Shock
Waves
(1977/Blue Underground Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: A Film: B+
Beneath
the Living... Beyond the Dead... From the depths of Hell's Ocean!
Blue
Underground does it again with the release of one of the great horror
films of the 1970s, Shock
Waves,
for the first time ever on Blu-ray! Jammed packed with tons of
extras and freshly restored in high definition, the film has never
looked or sounded better. Starring one of my all time favorite
actors, Peter Cushing, the film is set in the dark days of World War
II where the Nazi High Command has ordered its scientists to create a
top secret race of indestructible zombie storm troopers - un-living,
unfeeling, and unstoppable - they are known as The Death Corps. No
member of this horrific SS unit was ever captured by the Allied
Forces and somewhere off the coast of Florida, they have survived and
are out for blood!
The
film also stars Brooke Adams (of the great 1978 Invasion
of the Body Snatchers
remake) and John Carradine (The
Boogeyman)
who star in this suspenseful and genuinely creepy shocker co-written
and directed by Ken Wiederhorn (Return
of the Living Dead, Part 2).
The film delivers with the weight of Peter Cushing, though I however
think a good remake of this film could be made by the right director.
Packed
with memorable moments and over the top special effects, this film
definitely surpasses Dead
Snow
as my favorite Nazi Zombie film. The Death Corps Troopers are pretty
creepy and well executed considering the low budget. In many ways,
the film is not unlike John Carpenter's Halloween
in that there are several slow moving instances where victims are
running from the monster - who is crashing and breaking down
everything in its path to its prey. The shots with the Zombies in a
group ominously lurking in the water and on land together are the
most effective (and slightly reminiscent of The
Fog -
which would come some years later). This is a great movie to turn
off all the lights to and get sucked in on a late night viewing!
Sound
and Picture on the disc are as good as they can possibly can be for
the film, restored incredibly well from the original 35mm materials.
There is still a sizable amount of grain on the 1080p high definition
image, which is also sports a anamorphically enhanced in 1.85:1
widescreen aspect ratio but it adds to the experience of the movie.
The audio is crisp with a lossless DTS-HD 1.0 Mono track and
subtitles in English SDH, French, and Spanish. This is definitely an
improvement over the former DVD release of the film (also available
from Blue Underground) and its many previous video format releases.
Massive
extras on the disc include
Audio
Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Ken Wiederhorn, Make-Up Designer
Alan Ormsby and Filmmaker Fred Olen Ray
Nazi
Zombies On A Budget - Interview with Producer/Cinematographer Reuben
Trane
Notes
For The Undead - Interview with Composer Richard Einhorn
Sole
Survivor - Interview with Star Brooke Adams
From
FLIPPER To SHOCK WAVES - Interview with Star Luke Halpin
Theatrical
Trailer
TV
Spot
Radio
Spots
Poster
& Still Gallery
I
can't wait to see what Blue Underground comes out with next!
-
James Harland Lockhart V
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv
