Shock Waves (1977)

Director:

Ken Wiederhorn

Writers:

John Kent Harrison (writer)
Ken Pare (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

15 July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Once They Were Almost Human! Beneath the living... Beyond the dead... From the depths of Hell's Ocean! The Deep End of Horror!

Plot:

Visitors to a remote island discover that a reclusive Nazi commandant has been breeding a group of Zombie soldiers.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Zombie | Soldier | SS Commander | Dinghy

Cast

Peter Cushing	...	SS Commander
Brooke Adams	...	Rose
Fred Buch	...	Chuck
Jack Davidson	...	Norman
Luke Halpin	...	Keith
D.J. Sidney	...	Beverly
Don Stout	...	Dobbs
John Carradine	...	Captain
Clarence Thomas	...	Fisherman
Sammy Graham
Preston White
Reid Finger
Mike Kennedy
Donahue Guillory
Jay Maeder	...	Zombie
Talmadge Scott	...	Zombie
Gary J. Levinson
Robert Miller	...	Zombie

Directed by
Ken Wiederhorn

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
John Kent Harrison		writer
Ken Pare		writer
Ken Wiederhorn		writer

Produced by
Reuben Trane	....	producer

Original Music by
Richard Einhorn

Film Editing by
Norman Gay

Production Design by
Jessica Sack

Costume Design by
Jacqueline Saint Anne

Makeup Department
Alan Ormsby	....	special makeup designer

Production Management
Wayne Hood	....	unit manager
Doug Kauffman	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Berndt	....	assistant director

Art Department
Mykle Mattes	....	property master

Sound Department
Stephen Maynard	....	sound recordist (as Stephen Manners)
Emil Neroda	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Lacov	....	grip
Irving Pare	....	underwater cinematographer
Fred Olen Ray	....	still photographer

Other crew
Dee Miller	....	script supervisor
Frank Smathers	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Zopix Company

Distributors

• Joseph Brenner Associates (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Video (USA) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (2002) (Germany) (DVD)
• BijouFlix Releasing
• Blue Underground (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Creswin Distribution (Canada)
• Prism Entertainment Corporation (video)
• Starmaker Video (USA) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Almost Human (UK)
Death Corps

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | France:-12 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:M | Norway:16 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Italy:VM14

Filming Locations:

Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Company:

Zopix Company

Trivia:

The hotel in the film is an actual Biltmore hotel in Florida that was shut down for a two year period and abandoned at the time of filming and the director paid $250 to rent the building for the shoot. The hotel was renovated a couple of years after the shoot and now charges significantly more than $250 per room, per night.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the cook's body is retrieved from the lake, a split second before the scene change, you actually see the actor that plays the cook start to lift his head up. This mistake is more apparent in the VHS version, though the DVD has part of it as well.

Movie Connections:

References Carnival of Souls (1962)

Quietly effective, low budget shocker

Ken Wiederhorn, who went on to direct the dull EYES OF A STRANGER, hits celluloid paydirt with this thoughtful, creepy and lyrical horror flick.

Mostly a work of effective moments, its images of dead Nazi soldiers emerging from the sea and advancing towards a distant shoreline have never left me or lost their power to evoke a sense of horror.

The story is a simple one, as the best horror stories are. Members of The Death Corps, an SS unit never apprehended by Allied Forces, return to menace holidaymakers with a little help from a friend.

The moderate pacing works in favor of the off-kilter narrative and the numerous sequences in which the undead soldiers attack the living are swift and highly effective.

Peter Cushing turns in a small but sincere performance, as does genre stalwart John Carradine.

Score by Richard Einhorn is memorable.

SHOCK WAVES has nothing in common with recent Hollywood horror films, but it has plenty in common with mostly unseen (outside their country of origin) Japanese horror outings such as LIVING SKELETON.