Shocker | | Cast : | Michael Murphy, Mitch Pileggi | | Director : | Wes Craven | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 27, 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | September 02, 2003 | | Language : | Spanish (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 26, 2005 | | Summary | All This AND A Cool Theme Song! | Content
 | ..a retrospecive review, of a movie that came out a long time ago...
This is the one Craven does after the "Nightmare..." series peters out. And it had some disappointing box office, obviously, since there was never a sequel. But I love it. Mostly because the poster art / DVD cover art is so bad ass. But seriously, it's a good movie...
It's a love story, which I don't think is necessarily Wes Craven's strong suit, but he does it nicely here. A love story, that is, until Mitch ('The X-Files') Pileggi shows up as Horace Pinker (great name), slaughters a bunch of folks, gets a ride in what the convicts at Sing-Sing used to call "Ol' Sparky", and then comes back as evil electricity incarnate and slaughter some more folks. Peter Berg stars, as does Michael ('Batman Returns') Murphy, Richard ('The Crow: City Of Angels', TV's 'Law And Order') Brooks, and gets a hot girlfriend played by Cami Cooper, who proceeds to get in ol' Horace's way. Things proceed nicely from there, with some amusing electro-fiend setpieces orchestrated by Craven and a good soundtrack, which kind of marks the beginning of the end for cheesy 80's rock and roll. The real attraction here, though, is Pileggi's turn as vile baddie Horace Pinker, and I liked him almost as much as Freddy, who was recently deceased at this point in history. Go check this one out...it's better than a lot of garbage they shove at us these days. No More Mr. Nice Guy! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 10, 2005 | | Summary | Shocked | Content
| After the success of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and the umpteen sequels it spawned, Wes Craven attempted to jump-start another franchise with this movie, a complete knock-off of his own original movie.
A madman who has just been executed comes back for revenge...on everyone. The movie contains bizarre supernatural set pieces and scenes that really resemble Freddy Krueger's antics. There aren't any memorable things about this. The story is tired, the main villain unappealing and the movie is unwatchable.
I have tremedous respect for Wes Craven. His movies have created new and intellegent ways of viewing horror and he has created some of the most memorable characters, lines, and scares out there and is a wonderful contributor to the history of horror...but even the master can make a mistake or two. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 05, 2005 | | Summary | Weak Wes Craven film | Content
| Shocker is a mediocre effort from Craven that actually wastes good special effects and a good cast(Michael Murphy,Peter Berg,Mitch Pileggi,Cami Cooper,Ted Raimi,and even Dr.Timothy Leary). Shocker is a tale about a Freddy Krueger-like killer named Horace Pinker that kills families and then gets sentenced to death by the electric chair and that dosen't work so his spirit possesses other people. Not a very good film but still fairly watchable.
The highlight of the movie would be when Peter Berg is in the park and he gets chased by a policeman possessed by Pinker and then a little girl gets possessed.
The People Under the Stairs is much,much better and you could tell Craven actually tried when he made that film. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 22, 2005 | | Summary | 0.15 STARS: A Shocking waste of time! | Content
| Wes Craven's "Shocker" is about a terrible murderer who is finally executed for his horrible crimes. However, this criminal comes back to life to kill more people and create mayhem. Sounds good, right? Well, it's terrible and completely ineffective as a horror movie. This movie is so boring that I could hardly get through it. The storyline is not compelling or interesting and the killer is not scary at all and lacks any and all credibility as a horror villain. This movie completely lacks any scary atmoshere whatsoever and the acting is terrible. Perhaps, most importantly and fatal to the movie's credibility, if the complete failure or this "phantom" idea of this killer...it just doesn't work and is completely unconvincingly and not scary. Hence, the movie falls flat on its face! Simply put, the movie just doesn't work as a horror movie. I highly recommend that all horror movie fans stay away from this worthless waste. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 19, 2005 | | Summary | Labored not in vein ... | Content
| This is an excellent scare. I feel that you have to be in the right mood for it. Anyways, back to back with something like HOUSE III ( Australian Edition) aka HORROR STORY with Lance H and Brion James, this is an excellent film.
Good double bill for a night at home IMO.
Anyways, SHOCKER brings together a lot of Psychological elements, some supernatural ( Pinkers Sacrifice center at the TV repair shop), and lots of bits that are "finger licking good". The Presence of a pseudo voodoo element with the Voodoo link through the TV is a great idea ( similar concept in HOUSE III /HORROR STORY ).
I don't think this rips off any of Wes Craven's other work, since it is a first for Craven of this type. Pileggi shows his chops off very well when he conveys a powerful evil in Horace, and the voice over work is great where applicable, and the final denoument in the "TV room" is a brilliant piece of work. Especially great is the way the Love he shared from the girl who is now on the other side helps him out.
Stand out elements with Ted Raimi, The Coach, and a surprise appearance by "Nancy" at a street corner house , where the street intersection is named after Wes's producers. Lots of sneaky references, and plenty of fun in a great film. Neat execution scene as well.
ENJOY. |
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