As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.
Session: A Brief History of the Nazi Zombie Films (Week 3)
Movie: Shock Waves (1977)
Directed by Ken Wiederhorn
A small group of tourists have their pleasure-boat ride interrupted by a small army of Nazi zombies. Horror ensues.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
It bothered me more than it should have that the zombies' awakening is never really explained well. That said, I have to acknowledge -- as Keith and the rest of the class reminded me -- that many good horror movies set up the situation without a full explanation. Notable among those are The Incredible Shrinking Man and Night of the Living Dead. So perhaps I should be more forgiving of that element.
But one legitimate weakness concerns the ending.
The movie is structured as a flashback, and introduced in such a way that we know who survives and who doesn't. This device robbed the film of a lot of its suspense. Fortunately, the story is riveting enough that there is still some suspense. Instead of wondering things like "will he die," we are wondering "how will he die." It's still good, but it could have been that much better.
The fact is the second half of the movie is very well done -- despite the giveaway I mentioned above. But the first half moves a bit too slowly. All in all, it's enjoyable. I'm told that it's the best Nazi zombie movie out there.
Ratings
Me: 7.5
Bob-O: 9.2
Christina: 9.5
Dave: 9.5
Ethan: 9
Joe: 10
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