Buddy Giovinazzo made his directing debut with this audacious, jaw-dropping, and hella depressing drama that is sure to surprise many viewers. His brother Rick stars (and did the music) as Frankie, who comes home from Vietnam suffering from PTSD. Broke and out of work, he lives in squalor with his nagging wife (Veronica Stork) and mutant baby. (That Agent Orange will play hell with your ability to reproduce.) His friends are junkies, the city is filled with crime, and there seems to be no way to claw himself out of the living hell he finds himself in. To make matters worse, Frankie begins having Nam flashbacks and starts having trouble distinguishing them from reality.
Combat Shock was released by Troma, and while it does contain its share of gore and grossness, it’s unlike their usual fare. It feels like someone took Taxi Driver, Eraserhead, Platoon, and Deadbeat at Dawn, tossed them into a blender, hit the PUREE button, and then smashed it into a million pieces with a sledgehammer. Despite the obvious influences, it still manages to find its own unique voice.
This is one bleak, nightmarish, and offbeat movie. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know it’s not going to end well, and you feel disgusted and helpless the whole damned time because you’re powerless to stop it, but you just can’t look away. Not for a second.
Sure, there are some stretches that go on a bit too long. Some of the side business with Frankie’s junkie pals and other assorted street urchins could’ve probably be trimmed back a bit. However, whenever the film is mining Frankie’s nightmarish psychological state, it’s gripping stuff.
After this film, Buddy tried to get a Maniac sequel starring Joe Spinell off the ground, which unfortunately never got made. After that, he only had sporadic credits, and that’s unfortunate because as evidenced here, he has a distinct cinematic vision. Rick promptly gave up acting after this film and went on to do music for big budget studio movies. (That should come as no surprise because the music here is excellent.)
AKA: American Nightmare. AKA: After Vietnam.
No comments:
Post a Comment