Moral-Flexibility.Net

“Shockwaves” (1977) Directed by Ken Wiederhorn.
Starring: Clarence Thomas, Brooke Adams, Luke Halpin, John Carradine and Jack Davidson .
(MF Title: “Like Gilligans Island, but with undead Nazis!”)
Zombie Film Rating:

Overview: A small pleasure cruise goes horribly wrong when the boat is first struck by a “phantom ship” then run aground just off a seemingly deserted island. The passengers and crew abandon the boat and row ashore hoping to find some help, or a means to repair their damaged ship.

What they find instead is an abandoned hotel, occupied by a shipwrecked Nazi who tells them a tale of a secret German weapon from World War II. The “Toten Korps”, combat units composed of undead SS who caused havoc among allied units during the last days of the war, as they were difficult to control often attacking German units he, as their commanding officer, was ordered to load them into a ship and to await orders once underway. Weeks passed with no orders, and so he scuttled the ship off the island and stayed in voluntary exile.

They need to get off the island quickly, as the Toten Korps have awoken….

Summary: This movie opens with the following narrative;

“Shortly before the start of World War II the German High Command began a secret investigation into the powers of the supernatural. Ancient legend told of a race of warriors who used neither weapons nor shields, and who’s superhuman powers came from within the earth itself. As Germany prepared for war, the SS secretly enlisted a group of scientists to create an invinceable soldier. It is known that the bodies of soldiers killed in battle were returned to Kolblentz, where they were used in a variety of scientific experiments.

It was rumoured that towards the end of the war Allied forces met German squads that fought without weapons, killing only with their bare hands. No one knows who they were or what became of them, but one thing is certain. Of all the SS units there was only one that the allies never captured a single member of.

A small boat bobs on the surface of the ocean, huddled inside is a lone woman. The boat is found by local fishermen and Rose, the sole survivor thinks back on the events that brought her here.

Rose had been a passenger on a small dive boat touring the local islands, there had been a series of mechanical problems and the few passengers on board were getting more than a little fed-up with the captain and the tour itself. This day was marked by a strange weather system affecting the area around the boat, and generally creeping the passengers and crew out.

Late that night the boat nearly collides with a “ghost ship”, which is found to be an old abandoned wreck off a small island. The boat is run aground shortly thereafter, and between it’s mechanical problems and the significant damage to the hull the passengers and crew abandon it, hoping to find some help on the nearby island.

While transfering the passangers to the shore they discover the body of the captain, seemingly drowned by the shore. With few options they being searching the island. They find and explore an abandoned hotel, where they are addressed by a mysterious resident of the hotel, who warns them to leave without revealing himself. The first mate eventually tracks the phantom resident down, and it’s revealed that he is a Nazi officer suffering a voluntary exile to this island after he had scuttled a ship containing the “Totem Korps” (squads of undead soldiers) nearby. He warns the group that they must leave the island.

Of course the group tries to flee the island on a single rickety rowboat, but are attacked by the nazi zombies and in the confusion they retreat to the hotel hoping to barricade themselves in a freezer until morning. Personality issues arise to put piad to this plan, and members start dropping like flies at this point (all dying of drowning, which seems to be the trademark for these aquatic nazi zombies, weren’t they supposed to be a U-Boat crew or something?).

The first mate and Rose are the last two survivors, and they make a final effort to escape the island, with the first mate being grabbed by a nazi zombie just as it seems they are home free….

Critique: I remembered this movie as being better than it is…. it’s still a neat little tale, and an entertaining film. Theres really no combat with the zombies, except for a few instances of hand to hand where the zombies goggles are removed and they stagger off to die somewhere (this is never really explained).

This film lacks any “lets kick some zombie ass” factor and the survivors spend the entire movie evading the undead. I kept wishing they’d resort to cliche #439 (discovery of old arms cache) or something along those lines, just to speed things up a bit. This aside it’s definately a classic, even if the zombies are a little off the standard pattern.

The DVD includes some bonus features of note, including a directors commentary (which is not half bad) and a stills gallery from the production itself.