SHOCKER (not that bad)

[Klownzilla]

Even though this film gets bashed a lot, I really enjoyed it. I saw it a few times on SciFi a few years ago, but the other night it was on the Mystery Channel so I was able to see it the whole way through. Horace Pinker is truly one vicious SOB and he could give Freddy a thrashing, granted he isn't bound by the laws of TV. The main character played by Peter Berg had a rough time throughout the whole movie. I actually felt sorry for him because of the shit he went through. I also noticed that Ted Raimi looked a lot like Peter Parker, especially in the cemetery scene.

[halloweengal]

There are certain aspects of this film I like too. I really like the part where Horace Pinker is invading the bodies at the park (especially when he invades the little girl's body and he does the weird gimpy walk. I plan on buying the Wes Craven set when it comes out (Shocker, People Under the Stairs, Serpent and the Rainbow) The Retail Price is only 32 dollars so the actually price will probably be between 20-30 bucks and for 3 dvd's that's not bad. :D

[Frank the Tank]

I like Shocker myself, it has some great moments in their and is a fun movie.

[Gluttony]

Shocker- 6/10

Decent slasher is better than most of the crap to come out of the post Scream wave. Has some decent acting and lots of interesting visuals. It lacks any individuality for the main character though, plus it doesn't garner any major moments from its less than good script. Goes off the execution and becomes a fun little entertainment.

[The Claw]

Shocker sucks plain and simple. This is just a boring film, with a good idea. starts out good and then falls into the shit pile, I enjoyed them running through various tv shows but the movie is just crap. Crap, better then People Under The Stairs thats for sure.

[MisterTwister]

Shocker kicks ass. One of my favorite horror movies ever. 8/10

[iDLEWiLD_fan]

Originally posted by The Claw
Shocker sucks plain and simple. This is just a boring film, with a good idea. starts out good and then falls into the shit pile, I enjoyed them running through various tv shows but the movie is just crap. Crap, better then People Under The Stairs thats for sure.

i sort of agree with you about Shocker...its sort of crappy but it was sort of enjoyable at times....not one of Craven's best BUT i certainly do not agree with you about The People Under The Stairs....how can you not like this movie it rocks!! it's defo one of Craven's best right up there with A Nightmare On Elm Street....it is a great flick....which pisses all over Shocker....

[countchocula]

I haven't seen this one in years, but I remember contracting dysentery through the television screen. Horace Pinker's one-liners were agonizing (possibly the worst attempt at cashing in on Freddy's status as a luminary), I didn't buy the love angle, and the whole shebang just felt disorderly. That's not a concrete opinion, though. I would have to view it again to be sure. On the upside, Megadeth's cover of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" kicked ass!

[Dignan]

Man this movie stunk. I watched this one with Fabius Bile, and it started off ok but just kept slipping into "TO DAMN IDIOTIC " territory... I mean, hell, at least with Freddy we had a slight character development into more silly territory with each entry, but Horace Pinker has none of that. he has about two hours to go from "scary badass" to "scary funny badass" and instead botched it and turned into "Not Funny Or Scary At All Bad-Ass".
Sure he was still a badass... but I need more to go on. I liked how most everyone gets killed in this movie, and the construction chase. ANd christ, did they edit anything from this movie? I felt like I was watching a new Steven Spielburg prduction.

I give this one one 4/10.

Stinks worse than Horace Pinker's unwashed jock strap.

[Jason13thh]

I like the first half but the rest ..... not very good sorry.

[Fabius Bile]

Originally posted by Dignan
I give this one one 4/10.

Stinks worse than Horace Pinker's unwashed jock strap. Sweet Jesus Gonzolez...... this was a flamin' piece of crap. I'm surprised you gave it a 4/10...It ranks more along the lines of a 2.5/10 by my standards....stinks worse than Stinky MacGee at an ass festival.......

[Hindu_Badger]

I must say that I agree with Dignan & Mr. Bile. This film just didn't cut it for me. 3/10

[Murderous Squad]

Originally posted by halloweengal
There are certain aspects of this film I like too. I really like the part where Horace Pinker is invading the bodies at the park (especially when he invades the little girl's body and he does the weird gimpy walk. I plan on buying the Wes Craven set when it comes out (Shocker, People Under the Stairs, Serpent and the Rainbow) The Retail Price is only 32 dollars so the actually price will probably be between 20-30 bucks and for 3 dvd's that's not bad. :D

The set is already out, i own it.

[countchocula]

Originally posted by Murderous Squad
The set is already out, i own it.

This is a dated thread.

[KillerKlown]

This film is one of my guilty pleasures.

[jagged halo]

PRISON is infinitely more pleasurable to watch if you like 'the convict comes back from the dead' scenario. Shocker is exactly what the title infers, one of Cravens turds for sure, even Deadly Friend is vastly superior to this and that's scraping the bottom of Cravens wonky barrel.

[Elgyn]

Originally posted by Fabius Bile
stinks worse than Stinky MacGee at an ass festival.......


:eek:

Yeah, this one just sucks guys, sorry. I actually tried to re-watch it recently (it was playing on the Sci-Fi Channel, which made me laugh). And I couldn`t watch it. It just sucks.

