Combat Shock (1986)

3.5 / 5
Tagline: Fighting, killing, maiming. Agent orange and the toture cages were the easy part!...
Directed by: Buddy Giovinazzo
Written By: Buddy Giovinazzo
Actors include: Rick Giovinazzo, Veronica Stork, Mitch Maglio
Genre: Horror, Drama
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: Nope
Country: USA

Review:
Well I found out about this little ditty through looking up exploitation films and right under the marvelous "Thriller: A Cruel Picture" was listed this film, Combat Shock. Upon finding out that it was a Troma release I was less interested, but by that time the flick was already in my DVD player and it was game on. Well it's actually not jokish like your average Troma film, although the effects used on the mutant baby look like a craft clay project gone awry. I guess I should explain the story here, it seems our lead character (notice I didn't say "hero") was in Vietnam and experienced some torture, then came back to the US addicted to heroin (or he started when he got back I'm not sure) and he had a wife and an ugly fake looking mutant baby. They are broke, starving and things are pretty darned dire and that is most of the film. Our out-of it leader wanders around in pursuit of dope and money aimlessly occasionally having flashbacks or running into other junky friends. It's a downer that much is for sure and the surrealism sometimes makes this worth watching, but not enough actually happens to really make this worthwhile. An interesting note is how awful the repetative music is, there are like three looping songs which drive me up the wall....although one of the three (and all three are darned similar) is almost tolerable. I guess it's not so much a horror movie so much as a horrific movie that isn't really all that well done in some ways, but in others it's quite strange and interesting.