SHOCK WAVES
SS Experiments, Damp
RELEASED OUT NOW! 1977 | 12 | Blu-ray
Director Ken Wiederhorn
Cast Peter Cushing, Brooke Adams,
Fred Buch, Jack Davidson
BLU-RAY DEBUT It’s a backhanded compliment given how limited the field is, but Shock Waves is one of the better Nazi zombie films – perhaps because it’s not what you’d really expect.
The opening narration negates the possibility of any real mystery, explaining that during WW2 the SS experimented with creating invincible soldiers. After a tourist party’s boat is damaged by a sinister ghost ship, they fall foul of a unit designed to man U-boats.
It’s a pretty silly, underdeveloped premise. These undead killers are peculiarly keen on lying about submerged in rockpools.
Why does ripping off their goggles kill them? And why is there a huge abandoned hotel on the island (home to Peter Cushing, playing a scar-faced Dr Von Exposition)?
However, the sequences of the “Death Corps” troops emerging from the water, or striding through knotted mangrove swamp, are faintly surreal and undeniably uncanny. The film has an eerie, low-key stillness, victims often pulled under the water without even having the time to scream.
While Shock Waves will disappoint anyone eager for gore, it does generate a strong sense of foreboding – thanks in part to an impressive score of electronic throbs and creaks (the work of Richard Einhorn, now a respected modern classical composer). In narrative terms, it’s crude. As an exercise in atmosphere, it’s a qualified success.
Extras 88 Films’ bonuses are carried over from 2014’s US Blue Underground release. Director Ken Wiederhorn is accompanied on commentary by Alan Ormsby, who did the zombie make-ups. Then there are four interviews. Cinematographer Reuben Trane (21 minutes) is the stand-out, recounting methods which wouldn’t meet modern health and safety standards: to shoot a zombie walking underwater, for example, they filled his pockets up with lead weights!
We also hear from stars Brooke Adams (seven minutes) and Luke Halpin (eight minutes), and the composer (14 minutes). Plus: trailer; TV and radio spots; gallery; booklet. Ian Berriman
According to the DOP, Peter Cushing’s fee was $25,000 for five days’ work – about a quarter of the total budget.