 Thanks for checking out this review video. So I might look a little bit weird I feel uncomfortable because this shirt is way too small for me. There's a real melt two reasons Well, there's a main reason I'm wearing this shirt, and it's too small for me, and there's a reason I don't care that it's too small for me So this is a review for the film shocker from 1989 by West Craven written and directed by West Craven by the by the way So this is actually a West Craven Tribute shirt that I got in a you know one of those mystery boxes a long time ago and never fit me But I was like hey I still haven't I'm a throw it on because tribute to West Craven who was an awesome filmmaker although shocker is not an Awesome film the other thing is I put it on and I'm just like this is way too small for me And it looks really weird, and I look absurd, but guess what shocker is absurd. It is terribly absurd So I'm gonna look absurd for the review it only fits But as you can see Horace Pinker from shocker is on the shirt So I figure here's my tribute to this this movies garbage really I mean it's garbage that I'm glad I saw it is the first time I've seen it, and I'm very much glad I saw it But I won't watch it again unless I'm gonna watch it with someone to be like look at this piece of crap There's a reason that when people talk about West Craven, they don't talk about shocker Here's why and then you watch it so There will be spoilers going ahead, but if you're watching this and you Haven't seen it yet You can go back and watch it And then come back in and see what I have to say just to say you've seen West Craven's worst film ever But I can't really recommend the film because it is It it just is it is That's kind of all how I could put it okay So I'm gonna give you some backstory on this and we'll get into it This might go on for a while because I'm gonna rant how bad this was written and directed by West Craven Yes, this was after the serpent in the rainbow Which is the coffin from it right there and it was before the people under the stairs Which is there's the dude from people under the stairs Craven said that the film was severely cut to meet the R rating It was originally gonna get an X rating from the MPAA and it was severely severely cut He ended up having to submit this film 13 separate times to the MPAA before he actually got that R rating so It's kind of mind-boggling for me to hear that it's it was severely cut because of the fact that It feels way too long as it is like it's an hour and 45 minutes not really counting the credits and It's it feels way too long. This movie is way too long for what it is for what story is or is not actually there So I cannot imagine this was severely cut that would I I feel like it would have put it at like You know two hours or something unless they just meant by severely cut as in just like very small snippets of just stuff That was super gory which I know they had to you know cut out the super gory stuff But I feel like they probably had to cut out a bunch extra just to make the story flow Which it actually doesn't Anyway, that's the other thing I was like watching it early on and I'm just like well I wonder how much how much it's the fault of the heavy Of the heavy cutting in order to get that R rating that How much of that is that fault for making it feel so kind of like disjointed and weird? pacing wise and then as I kept going with the film. I'm like It's not due to that. It's just the film in general. Sorry. I have to readjust the neck like this It's a Schmedium band. It's it's really choking me. I Committed I'm going for it So this film actually got a release on DVD in 2007 as a double feature with the people under the stairs So that's kind of your watch a really good movie watch a really bad movie people under stairs was really good and I think Shocker was kind of supposed to be like the people under the stairs were like there's comedy to it and their social commentary to it But it's also intense and thrillery and it's kind of scary and creepy They really didn't pull it off in shocker. It was just too absurd to over the top. It's stupid They did pull it off with the people under the stairs. So that's kind of a good double feature in a sense The other thing is if people want to see an in-depth film analysis of the people under the stairs I did a video It's almost a year ago now for this channel so but you can go back and find it I think I did quite a good job on that to my own horn So the soundtrack for shocker Included Megadeth Iggy Pop and contributions from Paul Stanley from kiss Tommy Lee from Motley Crue Rudy Sarzo from white snake and Michael Anthony from Van Halen Right, you're just like wow, okay So the music was good like the composition of the music the composition of the soundtrack for the most part was good It didn't fit the film though There were so many weird moments in this film because of the matchup of what the scene was with the music You're just like this clashes. This doesn't make any sense prime example the cover of no more Mr. Nice guy who I think that was Iggy Pop who did that Originally Alice Cooper song and Alice Cooper shows up in the movie briefly at the end That cover of that song no more Mr. Nice guy It's it's put to the scene where you know they're getting everything prepped for the electrocution of Horace Pinker and It just doesn't fit. It just feels weird You're like this is supposed to be more of like a serious somber moment We're like this these people are gonna get their revenge on this killer and they're just like And it's all like teen boppy Like pop almost and it's like this is You're killing the mood right here killing the mood I understand that with this film they weren't they obviously weren't going for serious I think they should have gone for serious because it would have played better Because the the comedic stuff with it just didn't didn't work and I'll talk more about that coming up But Mitch Pelleggi is the guy who played Horace Pinker now most people probably know him for his role as Skinner on the X-Files Which love the X-Files watch it when I was growing