Damn I sometimes wish we poor UK genre fans had access to the myriad of cable TV shows that have been bombarding the US market for many years, Whether it be the seductive vampiness of Elvira or Vampira et al, the UK has never really had the level of genre entertainment that our US friends have had. But with the release of 'Dr Shock's Tales of Terror' we too can discover the delights of late night schlock horror TV fun. Our host Dr Shock should be familiar to US readers from the mid west where seemingly his show screened for some years before being replaced by those woeful late night advertisement shows, thankfully the good doctor has not been lost to the genre history books and returns not only to delight us with his own brand of insanity but also to present us with some bloodily fun home grown horror shorts.
Going under the banner of Dr Shock's X Ray Chiller Theatre, Dr Shock and his equally nuts buddies Camera Sick, Mr Frumpy, Shrunken Head at al bring us their own depraved horror spin on the Banana Splits TV show. But rather than some library cartoons, Dr Shock delights us with blood, gore and laughs a plenty. Between the grade z schlock horror short film fun the good doctor delivers a mix of wacky skits and some vintage segments from his old TV show for all you (as he says) 'couch potatoes and vivacious video junkies'. But what about the short features themselves�
First up in this 'Tales of Terror' collection is the 'Town That Loved Pizza' which follows the bloody misadventures of grinning dumb ass redneck brothers Obadiah and Jebadiah who (adorned in matching gore soaked aprons) move to Hicksville Texas to open their pizza restaurant, a scuzzy run down eatery selling only their 'special meat' pizzas. Of course we all know where this one is going as very swiftly the grind house bloodiness flows as the witless brothers slay their way through the townsfolk to get human meat for their tasty pizza pie toppings! Very much the no budget bastard offspring of Herschell Gordon Lewis's classic 'Blood Feast' the 'Town That Loved Pizza' is a cracking slice of grimy horror fun. In fact the similarities between this and Herschell's own sequel are uncanny but it should be noted that this one most likely predates the official sequel (but without the money to bolster the production).
Next up for our horrific fun is the 'Garden Tool Murders' which is virtually plot free but still mindless fun as it sees a town park gardener going complete nuts and brutally kill all who get in his way. Cue joggers, hobos and others get mutilated in some fun inventive gory moments (utilising all kinds of gardening implements). Sure little in the way of substance but if its grade z horror exploitation then what more could you ask for?
Rounding the trio of horror yarns off is 'Demons Day' a somewhat incohesive but very bloody yarn about the cloning of a demon by a bespectacled mad scientist and the impact on society by demons running amok. Heads are torn off, hearts ripped out and blood flies everywhere in this mini low budget shocker which although enjoyable seemed somewhat over reaching and plotwise slightly confusing. But then again, if you just kick back with beers and no expectation apart from low budget gory eye candy this is still a fun mini shocker.
What I did find when watching my fist venture into the wild world of Dr Shock with this batch of 'Tales of Terror' was that even with some minor flaws in cohesion I had a whole load of fun. The short films reminded me very much of the super 8 output of the young Renaissance film team, capturing the energy that those old productions had but here in a grimier more bloody delivery. As a host Dr Shock is a firecracker of insanity and deserves to be enjoyed the genre community at large, he's loud brash and stacks of fun (even when his head has been crushed bloodily as it does in one segment). Unavoidably there will be folk that are put off by the low low budget production values but that would be amiss to not enjoy such fare due to budgetary restrictions. Let's hope Dr Shock finds his home back in a regular late night TV spot (how about it networks?) but meantime us horror fans can savour his madcap energies on releases such as this. Trashy, bloody and lots of fun�check it out!
This review of 'Dr Shock's Tales of Terror' was done from the US VHS release of the title (that come packaged with a groovy Dr Shock Barf Bag). Seemingly this has been picked up for DVD release by UK faves Cryptkeeper but we are unaware of any release date yet. Stay tuned for more Dr Shock coverage here at SGM soon. Meantime go visit the madman himself at his official site but clicking here.
Review by Alan Simpson