Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

framptonhollis Released by Troma of all studios, "Combat Shock" is a deeply troubling dramatic thriller about a traumatized veteran's daily struggles. It provides a bleak and pessimistic outlook on life in which poverty runs rampant and positive resolutions cannot be found anywhere. The streets of New York slums are portrayed with a complete lack of any hope whatsoever, the characters never truly conquer their deep inner (and outer) pains, and there is NO HAPPY ENDING. Clearly, a movie so depressing and upsetting will not appeal to everybody, and it will likely divide viewers furthermore because of its low budget, sometimes iffy acting, graphic violence, and bitter philosophy. However, I for one absolutely loved this film. It is like an exploitation film that refuses to be exploitative, a REAL horror story, one that does not focus on the typical traits of the horror genre, but one that manages to fit under the genre's vast umbrella simply because of the sheer cruelty of it. "Combat Shock" is many things, it is a war drama, a psychological thriller, a work of astounding realism, a dark nihilistic tragedy, and a gory, shocking, boundary pushing horror film. It grapples the viewer by the neck with unstoppable rage, sucking them into a world of hopelessness and depravity, forcing them to witness the cruelest, darkest, and saddest aspects of humanity, always obscuring that glimmer of hope and lightheartedness your heart knows is there somewhere but just simply cannot find.After watching this it's safe to say that you may want to try to lighten up your mood because, although this movie is a masterpiece of tensity and shocks, this is a goddamn BUMMER!

Foreverisacastironmess When I first watched this, I assumed because it had the Troma label stuck on it that it would be the usual lovably gross crazy crap that they put out, but boy was I wrong there. It was thankfully only distributed by them, and there was nothing farcical or lighthearted about it, but it was one of the grimmest, most hard-edged pictures that I'd ever seen. It pulled no punches and was so brutal and disheartening, that poor guy needed a break so bad, just the tiniest bit of luck to help him out, but he truly had nowhere left to go but down as he aimlessly wandered a decrepit cityscape where the citizens no longer cares about each other or even for themselves in uncertainty and dead-end boredom in the kind of frightfully hungry, empty and completely hopeless life that all sane people dread to be trapped in... And I loved it, I was goddamn blown away. I knew it would be my kind of movie and something special as soon as I saw the squalid presentation and heard the music and the blunt interactions as Frank gets up to a day that's truly from hell. There weren't any pretensions about it, it had a real energetic downbeat energy and raw honesty about itself. It was so visually gripping to me that I plain couldn't take my eyes off it, all the urban decay of the miserable ghetto in which he simply exists, the cracked overgrown walkways, the old disused railway tracks leading the nowhere, the abounded darkened old buildings, how it looked and the atmosphere of the setting just oozed appeal to me, I found it oddly captivating, it was to me beautifully desolate. It's the same kind of tone that I've loved before in other movies like Basket Case, The Driller Killer, The New York Ripper, Maniac, Street Trash, and recently Taxi Driver. I also liked it because it had a slight touch of the weird and offbeat to it at points, not so weird that it was surrealistic or anything, it had a coherent plot and a level of depth to the main character, but it had its bizarre elements, the main one being the grotesque mutant baby that looks like an alien ghost and constantly moans in an eerie electronic-sounding cry. I didn't like the baby though, for me it took away from the stark reality too much. They should've done it so that, that was how he saw and heard the thing but nobody else did, it would've made the effect a lot creepier, not to mention what he eventually does to it far more disturbing. The soundtrack was amazing, composed by the star himself! Some find that the synth music themes clash with the story but for me it definitely added a certain something. I thought Rick Giovinazzo in his only ever acting role gave an excellent strong performance that really holds it all together and he gave a brilliant portrayal of a man at the end of his rope and hanging onto his sanity by a thread, before going through a total mental breakdown and only finding a solution to the nightmare through cold-blooded murder. Until the end I found him a sympathetic and understandable character. The saddest part of the film comes when Frank makes a desperate phone call to the estranged father who thought he was dead for years to ask him for a loan, only to learn that the once wealthy old man has nothing left and is dying. It's a heartbreaking exchange as his dad apologises for the falling out they had years earlier and says that he doesn't want to go back to the painful past anymore... Rick tries to be the honourable guy and help out his old junkie friend and talk sense to a heartless stereotypical pimp, but it's all to no avail and as the day drags on and he's battered and pushed more and more he just crumbles under the weight of all the unbearable stresses and crushing hopelessness in everything around him. And what really pushes him over the edge is when he's forced to shoot dead the gang of crooks that he owes money to. He then returns home beaten and bloody to his nagging but concerned wife and gazes into the flickering haze of the broken television like a zombie and perceives strange visions of his past in Vietnam and finally remembers what really happened to him there and the dark secret that he's blacked out of his head for so long, which causes his mind to completely shut down to the point where he can no longer tell the difference between the phantom 'enemies' of his jungle nightmares and his own family. And the excellent way that scene is filmed you realise what he's going to do just as he does. And what follows is ugly and unpleasant and it was a shocking and powerful ending to an already disturbing movie. A great movie too, not for everyone and not easy or nice viewing but I loved it. It was a diamond in the rough, and a f*cking classic!