up love love love the X-Files I want to go back and just watch through that whole thing. So anyway, he was There were moments in this film where he did a really good job with the role But then there are moments where he was like crazy absurdly over the top But I kind of feel like that's what was asked for at those moments because the whole movie felt that way overall the acting in this was terrible just bad acting Pelleggi I think Could have turned in a very good performance if it was supposed to be a serious role and So I kind of feel bad for him in this in this film because he's just absurd in this and I don't think it's his fault It's a small role, but I like the fact that Ted Raimi shows up in this one gotta love some Ted Raimi Quite like that guy All the news clips in the beginning of this film Drives home the violence of society and how it's exploited on the news That was kind of my thought when they're you know starting the whole film out with just showing all these clips of like war and You know people riding and fighting each other in the streets and stuff like that I was just like oh, I feel like this film is going to kind of have a theme of Societal violence and the way it's portrayed on TV Specifically the news and it kind of did but I'll talk more about that at the very end of the video when I'm gonna Give you what I really think my My idea is on what they were trying to nail home with this film poorly But what they were trying to do The amount of slapstick humor that this film started with you know when Jonathan is playing football And he like runs into the goalposts and there was like a bunch of slapsticky stuff And he's like falling over things and people are making jokes All that slapsticky humor and well and the humor in general in this film so cringy Just the cringiest most terrible comedy it was The film felt like I'm sorry. I spit. I don't know if you saw that That's how enraged this film has me the film felt like it didn't know which way it wanted to go but like like Craven had an idea of like, you know, I'd really like it to be kind of serious but I'd also really like it to be just like fun and humorous and It's like he just kept fighting having that fight in his brain while they were making the movie and just kind of like winging the the kind of Attitude of the film in general So that's why it just feels so like conflicted all the time and you're just like, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to scare me right now? Is this supposed to be serious or we supposed to be creeped out? Is this supposed to be thrilling or is this supposed to be dumb and over-the-top and stupid and funny? I don't know. It's so confusing I Feel like it got too weird too early. I wrote down there should have been a lot more backstory in the beginning Yeah, they could just kind of like throw you into things with the weirdness and the fact that Jonathan somehow through hitting his head like he can Connect with this serial killer just because he hit his head I don't know what the idea behind that is and then because of that he starts having all these crazy dreams, which feels Unbelievably reminiscent of a nightmare on Elm Street They were pulling way too much from nightmare on Elm Street on this and they should have left that alone I think all the dreams slash nightmare stuff totally did not fit in this film It those were actually some of the worst parts because it really slowed the pace down a lot because it's like This doesn't really have a whole lot to do with what's going on with Horace Pinker Why don't we focus on that because that's the story? It felt like they wanted to be like oh man We got to do this callback to a nightmare on Elm Street We really want to use dream sequences and stuff, but it just took away It didn't add anything and it was boring and stupid and felt Overused especially because there had been plenty of nightmare on Elm Street films by by this time So people have had enough they've seen enough of it you guys. Let's not That dude's using an insane amount of electricity with all those TVs on I wrote down at that point I didn't know his name was Horace Pinker But yeah at his like hideout or whatever or like voodoo house because that's another thing He was using voodoo so I felt like they just tried to cram in a lot of stuff into this Like when they the cops show up and he says like all these TVs on I was just like he's drawing a lot of electricity Which you know I understand that that's like kind of the point of shocker that all the all about the electricity with it But that guy would would have a huge huge energy bill. That was just something I thought was funny So the part where they actually go in there and they infiltrate it and the one the one cop disappears Because Pinker like grabbed him with the trapdoor thing and then he's gone and Jonathan says to his dad He's like wasn't one of your guys just here and he goes how the hell should I know I Was like are you kidding me? You are leading this operation as the head of I think it's like a sheriff or like the head of police or whatever So he's leading the operation he brings the police officer officers in there against their will might I add because at first They're just like isn't this illegal. We shouldn't be doing this and he's like no It's fine. I just made something up on the fly. Let's go in And then and then he's just like how am I supposed to know where these people are? I'm not responsible for anyone. It doesn't make sense the dialogue in this film is Terrible the dialogues terrible the jokes are even worse It's bad like that's just a big example right there was one of the first Glaring examples of terrible dialogue in the film, but I have a few more as I go on Another quote from the father you stay out of this. This is my business police business That's like, oh, okay. Thanks for clarifying that your business is Police business which we knew because we were there when you broke in as a police officer with your other police But then you just forgot what the mission was because you're like why am I am I supposed to be paying attention? Why am I