Shock

DVD Anchor Bay Entertainment
1977, 92 minutes

review by Lee Peterson

"Mama...I have to kill you."
--eight year old Marco (David Colin, Jr.)

Seven years after her junkie husband's suicide, Dora (Deep Red''s Daria Nicolodi) moves back into the house they once shared, along with her young son Marco (David Colin Jr.) and her new husband Bruno (Tenebre's John Steiner). 

Everything seems perfect at first, but it isn't long before little Marco starts acting a little strange--holding disturbing conversations with an imaginary friend, going through his mother's dresser and slicing up her underwear, and, ultimately, dry-humping her during a playful wrestling bout (pretty much your average eight-year-old, in other words). Marco's creepy behavior and Dora's strange nightmares/ hallucinations lead her to believe someone (or something) is out to kill her. A trip to a sympathetic psychiatrist (Italian horror vet Ivan Rassimov, of Planet of the Vampires, Eaten Alive andThe Man from Deep River, et al) leads Dora to slowly recall details of her husbandâs death that she's been supressing all this time.

Is Marco a conduit for her dead husband's restless ghost, or is Dora just completely losing her shit?

Shock (aka Beyond the Door 2) was legendary Italian director Mario Bava's final film, shot three years after the ill-fated, never completed Rabid Dogs. In an attempt to cross over to a late '70's mainstream horror audience, Bava eschewed his usual surreal set-pieces and ambitious in-camera special effects in favor of a tense, contemporary ghost story that's heavy on the jump-scares. Co-written by Bava's son Lamberto and Dardano Sacchetti, Shock is a sequel to Beyond the Door (aka Chi Sei?) in name only (although child actor David Colin Jr. plays a weird little kid in both). 

Anchor Bay Entertainment presents Shock completely uncut, in a nice, crisp, widescreen transfer (1.85:1, 16X9 enhanced). The Dolby Digital Mono mix is very good, with no hiss or distortion. Italian and French soundtracks are included, but without English subtitles, you probably won't be using them much.

A supplemental 9-minute interview with Lamberto Bava reveals that the script was influenced by the works of Stephen King, and that Lamberto actually directed several scenes at his father's urging. It's an interesting and revealing interview, and just enough to make you wish there was a full-blown audio commentary (even though Lamberto doesn't speak much English). An Italian trailer (with English subtitles) and two U.S. TV spots (one a double-bill with The Dark ) round out the supplements.

It's not the best place to start if you're unfamiliar with Bava's work, but for the already-initiated, the long-awaited uncut release of Shock is a(nother) cause for celebration from Anchor Bay. 
 
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