Wes Craven made some very underrated movies. There was Deadly Friend, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and The People Under the Stairs, all of which have found new appreciation as the years passed. However, one of his movies that I always thought should have been a major hit was his 1989 flick Shocker. This was Craven’s attempt to make his own Freddy Krueger-style slasher, Horace Pinker (future X-Files star Mitch Pileggi), who, upon his execution, becomes an unstoppable force of energy who goes on a massive killing spree. The only one who can stop him is a teenager (Peter Berg – long before he became a director) whose girlfriend was among Picker’s victims and has a psychic connection to the killer.
While Craven and Universal probably hoped the film would become a hit, it whiffed at the box office, only making about $16 million, although it became a horror favourite on VHS. That’s too bad because it’s a great time capsule of gory eighties horror, complete with a killer hair metal soundtrack that includes an Alice Cooper cover by Megadeath (ironic because Cooper is in the movie) and tracks by a short-lived hair metal supergroup called The Dudes of Wrath.
Happily, the good folks at Scream Factory are giving Shocker a deluxe 4K re-release with some pretty rad extras:
Bonus Features for UHD/Blu-ray
DISC ONE (4K UHD):
- NEW 4K Restoration From The Original Camera Negative
- Presented In Dolby Vision And Dolby Atmos
- Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Jacques Haitkin, Co-Producer Robert Engelman And Composer William Goldstein
- Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Wes Craven
DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):
- NEW Restoration From The Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Jacques Haitkin, Co-Producer Robert Engelman And Composer William Goldstein
- Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Wes Craven
- NEW Shock Me – An Interview with Actor Peter Berg
- NEW The Chaos and the Calm – An Interview with Composer William Goldstein
- NEW She’s Electric – An Interview with Production Designer Cynthia Charette
- Cable Guy – An Interview With Actor Mitch Pileggi
- Alison’s Adventures – An Interview With Actress Cami Cooper
- It’s Alive – An Interview With Executive Producer Shep Gordon
- No More Mr. Nice Guy – The Music Of “Shocker,” Featuring Interviews With Music Supervisor Desmond Child And Soundtrack Artists Bruce Kulick (KISS), Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS), Kane Roberts (ALICE COOPER), and Dave Ellefson (MEGADETH)
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spots
- Radio Spots
- Vintage Making Of
- Storyboard Gallery
- Still Gallery
Shocker comes out in 4K on October 29th (just in time for Halloween). Check out our tribute to this great flick below!
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