Monday, September 15, 2008

Wes Craven's Shocker Review



Wes Craven manages to squeeze out Shocker, before filming more sequels to the Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise. This film is interesting to me on a lot of levels, but the story is ridiculous, so throw your brain out the window for this one.

Shocker is the story of a serial killer who’s eventually caught by a rogue agent, and then is sentenced to die via electric chair. However, before dying he makes a deal with the devil and he stays alive but not in the traditional sense. He is alive only when there is electrical current and he can possess anyone via that medium. The killer than seeks out revenge, but he’s going to have to put up one hell of a fight!

Here’s a trailer for the Wes Craven cult classic Shocker:


The best part of this film is not the acting, it’s not the story, it’s the instance when the killer and the cop get sucked into the television and they fight across different channels. I always wanted to see this movie when I was a child, but my parents never let me, so once I got older and finally saw it, I realized that this film could’ve been my favorite movie of all time! Seriously, this is better than when James Woods gets sucked into the television, it’s an amazing effort by the visual effects people to create a futuristic, supernatural element to this film.

The effects aren’t exactly cutting edge compared to what we see today, however, they are good for the time and seriously the best part of this classic film. The fights in between television shows are so awesome, that if you haven’t seen this film, you gotta check this mess out. Wes Craven really puts up a great effort in hindsight. Craven has had a lot of missteps, but this wasn’t one of them. The story is convoluted, the acting is subpar, but the idea of an electrical killer and a cop fighting through television stations, that’s what cult classics are made of, and Shocker delivers a great moment in horror film history.

I highly recommend Wes Craven’s Shocker, because it has that piece of special effects history, and well, I’m a sucker for it. The movie is not too scary, although it does have some horror elements, and it is for all intents and purposes a horror film. Check out Shocker at least once, or else you’ll be left behind.

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6 comments:

  1. Craven only directed 2 of the Nightmare flicks. The first one in 84, and the last one in 1994. he had little to no involvement with he rest of the series except for the first script draft for part 3. What amazes is he can make amazing movies like NOES and Serpent and the Rainbow, and then make a total hackjob like Shocker. This feels like ge was trying to make a new franchise to rival what newline turned Freddy into after he left he series... a supernatural vaudeville comedian, but failed miserably to make a horror villian that's at all memorable or interesting. question: if you're a ghost who can switch bodies, why would every new body have the same limp?

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  2. craven really tried hard to follow up with some more characters, and you're right, he's failed miserably...oh well

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  3. jervaise brooke hamsterDecember 14, 2010 at 4:01 AM

    Wes Craven has never made a bad film because hes an American film-maker and all American film-makers (without exeption) are great film-makers by definition who have been making great films for 121 years. Its only British film-makers who make bad films because for the same 121 year period they have been making nothing but unwatchable crap.

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  4. No, he's made some major stinkers, oh god, some of them are terrible

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  5. jervaise brooke hamsterDecember 15, 2010 at 2:10 PM

    I dont give a hoot in hell what major stinkers hes supposedly made, whatever films you`re talking about they`re still infinitely better than anything the British film industry has ever produced (thats a key point that you seem to keep conveniently forgetting).

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