Shock (1977)

AUGUST 3, 2007

GENRE: GHOST, ITALIAN, POSSESSION,
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (FESTIVAL SCREENING)

Right after Ghost Son, the theater screened what was quite obviously the inspiration for that film, Mario Bava's Shock (or Schock. It depends on who you talk to really). It was nice to see the films together; while obviously similar in many ways, it served as a reminder that you can basically tell the same story and yet not copy entire scenes and dialog and characters verbatim with no rhyme or reason, to the point where the film is utterly and totally pointless.

But like I said, I can't review the Halloween remake yet.

Shock is much more "Italian" than Ghost Son, in that it contains nonsensical dialogue, scenes that exist entirely within the world of "dream logic", and has a good dosage of ridiculous gore. The kid is older and thus the scenes of him being possessed are slightly less ridiculous, and even a bit chilling (the scene where he tries to kill his mother's boyfriend is particularly nasty, since the guy happens to flying a plane filled with innocent people).

This one is a lot different than Mario's other films, and it's a shame he died right after completing it, since it seemed he was going in a different direction, one I happen to quite enjoy. His other films, while not BAD by any means, aren't ones I consider my favorites in the genre, but this one I really dug a lot (even more impressive when you consider I had literally just watched what could almost be considered a remake, and had the best scare in the film ruined by the Girl Who Knew Too Much DVD). But to be fair, some folks say Lamberto actually directed a lot of it, so maybe that's why.

Look, it doesn't matter. The movie features a psychiatrist who "comforts" a troubled woman by reminding her about her shock therapy, depression, and "drug addict ex husband". I wish I could find the exact quote, but alas. Hopefully this one will be on the second volume of Anchor Bay's Mario Bava sets (the first one is labeled "Volume 1" so they better fucking release a 2nd one or else Encyclopedia Brown will come down hard on their ass).

What say you?