From the depths

" Once They Were Almost Human! Beneath the living... Beyond the dead... From the depths of Hell's Ocean! The Deep End of Horror!" I am not sure how many movies are in the Nazi zombie genre but i do agree that this film is a classic in every sense of horror film making. Shock waves (AKA almost Human and Death Corps) is a little gem that was released in 1976 starring the great Peter Cushing (as SS commander), Brooke Adams and John Carradine. The story goes back to world war II as the Nazi high command ordered it's scientists to create some unstoppable zombies...and it was a success. Now, Years later a group of people on a yacht end up stranded on the very island where the Death Corps dwell, and so the horror ensues. The first 45 minutes of the film does drag a bit but it's worth the pay off, and when the Nazi zombies finally surface you will find yourself hopelessly glued to the screen. The zombies are very iconic in this film, especially the scene of them all rising from the water slowly walking to shore, it creates such a sense of dread and helplessness. Surprisingly there is very little gore in the film which I found a good thing, it holds up well enough without relying on gore to carry the film. I really loved Peter Cushings character as the SS commander, even though this was at the tail end of his career he still proved to be the strongest actor in this, and for most of the films he was in for that matter.

Although there seemed to be many more zombies only eight actors were cast to play the zombies. The hotel they shot the movie in was a great location and is an actual Biltmore hotel in Florida that was shut down for a two year period and abandoned at the time of filming and the director paid $250 to rent the building for the shoot. The hotel was renovated a couple of years after the shoot and now charges significantly more than $250 per room, per night.

As zombie movies go this one is completely original and is now in my top ten, A definite recommend of the highest order. Thanks to the great DVD company Blue Underground now you can add this zombie masterpiece transferred from the director's own vault to your home collection. Now go buy it!

Rating: B+

Reviewed by Jason