“Just another gathering of slasher cliches,” wrote The Washington Post about the 1989 movie defeated at the box office by the third-week run of a talking baby comedy. When the horror maestro sadly passed away in 2015, it was deemed less of a career footnote than failed Oscar bait Music of the Heart.
Shocker by name, shocker by nature was the general consensus when Wes Craven attempted to kickstart another franchise about a maniacal murderer who haunts his victim’s dreams. However, coinciding with its 35th anniversary, Shocker’s latest Blu-ray release suggests critics – perhaps still in thrall to a certain Mr. Krueger – were a little too keen to sharpen their claws. Although not in the same league as Nightmare on Elm Street, the movie’s go-for-broke mix of cat-and-mouse chase, meta-media commentary, and body-swap farce can still feel electrifying.
