Coming Soon
BLEAK WEEK: COMBAT SHOCK
1986
Director
Buddy Giovinazzo
Starring
Ricky Giovinazzo
Veronica Stork
Runtime
91 minutes
Select Showtime to Purchase Tickets
Select Showtimes
Frankie Dunlan (Rick Giovinazzo) barely survived the Vietnam War, but his current home life on Staten Island is even worse. Unemployed and struggling to care for a mutant baby that's been deformed by his past exposure to Agent Orange, Frankie takes to the streets to try to make ends meet – only to discover that a very different kind of war is still being waged on the homefront.
The original theatrical trailer for COMBAT SHOCK promises “fighting… killing… maiming” alongside images of intravenous drug use, the aforementioned child’s terrifying visage, and just about every explosion in the film. The result is a palpable exercise in grindhouse-era hucksterism, hoodwinking unassuming 42nd street audiences into witnessing the closest approximation to PTSD as cinema could realize at the time. It’s an acidic anti-war takedown trojan-horsed into theaters for the same audience that enjoyed RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II the previous summer. A truly all-American feel-bad movie for the ages.
“Y'know, you see a movie described as TAXI DRIVER cross-bred with ERASERHEAD and you think, 'Nah, that's the usual trash film hyperbole,' and then you actually watch the movie and not only can it be accurately described as TAXI DRIVER cross-bred with ERASERHEAD, there are distinct notes of THE DEER HUNTER, Knut Hamsun's Hunger and even THE BICYCLE fucking THIEF mixed in there too.” - Ira Brooker
The original theatrical trailer for COMBAT SHOCK promises “fighting… killing… maiming” alongside images of intravenous drug use, the aforementioned child’s terrifying visage, and just about every explosion in the film. The result is a palpable exercise in grindhouse-era hucksterism, hoodwinking unassuming 42nd street audiences into witnessing the closest approximation to PTSD as cinema could realize at the time. It’s an acidic anti-war takedown trojan-horsed into theaters for the same audience that enjoyed RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II the previous summer. A truly all-American feel-bad movie for the ages.
“Y'know, you see a movie described as TAXI DRIVER cross-bred with ERASERHEAD and you think, 'Nah, that's the usual trash film hyperbole,' and then you actually watch the movie and not only can it be accurately described as TAXI DRIVER cross-bred with ERASERHEAD, there are distinct notes of THE DEER HUNTER, Knut Hamsun's Hunger and even THE BICYCLE fucking THIEF mixed in there too.” - Ira Brooker