If you’re a horror-lovin’, head-bangin’ child of the 1980s — whether only in spirit, or in actual I-was-there fact — you owe it to yourself, as this Halloween’s spooky season approaches, to go back and watch Wes Craven’s Shocker (and it’s streaming on Peacock here!)
The very first wails of the movie’s eponymous opening song — performed with uncanny KISS-channeling ‘80s energy by The Dudes of Wrath — serves an early jolt of what you’re in for: A vintage Craven horror-fest that blends the late, great director’s gift for genuine scares with the lost scary-movie art of never taking its subject matter too-too seriously. Never heard of The Dudes of Wrath? Welp, that’s just one of this movie’s great unsung behind-the-scenes backstories… so we’ll swing back around to it in a moment.
Oohs and ohms: How Shocker mixed murder & metal to craft a 1980s fright fest
Craven had already made three movies in his iconic A Nightmare on Elm Street fright franchise by the time Shocker flew in under the horror-movie radar in 1989. Slotting into Craven’s movie oeuvre as something of an outlier between The Serpent and the Rainbow, his previous 1988 film, and 1991’s The People Under the Stairs, Shocker spun a supernatural tale around the evil Horace Pinker, a serial killer sentenced to fry in the electric chair. But just as the fateful switch is about to flip, the remorseless Pinker strikes a last-second survival deal with Satan to escape his fate and instead be reborn… in the form of raw electrical energy.
Wild, right? Audacity like that signaled tons of great 1980s horror stories, from Chucky’s killer-doll compulsion in Child’s Play to the motorized mayhem of Maximum Overdrive. But aside from Shocker’s deliciously silly story setup, it was that bangin’ metal soundtrack that really united the film’s crazy concept with its high-voltage horror vibe.
Let’s get back to The Dudes of Wrath: There’s a reason that Shocker’s genuinely awesome opening-credits song might have you wondering if KISS accidentally misplaced their singer in a horror movie, and nope — it’s not because you’re hearing double.
KISS’s Paul Stanley fronted the Shocker supergroup
None other than KISS crooner Paul Stanley fronted the film’s completely one-off ‘80s metal supergroup, whose sole reason for existence was to come together to contribute to the slammin’ Shocker soundtrack. Alongside Stanley on vocals, The Dudes of Wrath featured Alice Cooper, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe, six-string shredder Vivian Campbell, genre rocker Guy Mann-Dude, Whitesnake bassist Rudy Sarzo, and hitmaking music scribe Desmond Child — the secret writing ingredient responsible for tons of rock anthems from 1980s greats like Cooper, Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, KISS, and Aerosmith.
Starring Peter Berg (The Rundown, Friday Night Lights) as a small-town football star and Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files, Stargate Atlantis) as Horace Pinker, Shocker isn’t cranked to 11 with shredders from one end to the other. Instead, it saves its most metal music moments for key scenes throughout the movie — including a crunchy Megadeth cover of Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” right as they’re strapping the murdering meanie into the town’s ill-fated electric chair — and, in a separate scene, even a fleeting appearance from Cooper himself.
Late in the film, when things get really wild and everyone’s leaping in and out of TV screens to evade (and catch) the juiced-up killer, Texas rockers Dangerous Toys chime in with “Demon Bell (The Ballad of Horace Pinker),” a bespoke tune written specifically for Craven’s demented movie mind. The full soundtrack also features Iggy Pop’s “Love Transfusion,” late-‘80s rockers Saraya (who contributed slow-wave ballad “Timeless Love”), and — as the end credits roll — the awesomely cheesy “Sword and Stone,” a song performed by German shredders Bonfire and originally co-written by Paul Stanley for inclusion on KISS’ Crazy Nights album.
As a horror flick, Shocker feels nearer in spirit to Craven’s earlier ‘80s Elm Street films than it does to his later, more audience-savvy ‘90s entires in the Scream series. Berg’s football hunk and costar Camille Cooper (who plays his ethereally-deceased girlfriend Allison) keep their horror heroes’ roles all earnest and wide-eyed, while Pileggi’s feral killer stalks the screen with one-note malice on his mind — a total embodiment, in other words, of all things trope-y and fun about the 1980s’ horror-movie zeitgeist.
That’s no bad thing, though: Buoyed by its slammin’ soundtrack and oozing the kind of small-town ‘80s innocence that eventually morphs into full-on widespread panic, Shocker isn’t swinging for the high-concept fences. Instead, it’s Craven savoring all the delicious empty calories in your everyday bucket of throwback Halloween candy. Is it bad for you? Probably. But once it’s gone, the odds are good you’ll be craving more of it all the same.
Wes Craven’s Shocker is streaming on Peacock here.
