5 things that would have made Shocker even cooler than it all ready is!

5 things that would have made Shocker even cooler than it all ready is!

Tonight at Staystillreviews we're taking in yet again one of our favorite guilty pleasure movies. 

Wes Craven's Shocker.

This was a film I remember my mother renting for me when I was little, and how the first time I watched it I actually got so mad that they killed the PacMan (Ted Raimi) character, that I actually shut the movie off and refused to finish until I watched it a few months later. This even at that age wasn't a scary movie despite the fact Wes Craven (aka the man responsible behind A Nightmare On Elm Street) had written and directed it. Somehow to me this was just a fun campy thrill ride of a movie. I clearly remember watching this film and The People Underneath The Stairs countless times growing up. To me these films were safe fun horror movies. The original Nightmare On Elm Street completely terrified me. It was so bad in fact, it took me YEARS to end up watching the actual film. Shocker on the other hand is just one of those movies that was always a go-to to watch. The movie sadly suffered from trying so badly to be Wes Craven's next major hit. It's so obvious that were turning to turn the killer in this into the next Freddy Krueger. I feel this film is exactly what it is. Cheesy, over the top, gory, and just a silly B movie. Still, I always think, had Craven done a few things differently...maybe, just maybe it could have become a terrifying new horror movie like he did with Elm Street just a few years before.

So tonight I'm going to pitch five things that could have made Shocker even cooler than it all ready is!

1) Stick to the original screenplay and made it much darker with no campy one-liners or humor.

- I just finished reading the novelization based off this book and I was actually really stunned at the graphic detail the author wrote when it came down to the murders. I have gotten the chance to read Craven's screenplay, and even though the film stuck extremely closely to the material, I feel if they had taken out all of the camp, humor, and cheesy one-liners from Pinker, and stuck with how brutal the murders were this really could have been an actual scary movie. I mean think about it. Freddy really didn't start with the one-liners until part 3/4. In the original film, he barley speaks, and the film is extremely unsettling due to how dark the story is. I feel had they taken out all of the silly stuff they could have really taken the chance to make this film memorable. Pinker's character is all ready very over the top, but I feel instead of making him crack jokes, and run around in his jump-suit zooming through channels, they should have stayed with one route and made it a dark one. I'm sure the heart of the film wouldn't be destroyed, but not be so cheesy!

2) Make Ted Raimi the lead.

- I know, I know. You readers are just rolling your eyes going "Sure, sure Stacy." But hear me out! I have nothing against Mr. Peter Berg. He did a fine job (still blows by mind he's a pretty big director now, every time I see his name in the credits before a film, I do "Hey, that's the dude from Shocker!" Wes Craven always wrote very strong characters. He made the ultimate "final" girl with Nancy in A Nightmare On Elm Street, as well as Sidney in Scream. I love that Shocker features a leading man (via The Evil Dead) I know the Jonathan character is supposed to be the football jock, who's world is turned upside down, but I think had they made Ted Raimi the lead, it would have been something different. Ted to basically everyone besides me is not what you would call "typical" the leading man material. But underneath the nerdy glasses, he's actually super good looking, and casting the nerdy guy would be going against the grain. I would have the Jonathan character play the assistant coach like his character PacMan was. Maybe write in that he had an injury (from his childhood trauma) that prevented him from ever playing sports, but all of his friends are on the football team. How he's this young college aged guy who is forced to fight against the killer once his past is revealed. This I feel would have helped the film 1000000%

Make Allison truly in her corpse state

- One thing I really loved from the novelization was how the writer wrote about Allison the first time she appears to Jonathan after her murder. (I love how due to poor editing, or the fact they just didn't care it appears that everything all happens within a week in this film. It's actually really laughable how fast Pinker is sent to the chair. It's like bam! Got caught, now he's on death row. Go figure! Anyways, I love how Allison appears the first time to Jonathan in the book. She isn't the bloody thing of beauty they make in the movie. They did the same thing with Wes Craven's Deadly Friend. Why is it so horrible to show women as corpses when they are supposed to play corpses?! Maybe it's just me? Well, I think it would have been complete nightmare fuel if they had the effects team make Allison up like she had been rotting in a grave, water logged, and decomposing. Graphic? You bet. I think the only time she should have appeared beautiful like an angel should have been in the dream scene at the end by the lake. Besides that I think it should have been tragic as well as frighting if Allison kept appearing bloody, skin wrinkled and rotting, and looking as if she had been living underwater for the last month or so. Too much? You bet your ass it would be!

Ditch the stupid channel surfing idea and stick to the jumping from body to body storyline.

- Remember that film from 1996 called Fallen with Denzel Washington? That was actually a really decent movie, but I'm sure I'm not alone when I said to myself watching it "Hey...haven't I seen a movie like this before?" Well, sorta. The whole dead killer jumping from body to body was done in 1989 with Shocker, but it wasn't the main overall idea. I feel this clever idea should have been front row and center. Show how frighting this idea is that the killer could be anyone. Instead of Pinker and Jonathan fighting in that cringeworthy montage of them jumping from channel from channel yes was amusing, but just seemed to be thrown in along with the kitchen sink. I mean for the love of everything, he even turned in a chair. I get the whole him traveling through electricty but man oh man. I think they should have picked one of these many ideas and just stuck with it. I think the coolest idea was the body jumping idea. This is something they truly could have played up and made the majority of the film. 

Leave it open ended for a sequel

Craven made countless underrated films, and Shocker is one of them. Still, instead of focusing on wanting to make the next big villain of slasher movies, I feel had they stick with darker tones of the film, and put Pinker more into the shadows, a clever enough ending (without the After School Special like speech Jonathan gives to Pinker while being frozen on television) should have made a better showdown between the two and perhaps in Dream Warrior fashion what if the good guy didn't win? Sounds depressing, but I think it could have been interesting if the whole time you think Jonathan is going to win and low and behold it reveals that maybe the killer wasn't defeated. What if he could return? Who would be next? I feel they could have gotten a few sequels in at least!

Thoughts?