Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I had read many reviews of this Mario Bava "classic" and have seen it re-released many times due to the cult status it holds. Starting to watch this however I really couldn't understand why.I am no stranger to a good Italian movie and some of those can be very slow and lacking substance, so I was expecting big things knowing this was a cult classic, however I almost fell asleep in the beginning of this.It was just so slow to go anywhere, it felt like almost nothing was happening. It almost has an "Omen"-esque feel to it, where something seems to be up with the boy, but we are not totally sure what it is.Stick with it though, as the pace increases around the halfway point and doesn't really stop until the bloody conclusion. It's never going to be as good as "Blood and Black Lace", but it's certainly worth a watch.

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.

Italian horror cinema, especially it's more exploitative stylings such as giallo, is so hit-and-miss. Some directors are great, others are terrible, even when they're contemporaries. Within oeuvres, some director's movies are quite effective, others are nearly useless (I'm glaring at you, Dario Argento). And, in some cases, even a single movie has its amazing parts and its terrible parts--yes, like Shock, Maestro Mario Bava's final directorial effort.The concept itself is very good. A mix of Shining and Amityville Horror style haunted house narrative, a woman and her family move into the house of her youth, only to be beset by spectres. Dora, the mother, is first beset by apprehension, then anxiety, then horror, and finally insanity as the house slowly destroys her mind. Young Marco, her child, almost immediately gets possessed -- by what is not so clear, but that's actually a good way to go about it. Bruno, Dora's second husband and Marco's step-father is ostensibly the voice of reason, but first his absence's sink the security of Dora's psyche, and then his sordid past comes back to destroy all vestiges of hope for the family. If you're looking for skeletons in the closet, that's basically the best way to describe this movie.However, it's execution is spotty at best. There's the aforementioned possessions, ghostly happenings, psychoses; there's also voodoo, token objects, endless dream sequences, and a trippy montage in the middle of the movie that comes out of absolutely nowhere. There are some sequences that are superbly executed (one shot near the end of the movie involving a hallway and Bruno suddenly changing into someone else has to be one of the most terrifying moments in cinema I've ever witnessed), and then there are others that do more than drag down the narrative (Dora slowly going hysterical while Bruno just sits there watching goes on too long while little reaction from Bruno makes it entirely unbelievable). In classic Italian cinema means, the imagery is mostly beautiful but their penchant for dubbed post-production sound is very disconcerting, making the movie a little harder to get into.I'd really only recommend this one to fans of Bava, the other Italian giallo filmmakers, and those who really do love really flamboyant horror movies of all sub-types. It's a shame, too, because some sequences are deserving of recognition for their skill and execution, but the whole does not support the parts, and vice versa.--PolarisDiB

Mario Bava's Shock is an excellent addition to his canon of films. It almost feels like a more coherent and gritty modern day take on his earlier Kill Baby Kill, using similar lighting and direction tricks to make Daria Nicoldi's creaky house all the more terrifying.Even with the slightly shoddy transfer of the film I was watching, Shock oozes visual splendour. All shots are carefully composited for maximum impact and every set is fantastically beautifully lit as you would expect from the director. The movie is in effect a Gothic horror moved to a modern day setting, with Daria Nicoldi playing a woman plagued by memories of her dead husband and more than a little amnesia issues.The way the movie slowly builds an accumulation of signs that either something extremely wrong is going on or Daria's character is losing her mind completely is excellent. A lot of flak has been launched at the film for it's slow pace, but in truth it is no slower than his earlier movies, and the slow pace gives the truly horrific and bloody finale an undeniable punch missing from many 'fast-paced' horrors.Still. It is dubbed. Atrociously in parts. As with most movies of it's kind the weakest link is the voice-over for the child Marco. He's so unfortunately over the top. Most Italian movies have at least one character that the dubbing didn't quite work out for, and Marco is Shock's. You'll either be OK with it as all these movies have similar issues, or it'll force your hand to the DVD remote halfway through the first act. Ye have been warned.If you can stomach that issue, it's an excellent movie. It's atmosphere is slightly compromised at times by the dodgy dub but other than that, this is a chiller that won't leave you for a while, especially some of the tragic and truly disturbing images in the final reels. Check it out for a real shiver-down-the-spine horror flick!