GL84 Responsible for a ending a mass murderer's rampage, a teen finds himself and his friends the target of the killer's wrath as he returns from the grave to seek revenge and into a final showdown to end his killing spree.This turned out to be quite an enjoyable and somewhat entertaining entry. One of the better features is the manner in which hes eventually caught in the beginning as the backdrop of the reign of terror and his rampage through the city makes for a pretty effective start to this. That makes the early scenes line the police search at the repair-ship or the encounters among the family's is all rather fun and chilling as they all are built off that early storyline premise. That also works with the later scenes of him now being confronted directly and trying to outwit the killer through the neighborhood which is continued later on when the body-hopping part of the story kicks in. these are just as fun with the park chases being a lot more enjoyable and really fives this one quite a punch in the middle segments. These are enough to make for a rather enthralling time in the finale which is the film's crazies set of circumstances where they begin fighting through the different TV programs and movies which are so much fun and highly entertaining to see them in such classic moments and footage which just adds to the whole appeal of this one. As well, the whole sequence for the prison execution is incredibly fun with the actual execution and escape which makes for a wholly thrilling sequence that has plenty to like about it. These do manage to help overcome the few flaws present, which are enough to hold this down somewhat. The biggest problem here is the rather lame body-hopping storyline which is never explained or developed beyond just the limp which makes all of this poorly developed and quite haphazard. That feeling also ties into the special effects and fantasy part of the storyline as both of these are equally underwhelming since they tie into each other, the fantasy element driven along by the special effects to show the ghosts battling each other and them fighting through the TV shows. It looks back in execution and seems stupid in concept. The last problem here is the rather neutered gore on display, which is very noticeable since the kill count isn't very impressive and is all mostly found after-the-fact without really showing it on-camera. These do hurt it somewhat, but there's more than enough to knock this down somewhat.Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence and Brief Nudity.

gretz-569-323863 Wes Craven is one of my favorite directors. the plot of "Nightmare on Elm Street" was brilliant, and decades later, "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" was just as brilliant, IMHO. I even love "Cursed." So I really wanted to like "Shocker." but that's only possible if you ignore some truly major inanities.For instance: from the beginning, it's obvious that Jonathan has information about the killer and can help find and capture him. But Jon's cop father refuses to believe him, and keeps telling him to "go home, this is MY job." Why? Or the scene where Jonathan dreams himself into the next murder, with one of his football buddies to wake him just in time (for-- what?). How does he know the murderer's going to strike right then? In fact, Jonathan's psychic abilities overall are hit and miss: he dreams some of the murders, but he's happily playing football while his girlfriend is being slaughtered. Why didn't he feel that one coming? And when Jonathan searches for the necklace that somehow (it's never explained how) will keep him safe...I just had to laugh. Seriously? He's going to dive to the bottom of a lake, AT NIGHT, and find that tiny necklace? And speaking of that, why is he loving ghost-Alison half the time, but scared witless of her the other half?It's not all silliness, though. There are some things to recommend this movie. It's definitely gory, for those of you who like that. There is some humor, and the Zelig-like trip through the TV programs was quite interesting. And there are some nice scenes of autumn in the suburbs: the leaves swirling in the wind, the witchy little kids running across the street (again, unexplained), the moon through the trees...And anyway, a bad Wes Craven horror movie is still better than a good non-Wes Craven horror movie.

Scott LeBrun Wes Cravens' "Shocker" is often one of the more derided in the directors' career, but in this own reviewers' humble opinion, it still manages to be pretty entertaining, even as it gets awfully silly and keeps wavering between a serious, sombre tone and an insane, over the top one. It doesn't help that it's too obvious that Craven was trying to create another Freddy Krueger in the form of raving maniac Horace Pinker, a savage psychopath played to foaming-at-the-mouth perfection by Mitch Pileggi, eventually to become better known for playing Skinner on 'The X-Files'.Pinker's on the loose, slaughtering whole families, but opposing him is college football star Jonathan Parker (a remarkably sincere Peter Berg), a nice guy who was raised by a police lieutenant (Michael Murphy). Jonathan and Horace, who are connected in a way that the younger man doesn't anticipate, are also psychically linked, and Jonathan is able to give the cops his name and place of business and before too long the killer is caught and executed.But the story doesn't end there, as Pinker, in league with Satan, "survives" the electric chair and lives on to overtake various unlucky people and control their bodies, including, in the movies' most memorable sequence, a little girl. How can one hold in their laughter watching this blonde haired moppet curse like a sailor, and try to operate a bulldozer?Ultimately, the movie is a little too absurd for its own good, but damn if it doesn't have some good atmosphere, show off some amusing ideas, and go overboard on the bloodshed. One particular murder scene is just drenched in the red stuff. One of the methods used to combat Horace is pure corn, involving Jonathans' love for girlfriend Alison (Camille Cooper) and an all-important locket. The best stuff is the wonderfully ridiculous climax in which a rampaging Horace and Jonathan run amok through TV programming (they end up in an episode of 'Leave it to Beaver' where Jonathan pleads for the Beavers' help). This does show some invention, and the special effects are effectively cheesy. (One has to love the "You got it, baby!" moment.)The cast is extremely game throughout this thing; also popping up are Ted Raimi as an assistant coach, Vincent Guastaferro ("Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI") as a victimized cop, Heather Langenkamp in a tiny, non-speaking cameo as a murder victim, Richard Brooks ('Law and Order') as football player Rhino, Ernie Lively as the warden, rock guitarist Kane Roberts also doing the cameo thing as a road worker, and Cravens' kids Jessica and Jonathan in bits. The heavy metal soundtrack adds to the fun.Overall, this may not be something this reviewer would necessarily consider "good", but it's still something of a hoot, and may keep some people watching out of sheer disbelief.Six out of 10.