supposed to know where everyone is? Whoo Already right. Yeah, I wrote down. I kind of covered this feels a lot like a nightmare on Elm Street and it was too much It was too heavy on that in my opinion. They should have left that totally alone West Craven Jesus man, I mean RIP West Craven. He made some amazing stuff Everyone's gonna have a stinker when they make as much as he does or he did so, you know You can forgive this but when you watch the film, you're just like How like how did we end up here? Okay, this is this is another funny thing there are a lot of these moments just like this makes no sense This makes absolutely no sense. This makes absolutely no sense when Jonathan's Girlfriend gets murdered, but he's at football practice and then the coach says to him You need to go home. You need to go home. Why would the coach tell him to go home? which he knows is a Active crime scene where the kids girlfriend got murdered Does that make any sense? Hey go to this active crime scene. See your murdered girlfriend. That's a great idea, coach. I Wrote down movie feels disjointed and also rushed but also slow at the same time at different times It feels different ways throughout it feels pretty disjointed It feels very slow at times like they're trying to kill time and at other times it feels like they're trying to be like Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. So it's just weird. It's like stop go. Stop go Sorry, also, I'm sorry for my energy level on this one. I'm pretty amped up like when I see movies It's just like drive me nuts or I really hate or piss me off like I get even more animated and reactive Yeah, I wrote down the set I kind of touched on this but the soundtrack makes the movie feel like a joke and I put that down when I when that scene came up. I was talking about where it's supposed to be the prep for the execution But that persisted that issue Then here's a question with that when they were getting ready for him to be executed And he did his voodoo ritual in his cell How did he get all of his voodoo stuff because I'm pretty sure when you're arrested You don't they don't give you the time and say oh go back in your place and grab all the stuff You want to take with you, you know to make yourself feel at more at home? How did he get all that crap? Totally doesn't make sense. Just another one of these moments Sorry, I got a hair on this The law enforcement enforcement in this movie gives zero shits when people die. Yes 100% other people kind of care when people end up dead in this But when anyone in law enforcement sees that someone got killed they're just like yeah And they just move past them like throughout the entire film. They're just like look don't care. That was just weird the body bursting into flames was actually a very cool thing after the The attempted execution see my cat is mad about this film too. Actually she slept through it But yeah, the body bursting into flames So I guess it's like the body that Horace Pinker doesn't need anymore because he's jumping bodies at this point when it bursts into flames and just like Immolates totally that that was actually a cool effect. I liked it I Like how Horace in the cops body can't hit anything with his pistol when he's running after Jonathan He's just shooting shooting and Jonathan's like, I don't know is he that good And we're are we supposed to assume that he's that great at football and running roots that he can dodge bullets that way? Because it kind of feels like it because he shoots so many bullets at him can't hit him and then the random guy shows up He shoots one bullet at that guy and nails him in the back Exactly where he needed it to so it's just like another thing that makes absolutely no sense My favorite part of this movie actually may have been when Horace jumped into the little girl's body because seeing the little girl say the word fucker was very very funny and then Just just the way she acted to like when she was trying to run and drag her foot at the same time It was hilarious that by far is my favorite segment of the film. It's great That little that little girl did a great job. I just got to give her credit I don't know her name, but she did a great job Why the hell do people just believe what this kid is telling them? It's totally not believable Throughout this film Jonathan is going to these people on it his football members his girlfriend his father the Although the father doesn't really believe him But all these other people including the football coach just believe him when he tells him this crazy story Hey, there's this serial killer who travels through electricity and he's jumping into other people's bodies And they're just like, oh, okay. How can we help you? What it makes absolutely no sense Another moment in this film that makes no sense. I just I don't understand what was going on in West Craven's mind when he wrote the script and then when he made the film you have time between When you're right the script when you get a final edit and when you start making the film you can change this stuff It was a terrible idea terrible idea Sorry I got calmed down a little bit when Horace plugged into the socket Towards the end well towards the false and I was like, oh man Maybe it's gonna be over here and he like plugged his fingers in the socket Which I will say the the effect of like his fingers elongating and becoming like the prongs and going in that was cool But when that happened, I was like, no, don't prolong this movie. Can we just end it here, please? Oh It killed me man. I was so unhappy So I wrote down specifically the film drags horribly after the the TV tower scene where you know Horace gets into The father's body and they scale that TV tower and he's about to fall on everything After that it gets really really really slow and drags horribly, which is the moment where you want to maintain Momentum because you're coming into the end. I feel like that's within the last Maybe even 20 minutes of the film. You got to keep going at that point, but it gets crazy slow All the dream world stuff is stupid and weighs the movie down doesn't