Alicia I love this movie so much

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Woodyanders Unhinged traumatized Vietnam veteran Frankie Dunlan (strongly played with jolting conviction and intensity by Ricky Giovinazzo, who also composed the wonky, yet still fitting and effective synth score) struggles to keep his steadily eroding sanity, lives in miserable squalor with his whiny, fed-up, and overbearing pregnant wife Cathy (a perfectly shrill portrayal by Veronica Stork) and his constantly mewling malformed baby (the result of Frankie's exposure to Agent Orange during his tour of duty), tries to find a job, and runs across a gang of local thugs while wandering around the dismal Staten Island neighborhood he resides in. Writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo delivers a pungent and unflinching evocation of severe urban decay that's rife with an overwhelming sense of pain, angst, despair, and utter hopelessness. Indeed, this picture's unsparingly bleak and depressing tone along with its fierce undiluted nihilism and pessimism give it a raw unsettling potency that's like a vicious kick right to the gut. The grimy locations, colorful array of lowlife characters, and the rough unpolished cinematography by Stella Varveris all further enhance the overall grungy verisimilitude. Packed with startling moments (a desperate and pathetic junkie uses a coat hanger to mainline heroin!), thick with a brooding gloomy mood and a harrowing grasp of the foul bitter reality of down-trodden American existence, and capped off by a shattering downbeat conclusion, this dark and ugly, yet still riveting powerhouse deserves its sterling cult reputation.

dworldeater Combat Shock has been described as a cross between Eraserhead and Taxi Driver. I would find that statement to be accurate . However, Taxi Driver is a shiny happy movie compared to this . This movie shows the crime of poverty , the horrors of war and how some veterans fall under real hard times when they return home. Very low budget , limited resources really set the tone for this filthy , bleak, urban hell . The most well made of anything under the Troma banner , and artistic even. I do enjoy a lot of Troma 's campy titles , but this is stone cold serious , depressing , and well done. The pace is slow, but hits hard and heavy like a Black Sabbath riff. Very good.

trashgang This is a difficult one to review because it's so slow to today's standards and it really looks low budget. But the movie had such a history that it really became a cult flick. It was Buddy Giovinazzo's first flick and he financed it himself. Nobody would take the picture to promote and distribute, not even Troma. He went to Troma but it never ended on the desk of Kaufman. One year later he went back and Kaufman liked it but then it was called American Nightmares, a title he didn't like and he changed it to Combat Shock trying to clock in on the success of Rambo and Chuck Norris. Sadly it didn't work out that way. The promotion looked like a Vietnam flick but it wasn't and it failed at the box office so it played at 42nd street. Another problem was that the place it was shot, Stanton Island, didn't like the way it was shown but it wasn't exaggerated. It just looked that way. And not only that, most of the people found it a really boring flick. But people talked about it...I admit, it is a slow builder and it is sometimes boring but it was made in the Reagan era and New York was bankrupt. By adding an ex Vietnam soldier story it did gives it a uneasy feeling. The flick starts with some real footage of the Vietnam war, then we see how he is trying to survive in New York without money and we do see the decay of the suburbs and drug fiends. Of course the acting is really bad but what did gives it a cult status is the end of the flick. The gruelling ending made it notorious. It isn't brute or whatsoever but it do stick with you. I can understand that a lot of people will hate this but I didn't like it either while watching it but the end makes it indeed one to watch. The effects used do add something towards the uneasy feeling. Cult indeed. And do see the wink towards Eraserhead...Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Darth-Helmet A former POW ( Ricky Giovinazzo) has troubled memories of his past back in Vietnam as now he's a family guy with a nagging wife and a weird deformed son in New York City. He's also looking for a job to help his family as he begins to now work for a drug dealer with a gang if he can get them the money he owes them until one day he finally snaps and gets revenge even on his wife and kid.A disturbing, bleak and interesting action drama that feels as a mix of both genres which is also a character study in it and it's one of the more serious "Troma" distributed flicks, it's also a interesting movie as well. There's plenty of drug use, gore and violence to propel the film especially on the troubled former hero of the picture with his nature of course and it's one of the most underrated war-related movies yet that has gained a cult following.A must see movie! Also recommended: "Men Behind The Sun", "Saving Private Ryan", "Rambo Trilogy", "Troma's War", "Red Dawn", "Day of the Dead", "The Toxic Avenger", "Hostel", "Cannibal Apocalypse", "The Exterminator", "Taxi Driver", "Eraserhead", "Dawn of the Dead (1978 and 2004)", "Cannibal Ferox", "Surf Nazis Must Die", "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", "Eraserhead", "Cabin Fever", "Full Metal Jacket", "Apocalypse Now", "The Hills Have Eyes ( 1977 and 2006)", "Mother's Day", "Caligula", "Uncle Sam", "Cemetery Man", "Black Christmas", "Freddy vs. Jason", "Terror Firmer", "Jungle Holocaust" ( a.k.a. Last Cannibal World), "Mountain of the Cannibal God", "Black Hawk Down", "Born of the 4th of July", "Empire of the Sun", "Basket Case", "Reservoir Dogs", "Kill Bill", and "Battle Royale".