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The Rue morgue Review
MORE FILLING, LESS TASTE!
DR. SHOCK'S TALES OF TERROR
Starring Bruce Hoyt, Mark Newman
and Kristin Brochetti
Written and directed by Douglas G. Agosti and Lance Otto Smith
After Shock Productions
From the box art, it doesn't look like much. Matter of fact, it looks like a sadomasochistic mess (wherein everybody connected with it should be spanked and put to bed without supper... and might enjoy it). And maybe I've been watching to many B-movies. Lesson # 1: Never judge a work by its cover. Lesson # 2: Sometimes it's best to leave your brain at the door and just have fun.
Taking both lessons to heart, I'd have to conclude that "Dr. Shock's Tales Of Terror" is simply one of the best underground horror films of the year, and, tragically, one you'll likely never hear of again. It's a unique stab at the much-used anthology format, making much use of those old after-school spook specials my elder genre aficionados remember so affectionately; the maniacal Dr. Shock's twisted introductory segments being the string-cheese that holds our three gruel-caked nuggets of fear together.
The Town That Loved Pizza involves a bunch of hick townsfolk who go missing after two cannibalistic cooks move in an open up a pizzeria; The Garden Tool Murders follows the mayhem unleashed by a murderous landscaper on whoever happens to pass by; and Demons Day features two devils ducking it out after Lucifer gets cloned, the ultimate battle in hell.
An inspired bit of lunacy, "Dr. Shock's Tales Of Terror" was written, produced and directed by Douglas G. Agosti and Lance Otto Smith, using a primitive videotape stock that appears to have been exposed before video was invented. Look past the grade'Z production values, however, and you’ll discover a wildly imaginative mind funk reminiscent of H.G. Lewis´ BLOOD FEAST and TWO THOSAND MANIACS! Like these bellwethers of gore cinema, DR. SHOCK´S is bad, but it’s a good bad with a wicked sense of humor and great fun. Clearly, the philosophy here is that if there isn’t a gruesome murder sequence every five minutes, it’s moving to slow, and the film lives up to its lofty ideals with time to spare. For what it is, what more could you ask for
You heard it here first Dr. Shock’s Tales Of Terror is a diamond in the rough if there ever was one, and one helluva party tape any self-respecting gore hound shouldn’t be without.
Issue. 28 Rue Morgue page 42
Nathan Tyler