even fit the story I already talked about that the chair fight scene Was kind of funny at first but then I it kept going and I was like this is actually just really bad And I don't understand why anyone comes up with this concept in the first place. It's like we can make this work Yeah, where the bark a lounger just he becomes it and then he's sitting in his lap at one point It's just it's weird. It looks bad and it doesn't work So they there couldn't there couldn't have been a more absurd Scene than Jonathan and Horace fighting inside the TV That at the moment I felt like they wanted to be very over the top But it was too over the top and it just made it very comical and dumb and it just didn't work I don't know when they just kept going through all the scenes like there's an A bomb going off They're going through World War two. They're going through, you know people riding in the streets It's just that that whole fight scene and it looked bad And that's one of the things it's like older films that focus on technology and like TV and electricity and all that type of stuff It's never gonna hold up because the special effects will always look bad in about, you know Five to ten years. It's already gonna look bad and then it just gets worse worse worse worse worse You know, I know they're not when they make these films are not planning for well What's it gonna look like in 20 years? They're planning for can we make money in the box office right now and this movie definitely you can tell that was the focus of this It's like it's West Craven put it in the theater. Let's see if we get some money out of it So when did a remote control become a we controller before we controllers even existed because you just like taking the remote when he Was controlling Horace with it and just like whipping him around the room and I'm like that doesn't work Like I get the premise of him hitting the freeze frame and it stopped him Okay, you got me on that one, but there's no button for like move across room move up to ceiling like It doesn't make any sense Another thing that doesn't make sense They must have had a lot of fun shooting fight scenes in this because there are so many prolonged Fist fight scenes in this film. It's gratuitous It's like people want to be kind of like they live but not just do like one super long scene They wanted to do a bunch of medium-length fist fights The premise doesn't work Guy has a link with a killer cuz he hits his head. I put I don't get it How is it that he gets this link with this killer just because he had a concussion? Makes no sense The dialogue is terrible already said that the acting is terrible already said that special effects Don't hold up at all already said that but all those things bear repeating. So that's why I said it again It's easy to see why people don't talk about this movie when it comes to West Craven I'm sure West Craven wanted to forget about this film, but look I got it on a t-shirt. So it's not going away Horse pinker forever. I'm gonna keep this t-shirt now because there's a lot of awesome on here and one terrible For what little substance this film has it goes on way too long and this was severely cut I already said this but once again, I got to say that so the last thing I'm gonna say is this This is my end feeling on kind of the theme they were going for tying into the TV and violence and society and all that So I wrote was the whole point of this film to say that kids will take responsibility for themselves and not emulate violence for TV Because I know this this was kind of in the realm of the time period where a lot of politicians were trying to blame violence on You know TV Movies video games all that well they didn't hit video games at this point yet, but they did that later There's this whole cycle of those types of things happening where it's like Oh these kids with their music and their TV and it's making them all violent So I know that was going on during this time So I don't know if this is kind of supposed to be West Craven's commentary in the end of look Kids will see this stuff. They'll take it in they'll struggle with it a little bit But in the end they're gonna be their own parent they're gonna be an adult and they're gonna take responsibility for being themselves and Reasoning through these things and not acting on what's what's coming from the television Chloe can you be quiet, please? I'm sorry. She's very worked up about this. So anyway Yeah, so put your put some comments down here. Let me know Do you think that was kind of the the idea behind the whole theme of this film or what and Yeah, just give me your thoughts overall I this movie so bad like I said, I can't recommend it But I might show it to someone to be like you want to see some real garbage Because I like to do that thing like subject people to terrible movies from time to time. It's kind of funny But but once again, I'm glad I saw this because I can say I've seen more of West Craven's movies I haven't seen everything. I've seen a lot of it though and at some point I will like to say I've seen it all and Then I'll forget about shocker at that point because everything will be complete Anyway, my star rating for this with five stars in play half stars being able to be used It's a one-star film and the reason it even makes one star Half stars the lowest I can I can go on this. I don't do zeros The reason it makes it up to a one-star is because there is some stuff that actually is funny in it And there were a few things that I kind of liked like the girl Little girl being possessed by Horace Pinker So there are a few things I enjoyed and there was some entertainment factor to the film but overall Gosh, so anyway, thanks everyone for checking this out. Please do me a solid real quick Pay me back for watching this terrible movie by hitting that subscribe I would appreciate that very much put some comments down there about this you can do a like if you want to but in the end it Doesn't matter except doing that subscribe because that's what I need But thank you so much for checking this out until next time. Keep it brutal