Combat Shock (1986)
Starring Rick Giovinazzo & Veronica Stork
Directed by Buddy Giovinazzo
Written by Buddy Giovinazzo

 

Troma films have been a constant in my life since THE TOXIC AVENGER. They have always been at the forefront of violence and sleaze films—you could say that Troma films have shaped me into the twisted cinephile that I am today. You know the Troma theme music that plays at the beginning of every Troma movie? It has an almost Pavlovian effect on me whenever I hear it, I get happy. Troma films, for as dark and gruesome as they can be, just make me happy…COMBAT SHOCK didn’t make me happy, it depressed the fuck out of me…it disturbed me…it made me want to pretend I never saw it…it fucking scarred me!! That was then, this is now. After watching that old VHS version all those years ago, I never once watched the film again, until now with the ultra slick 2 disc re-release of the film by Troma, as part of their Tromasterpiece Collection. Of course I’m a 32-year-old man now and since my young eyes first gazed at COMBAT SHOCK all those years ago, I have seen a lot worse things, in both reel and real life. What affect would the film have on me now? Without a doubt, I feel that COMBAT SHOCK is one of the best and most important independent films to come out of the 80’s.

When the film was first released in theaters in the 80’s, audiences had almost the same reaction as my friend and I had watching in his dark basement, and that reaction would be “What the fuck?” It was not an exploitation movie about a rogue soldier as the one sheet for film shows, this was not Troma’s version of FIRST BLOOD, no if anything, COMBAT SHOCK was…get ready--an art film! Yes, I said it, an art film. The kind of films that intellectuals go see at art house theaters in college towns and then go drink coffee and smoke cigarettes, and have long discussions about the metaphors in the film and the psychological meaning of the subtext, blah, blah, blah. Needless to say, that was not the audience that COMBAT SHOCK got, it got inner city audiences expecting explosions, guns and hopefully some big bouncing tits (it was Troma afterall). What they got was a dark, grimy, depressing look at a Vietnam vet in the middle of a psychological breakdown.

COMBAT SHOCK was the first full length film from director, Buddy Giovinazzo and it stars his own brother, Rick Giovinazzo as an unemployed Vietnam vet named, Frankie. Frankie has a miserable wife played by Veronica Stork, and an infant son, born with a serious birth defect due to the Agent Orange that Frankie encountered in ‘Nam. The whole film is Frankie walking the streets of Staten Island, hiding from Mob goons that he owes money to, interacting with junkies, collecting unemployment, looking for food and basically wondering what the hell he’s going to do and slowly going mad. That is really the gist of the film, and the fact that Giovinazzo pulls off a compelling and interesting film based on that premise shows what a true talent he really is. Not to mention the great performance by his brother, Rick, a guy who was not an actor and had never acted in movie prior or since. Rick gives a powerful and I mean truly powerful performance as Frankie.

All praise aside, the film is far from perfect and if you listen to the DVD commentary (which is excellent, BTW), Buddy G would be the first to admit that. There are two versions of the film available on the latest DVD, one being the uncut version, under its original title, AMERICAN NIGHTMARES and the theatrical Troma version. I actually prefer the theatrical version. It’s tighter and the addition of stock footage in the ‘Nam flashback scenes are more affective than the version without. Some of the scenes in the uncut version just go on for far too long. Then you have the whole dilemma with the baby, which is a puppet. For one, it does not look real and the sound it makes could peel wallpaper. From all that I’ve read about COMBAT SHOCK, the baby seems to be most people’s main gripe about the film. I feel just the opposite—I fucking love the baby!!

Without giving too much away, the reason why I think the baby works as an unrealistic looking puppet is the fact that if the baby had been real, it would have turned the film into a completely different movie. If you think the film could not be anymore dark and bleak, trust me, if the baby had either been played by a real baby, or even a more realistic looking puppet, the film would have been just be too much for most people to handle. The fact that the baby looks fake, gives the film a surreal vibe and keeps the movie from being ‘so’ real that it is hard to watch…and it’s already hard to watch! Plus, the baby is the one thing that makes COMBAT SHOCK ‘feel’ like a Troma movie. The baby adds just the right amount of surrealism and low-key camp to the film.

The score is also one of the bright spots in the film. It could be looked at as a tad cheesy, but I like cheesy. None other than Rick Giovinazzo, wrote and performed the film’s score. He went on to score some other flicks too and has worked in the music department on many more films. Rick is obviously more of a musician, than an actor though I believe it he had wanted to pursue acting, he could have. He gives such a credible and realistic performance in the film that it’s hard to believe the guy had never acted before in his life.

The film gets a lot of comparisons to TAXI DRIVER and ERASERHEAD and those are fair comparisons. Giovinazzo even admits that COMBAT SHOCK was sort of his version of ERASERHEAD (which also featured a mutant baby) and that TAXI DRIVER inspired the film too (not to mention MANIAC). I’d put it this way: if you took TAXI DRIVER and ERASERHEAD and put them in a blender, along with some trash from a city dumpster, some used hypodermic needles, some sewage water and half a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 that a homeless guy backwashed in, you would get COMBAT SHOCK.

COMBAT SHOCK is like a blunt force trauma to the back of the head. When the film is over and you come out of your daze, you wonder what the hell just happened and why your anus is bleeding. Not everyone will like it, but the people that like dark and gritty films will enjoy it—you know who you are you sick fucks!

Until next time, Freex—stay golden!