happyendingrocks Assuredly the lowest point of Wes Craven's filmography, Shocker is a jumbled and often absurd horror/comedy that woefully misfires on both counts. The convoluted plot crowds in so many mismatched pieces that it seems like Craven decided to cram sketches of several movies into this one, and the end result is an over-long pastiche of clichés that limps along to its obnoxiously lame conclusion begging desperately to be put out of its misery.I'm hoping that writing the plot down will help me make sense of it in my own mind, so let's give it a shot. The story is centered around a brutal serial killer named Horace Pinker (played by the normally solid Mitch Pileggi, who eschews acting here in favor of presenting an over-blown caricature of a movie psycho) and a twenty-something protagonist named Jonathan Parker, who, in a fine example of how relentlessly silly this movie is, we later discover is actually Pinker's long-lost son.Though this is never made clear, the sequence of events seems to suggest that after suffering a concussion at football practice, Parker somehow develops supernatural powers that allow him to dream of Pinker's murders while they're happening. After Pinker butchers Jonathan's entire family (except for his detective father), and later his girlfriend, the vengeful lad makes catching the madman his personal mission. This leads to a Nightmare On Elm Street-cloning moment where Jonathan forces himself to fall asleep to see where Pinker will strike next and asks a friend to wake him up at the first sign of trouble.Through Jonathan's resourceful plan, Pinker is captured and eventually executed via electric chair (the next day, apparently, since no effort is made to suggest any sort of time elapsing in between). However, before this justice is meted out the crafty maniac performs a Satanic ritual with the television in his cell, during which demonic yellow electricity overtakes him, ostensibly giving him the ability to transfer his essence into other people's bodies and take them over. Using this power, Pinker is able to escape his demise in the chair by jumping into someone else's body, and the killer is then free to roam the streets again while masking his identity with a series of human disguises (remember the movie The Hidden? If not, you should check it out, since it's a hell of a lot better than this one).Clearly miffed that Jonathan foiled his murderous plans, Pinker's first order of business is getting revenge on his nemesis. Luckily, Jonathan is informed of Pinker's non-demise thanks to a dream he has, in which his dead, covered-in-blood girlfriend appears to warn him. In the vision, she hands Jonathan the necklace he once gave her and tells him it's the secret weapon that will stop Pinker once and for all (???), and, in yet another Elm Street lift, Jonathan wakes up to find the necklace in his bed.Thus begins the second phase of the film, in which Pinker pursues Jonathan while inhabiting a variety of bodies. Apparently our hero read the script ahead of time, because the first time he is confronted by Pinker (disguised as a police officer), he immediately sees through the ruse and deduces that the malevolent spirit of Pinker is controlling the cop's body, and he also figures out without hesitation that when the body's life force is used up, Pinker will have to find another vessel to occupy.In one of the film's ludicrous high-points, Pinker zaps into the body of a little girl, who then commandeers a conveniently abandoned tractor with the key in the ignition and tries to run Jonathan over with it. Despite Pinker's ability to leap into someone's body by touching them, he fails to use this skill when our hero picks up the little girl (wouldn't it be easier for Pinker to just jump into Jonathan's body and force him to kill himself?).After escaping a few more retarded twists during this scenario, Jonathan seeks help from the first person anyone with a shape-shifting murderer chasing them would run to: his football coach (who, naturally, believes our hero's entire story without question and can't wait to help). Pinker takes over more bodies, he kills some people, he gets a few guns along the way and shoots at Jonathan approximately 819 times without hitting him, etc.It takes almost two hours for this tripe to arrive at its thudding conclusion. Jonathan eventually figures out a plan to stop Pinker (way too involved and stupid for me to waste your time with here), but before he implements it he takes a break to have sex with the ghost of his dead girlfriend. In case you're curious, the climax finds Jonathan transforming into electricity (?), leaping into a television set (??), and doing battle with Pinker throughout TV land (???). Oh, and our hero also uses a remote control to force Pinker through a series of grade-school pratfalls (fast forward makes the brutish killer talk in a high squeaky voice, hardy har). Other than the ample displays of Pinker's gory handiwork, there is absolutely nothing to recommend in this wretched mess. The meandering plot never coheres into a rational story, and the padded sentimentality of Jonathan's visits from his ghostly lover belongs in a young adult romance novel, not a fright flick. About the only thing Craven gets right is ending the movie in a way that doesn't blatantly crack open the door for a sequel (I can't even imagine how awful Shocker 2: Electric Boogaloo would be...). The only shocker here is that the same film-maker who made a horror film as intelligent as New Nightmare also helmed this load of abysmal, mindless crap. Maybe he directed this after suffering a concussion at football practice?