GL84
After moving into an old house with her family, a mentally unhinged woman begins to increasingly suspect her former husband still haunts the property and tries to save her son from his presence.Overall this was an incredibly enjoyable and exciting effort with a lot to like. One of the best qualities here is the incredibly strong central premise of being stuck in the old house and why it was designated to return there, having such a strong connection with the location that's spelled out here in the convoluted back-story that grows increasingly more disturbed with each layer effectively making the stay there quite unwelcome in the first place and readily setting this one up right from the start. The way this one really digs into the psychosis of it all, that back-story giving a plausible excuse for all manner of really inventive scares from a hallucinatory attack by a floating razor-blade that follows her every move, a series of visions about a strange brick-wall that appears out of nowhere and the growing fascination her son has with either molesting her or her personal undergarments that altogether combine into a classy yet effectively sleazy affair in the greatest Italian traditions. The use of the child being possessed and whether that in itself is simply another form of her overall madness really makes for quite an intriguing premise throughout this that really makes the most of the time given to it with a rather intense and quite shocking series of events that may or may not be all in her head that continues on here and really helps to make the first half all that much more chilling as it lets the story unfold. When the second half really lets loose, this one tends to favor the action as the centerpiece is a massive ghostly attack throughout the entire house as it continually hurls furniture and belongings at her from an unseen force while demonic howls and screaming continually make their way throughout the scene which is long, intense and quite chilling overall which sets up the best part of this one. While this one did have a few small flaws, the only really damaging part is the factor of the first half here being a bit more relaxed in pace as the majority of the events play with her psychosis to the point that those are the only points of interest and that leads to a somewhat plodding, lumbering march to get going. It's all quite fun, but it doesn't match the relentlessness of the later half of the film and is really all that holds it back.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language, Nudity and intense child behavior.
udar55
Dora (Daria Nicolodi) returns to the country house where her first husband committed suicide. Coming with her are new husband Bruno (John Steiner) and her son Marco (David Colin Jr.). Since she is a female protagonist in an Italian horror movie, you know Dora has some past mental problems and they surface right away as she has crazy dreams and her son begins acting very peculiar ("I have to kill you mommy" being the greeting that really unnerves Dora). Mario Bava's last theatrical feature continues the fine tradition of Italians finding really creepy looking kids. Colin's only other feature was the earlier BEYOND THE DOOR (1974), which you can see Bava is trying to reference. The isolated location is nice and there are a few creepy sequences here. The unusually named I. Libra provides a Goblin- esque score.
Michael_Elliott
Shock (1977) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Dora Baldini (Daria Nicolodi) moves her new husband (John Steiner) and her son (David Colin, Jr.) from a previous marriage into the house that she once lived with the kid's father who committed suicide. It doesn't take long for strange things to start happening and the mother believes that the dead father has possessed the body of his son. SHOCK has a pretty bad reputation, which I think is somewhat unfair for a few different reasons. I think a lot of people automatically hated this picture because it was originally released in America as BEYOND THE DOOR II and many were upset that it had nothing to do with the 1974 picture. Another reason people hate this film is because it's not your typical Italian horror film as there's not any real gore and for the majority of the running time there's not a single thing that happens. I think SHOCK really is the perfect example of a very talented director being able to take a rather lackluster screenplay and a low budget and working some magic with it. There's no doubt that Mario Bava was a genius that could do things with a limited amount of funds and he does a pretty good job here. There are several great scenes that are really brought to life by the director's style and this includes the various hauntings. When the horror elements finally kick in they're pretty effective including a now famous scene involving the little boy running up to his mother. I certainly won't spoil what happens but it's certainly a creepy little sequence. I thought Bava did a pretty good job at covering the psychological elements of the film as we really do seem to get into the mind of Nicolodi as she starts to crack under all the pressure she's under. Speaking of Nicolodi, she turns in a fine performance as all of her emotional states are perfectly captured and I thought she was very believable as the tortured soul. Steiner is also good as the caring husband and Colin, who also appeared in BEYOND THE DOOR, isn't too bad. What really keeps this film from being more is the screenplay, which is pretty mediocre to say the least. I think the entire plot involving the suicide is pretty predictable and there's really not any shocks. If the term "by-the-numbers" means anything to you then this film is the perfect example of it. When you see how bland the screenplay is, it's even more impressive that Bava was able to do so much with it. SHOCK is certainly a flawed movie but the effective moments make it worth sitting through and it certainly deserves a better reputation.
MisterWhiplash
Sometimes all you need in horror is a sense of mood in a place. Other times, a warped state of mind can help a great deal by a filmmaker's point of view to get a viewer tapped in. In Shock, we do know for certain that a mother, Dora, her cute little son Marco, and her second husband Bruno, are at a new house they just bought. But what we don't know for certain, perhaps not fully even until the very end, what is really taking the shape of the horror, and that's the key to Mario Bava's success here (actually his last film, quite a feat for any time in his career). We're lead to believe that this is most likely a ghost story - at least at first. It seems straightforward enough: the boy keeps getting weird, sneaking on his mother (even stealing her underwear) and acts generally creepy, and soon get some supernatural mojo with a doll made up of his mom and a swing that can control his stepfather's flight plan as he pilots a plane.There is that aspect, and Bava does get some good mileage out of the mannerisms and kind eyes of the child actor Colin Jr (his voice on the other hand leaves much more to be desired). But then sometime else happens after a little while: we get to follow Dora more closely, specifically when she has nightmares or can't really tell between what is real and what is dark fantasy. She has a dream where she's trapped in her bedroom, and a box-cutter moves by itself, hovering and threatening her at every turn. She also sees a giant brick wall and screams in agony, for reasons that won't become clear until much later. Again, could still all be the ghost going on - who we also learn soon after could allegedly be her first husband, who died from suicide as a junkie.But the fact that Dora was a former mental patient, and spent some time in an asylum and got some shock treatments, calls into question her reliability as a character. Her husband doesn't believe her, but who would in this situation (and, naturally, in this kind of semi-ghost sub-horror genre)? What we see is a split between what is expected, and Bava has a gay-old-time showing us imagery that is just downright disturbing. Some of it early on borders on being just wrong (the boy making sight of her mother as she sleeps, perhaps possessed or directed by his dead father... or is he?), and then other times things just get strange, deliberately. It is Italian Horror, after all, but done without the tasteless style of a Fulci. This is more... I don't know if classy is the word, but Bava knows his camera and knows how to create eerie suspense out of nothing, so it's kind of a bridge between being grindhouse and being true Gothic terror.And sure, some parts the dialog is weak and the actress Nicoldi shrieks so high that you can hear Fay Wray telling her to knock it off. But Bava gets us interested in the plight of this character, what will happen to her as, naturally, she stays in the house because her husband doesn't want to leave (at least not just yet), and what sinister act the husband-cum-son will do next as well. There's are scenes where horror creeps up on a viewer; watch as Dora keeps hearing her boy call out for her from... somewhere, and can't find him, but sees something wicked in the piano room (at one point, I should add, it laughs), and the ambiguity of this scene, among others, drives the tension and madness. While not flawless, it's the work of a master. 9.5/10