[drdash]

i love this movie and it would have been great if craven had been able to turn this into a series like nightmare. one of the first dvds i picked up.

ciao
drdash

[Kidsilk]

I don't care for this one either. Thought it was stupid and terrible.

[MadmanMARZ]

Shocker has a great soundtrack, but I like the Horror show a.k.a House 3 better when it comes to the story "electrocuted killer comes back" I saw the Horror show last night and that movie has gotten more bashing than Shocker, but it was Brion James favourit role, sadly he died of a heartattack in ´99 and will be sadly missed...

[DawnOfTheDead]

SHOCKER could have been a classic, but there are way to many problems with the film. Too many scenes are unintentionally funny (the little girl spouting obscenities) and the romantic angle with the dead girlfriend is the pits (the little heart in the sky at the end, AAAAWWWWWWWWWWW). Mitch Pileggi is the man as Horace, but he couldn't save it. That said, I own the film and do watch it periodically, because it is entertaining. PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS will always be Craven's best.

[Cronos]

this could have been great, it had a great story and some very good scenes but it wasnt executed very well, the acting was weak and a lot of scenes were very slow and killed the pace

6/10

[!MorganOnyx!]

Just like the majority said - It BLOWS ASS! DEADLY FRIEND is scraping the bottom of CRAVEN'S barrel of mixed shite - but in comparison to SHOCKER, it remains a masterpiece. :cool:

[teenkiller]

Well I just bought the two pack with Shocker and The People Under the Stairs. I'm about to pop this in but I suppose after all I have read I should probably lower my standards. I saw the end of it about 13 years ago and remember it being pretty cool but I was a kid back then so who knows how things will hold up now. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[teenkiller]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SHOCKER ABOUND!!!!



Despite what Craven has said in the past about his dissatisfaction with the NIGHTMARE sequels and there being no logic and commercialization or whatever I can't help but feel he is an overwhelming HYPOCRITE. I think if anything he was probably just mad that he wasn't along for the NIGHTMARE gravy train. How else can Shocker be explained? Interesting to note that Shocker came out in 1989, the year after THE DREAM MASTER, which is the most heavily criticized for bringing FREDDY to the mainstream masses, was released.

It seems obvious that Craven was trying to create the next big unstopable killing machine slasher. In doing so he has resorted to using the formula he already used in the orriginal NIGHTMARE. Psychopathic killer is caught and then murdered and comes back in undead form to exact revenge. Central character is connected to the killer through dreams and must bring the murderer out of his (electric?) world into ours to defeat him. Hell Jonathan even has a dad named Donald who is a police Lieutenant just like Nancy did. Yawn!

The first half hour actually starts off okay though. It's a little out there for sure, but I can suspend disbelief and buy into it. But once Horace is caught the movie takes a turn for the worst. The scene where Horace makes a deal with a television (which I'm guessing was supposed to be the Devil or some stupid shit) is beyond ludicrous. The fact that the guard is actually concerned about Pinker and wants to give him CPR is almost as dumb. Also, I find it hard to believe that Jonathan has no recollection of Horace being his father and stabbing him in the knee after his biological mother gets killed. Horace says that Jonathan tried to bury it in his memory. I say it's lazy script writing.

I just don't get it. Why do Pinker's newfound electrical powers grant him the ability to become anybody or anything (furniture for GOD's sake?!) he wants? Why does he throw the pick axe into the lake instead of killing Jonathan with it? Why does Jonathan need to retrieve it in order to kill Pinker? I was lost about why we needed the whole subplot of Jonathan's swim mask being at home and him being so desparate not to go there that he had to send his coach. At the end of the film, why does Jonathan get so scared upon seeing Alison's ghost when he had already seen her a couple of times earlier in the film and was fine with it?

FREDDY had a whole series of films to de-evolve into the ridiculous but Shocker needed only one. Pileggi was fun to watch and I suppose Peter Berg did an adequate job despite having one of the worst cases of mushmouth since this side of Bam Margera. It doesn't matter though because this film just REEKS OF CASHING IN.

It's hard to believe that this is one of the films next up on Craven's remake chopping block.

Shocker: 4/10

P.S. The cheesy 80's metal soundtrack designed to get the audience "pumped up" didn't help matters either.

Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[jagged halo]

It seems obvious that Craven was trying to create the next big unstopable killing machine slasher

Craven's made no secret that it was his intention to start another franchise in Horace Pinker.

Shocker has some merit but it suffers from lazy screen writing and woeful FX. Not to mention Peter Bergs dreadful performance as Jonathan Parker.

P.S Deadly Friend pisses all over shocker:D

[JJFlamingo]

An entertaining, underrated movie. While it's not Nightmare 1, it doesn't take itself too seriously and Pileggi is an absolute blast as Pinker. Shame this didn't become a franchise as Pileggi alone should have continued with the character. Also the heavy metal soundtrack kicks ass and the album features a song not in the movie with Pileggi and Alice Cooper rapping(?)

[teenkiller]

I have decided that MAYBE I was too harsh on this film. I mean I love stupid fucking movies that don't really make sense so why did Shocker aggrevate me so? Probably because it was a cheap attempt for CRAVEN to try and make a franchise. I will be watching it again this weekend though to see if my opinion changes. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.