rhyatt1 First of all here are some of the comments others have made about this movie: "gritty", "disturbing", "one of the best movies of all time", "don't watch this alone", "powerful".Here are my comments on this movie: "ridiculous", "hilarious", "pile of feces", "made with a two dollar budget", "if any other human being is willing to watch this movie with you, murder them".spoilers** I can't begin to say how many positive reviews I've read about this movie. If you haven't seen it and just read the reviews you'll think this is the most gripping and disturbing war movie ever made. If you have seen it you'll think some retarded apes got hold of a camera, an army-man Halloween costume, and the worst human actor in the world and made a movie in one day. This movie is so bad it's indescribable. So I'll describe it a little.Right off the bat you'll be blown away by the horrible production value and the ridiculous acting in this movie. The first scene shows the main character having flashbacks of Vietnam. And by Vietnam I mean the woods behind the director's house. The set in no way looks like Vietnam, and this dude in no way looks like a soldier. I know the movie was shot in the 70's, but I can't stress enough how bad it looks. Movies like The Shining and Taxi Driver were also made in the 70's and they still look great. So this pile of garbage doesn't get a pass just because of when it was made. Also like I said the acting is bad and I'm way too lazy to break down why, but if you watch it you'll know that it's bad and you don't like it.So anyway, this guy is in 'Nam and he runs into some Vietnamese and he unloads his machine gun rambo-style into some random 'Nam girl. This of course pisses off her family so when he sees this he throws his gun down and runs away like a true soldier. But they quickly catch up with him and begin beating him in some sort of real time slow motion. Meaning I don't think the director knew how to use slow motion effects so he told the actors to move at half speed, which is pretty obvious when they "bash" him in the face with the butt of a gun by gently tapping him on the head.Next thing you know the guy is in New York with his wife and crying baby. His wife complains that he neglects her and the baby and you can't blame him when you see what his wife looks like or what the baby looks like for that matter. His wife isn't a mutant and his baby might be. For the first couple minutes the baby is hidden and you're supposed to assume it's a normal non-mutant baby, but then his wife holds the baby in the light and you see that their baby is in fact a rubber doll with a monster face. What it's supposed to be is a mutant created by this soldier's Agent Orange tainted seed, but what it really is is the worst special effects creature in the history of film. Seeing this infant is supposed to elicit a horrific gasp from the viewer, but the odds are much better that seeing it will make the viewer press pause so they can laugh at it for a while and maybe take a cell phone pic for their wallpaper. The funny thing is other reviewers commented on the sadness or disturbingness of this baby as if it could be taken halfway seriously. Words can't do justice to how hilarious and lame this baby is. The only thing sad about the baby is the fact that this movie isn't a comedy and it's not supposed to make you laugh when you see it.The whole plot of the movie is this guy comes back from 'nam and wanders the streets of NY trying to find work to pay off the debts he owes to some street hoods. I'd have to say this is the most boring part of the movie and yes I realize I just said it's the entire plot. What I'm getting at is the entire movie is boring and terrible. I'd have to say the best part of the movie is the catchy tune they keep looping over and over as he walks the gritty streets. If there were a soundtrack to this debacle I would buy it just for that gritty elevator music.While wandering around he encounters some old friend of his who's a drug addict and other people that you don't care about and can't take seriously.Then as a gift to anyone watching, the movie comes to an end when the guy can't take it anymore and blows his brains out in his apt. Hopefully you didn't put one in the chamber yourself and end your life before this point in the movie. Once again this lame ending is in no way "gritty" or "shocking". Also it should be clear to anyone who's made it this far in my review that I fast forwarded through huge chunks of the movie.So in summary this movie is indeed a nightmare for the viewer. However not in the way the director intended. Rather than shocking you or surprising you this movie will make you poop your pants in sheer amazement at how bad it is. I suppose if the whole point of this movie was to make the viewer relate to the horror and isolation that soldiers felt from being in Viet Nam then it did succeed at that. After sitting through this mess I definitely feel like I went through enough atrocities to be awarded a Purple Heart.

boomorbust This movie is so over the top in some aspects you cant help but laugh. The deformed baby that looks like an alien, his junkie friend mike who has bulging veins, etc. There is also some really funny scenes involving child prostitute sisters calling each other names and his junkie friend mike not being able to find a needle to shoot up his dime bag. I seriously doubt if the director intended all of this to be taken seriously. The big problem with the movie is all the drawn out scenes that go nowhere. You get pointless scenes with the baby crying and his cow of a wife complaining and milling about. There is a bunch of scenes with him walking around the same part of slum over and over as synth music plays in the background. This is a 90 min movie that needs about 30 mins cut out. The ending is very predictable although the baked baby was a nice touch. The director should have went for a more exciting "taxi driver" style ending but they probably didn't have the budget for that.