http://igloooftheuncanny.blogspot.com/2009/11/day-397-back-in-days-before-i-became.html

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