Shocker
Tags: murder, paranormal, cult, violence, insanity, suspenseful

Plot synopsis:
A serial killer, having murdered over thirty people, is on the loose in a Los Angeles suburb. A television repairman with a pronounced limp, named Horace Pinker, becomes the prime suspect. When the investigating detective, Lt. Don Parker, gets too close, Pinker murders Parker's wife, foster daughter, and foster son.
However, his other foster son, a college football star named Jonathan, develops a strange connection to Pinker through his dreams and leads Parker to Pinker's rundown shop. In a shootout in which several officers are killed, Pinker manages to escape, and targets Jonathan's girlfriend Allison in retribution.
Another dream leads Lt. Parker and the police to Pinker, whom they catch in the act of a kidnapping. This time, just as Pinker is about to kill Jonathan, he is arrested. Pinker is quickly convicted and sentenced to die in the electric chair.
Prior to his execution, Pinker reveals that Jonathan is, in fact, his son, and that as a boy, Jonathan had shot him in the knee while trying to stop the murder of his mother. But what they do not realize is that Pinker has made a "deal with the Devil", When executed, he does not actually die but instead becomes pure electricity, and is able to possess others (it is unknown if the possessed hosts live or die after Pinker leaves their body since some of them were shown to be lying motionless after being released) to continue his murderous ways.
He soon possesses Lt. Parker, who uses his strength to fight off Pinker, who escapes into a T.V. dish. Jonathan and his friends try to find a way to fight him. Jonathan's friend, Rhino and his friends head to the power station to disable the power.
Jonathan, with the aid of Alison's "spirit", devises a scheme to bring Pinker back into the real world and accidentally discovers that Pinker, as with all energy sources, is bound by the laws of the real world; Jonathan uses this limitation to defeat Pinker, and traps him inside a television. Pinker threatens Jonathan that he will find a way out of his "prison". The film ends when Alison's voice tells Jonathan to take care of himself, while Jonathan's neighborhood suffers a blackout, caused by his friends blowing out the power main, trapping Pinker in the television.
Jonathan goes outside amidst all his neighbors and looks up at the sky. He asks Alison if she can see the stars to which she replies "Absolutely beautiful" Jonathan smiles and agrees and takes one more look at the stars.

Review: Shocker (1989) is a master of horror Wes Craven's underrated excellent horror flick, that I do believe is a classic and I love it to death!
The only movie I memorized by Wes was Scream, which become my favorite film when I was 15 years old, I watched Scream with my mom and even my mom liked Scream.
In every horror film that I remember the main hero is always some stupid girl, but Wes tried something else which it worked.You have a great horror, likable characters, a lot's of action, a lot of fantasy in it and a lot of fun.
Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) from A Nightmare on Elm Street is my favorite number 1 horror icon heroine but Jonathan Parker is my favorite number 1 horror icon which I love him to death.I love the music scores from Megadeth and The Dudes of Wrath, I love soundtracks No More Mr. Nice Guy and shocker to death.My favorite scene is when Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) posses the body of 9 year old girl and drives an excavator and try's to kill Jonathan which that scene was incredible awesome!
Horace posses the body of Lt. Don Parker (Michael Murphy) and hunts down Jonathan (Peter Berg) and shots with a gun on him, missing him and they both fight face off on a tower when they both climbing up and Don Parker kick's him away.Ghost Alison Clemens (Camille Cooper) kick's Horace's spirit away from Jonathan.Jonathan face's off Horace him self and fight's him off and finally beat's him in his own game, like Nancy did and he survives.The cast is very solid in here: Mitch Pileggi gave a solid performance﻿, Peter Berg's best underrated role, Camille Cooper is very underrated and excellent actress in here.You also have Ted Raimi in here and Heather Langenkamp in a cameo scene as Horace's Victim.Wes Craven did amazing job as script writer and director you have a solid script and awesome dialogue in the film.R.I.P.
- Wes Craven (1939 - 2015) I really miss you and thank you for all the Freddy movies, thank you for all horror franchise and movies like are: A Nightmare on Elm Street, New Nightmare, Scream, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker and The People Under the Stairs.
I love you so much I wish you could done more horror movies I really love them.Overall: I love Shocker to death and it is my third favorite Wes Craven's horror film!
It stars Michael Murphy, Peter Berg, and Mitch Pileggi as the evil antagonist Horace Pinker 10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: Universal Pictures, Alive Films Starring: Michael Murphy, Peter Berg, Cami Cooper, Mitch Pileggi, Sam Scarber, Richard Brooks, Ted Raimi, Heather Langenkamp, Lindsay Parker, Janne Peters Director: Wes Craven Producers: Warren Chadwick, Wes Craven, Bob Engelman, Peter Foster, Shep Gordon, Barin Kumar, Marianne Maddalena Screenplay: Wes Craven Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 50 Mins.
Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg) is been having dreams of a psychopath serial killer Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi).
Making Jonathan more difficult to destroy Pinker.Written and Directed by Wes Craven (Scream Trilogy, Cursed, Red Eye) made an absolutely entertaining supernatural horror thriller.
Now this was a weird idea; a serial killer (Mitch Pileggi, The X-Files) that feeds off electricity.His nemesis was a high school boy (Peter Berg, Collateral, Cop Land) who hit a goalpost and had dreams about his kills - including his own family and girlfriend (Camille Cooper).
Its entertaining, fun with a great villain(Mitch Pilegi of X Files fame as the demonic TV repair man Horace Pinker) an incredibly likable hero(director Peter Berg as Jonathan Sparker) and directed by the great Wes Craven.
Energetic, fun and at times very dark shocker is a great thrill ride from Wes Craven with a killer soundtrack.
Sorry to any snobs out there who are actually bold enough to claim that "Nightmare On Elm Street" is ANYTHING but a perfect horror movie (you just want attention for intelligence that you don't have) "Shocker" for its time, premise, story, and(dare I?), acting...
Wes Cravens' "Shocker" is often one of the more derided in the directors' career, but in this own reviewers' humble opinion, it still manages to be pretty entertaining, even as it gets awfully silly and keeps wavering between a serious, sombre tone and an insane, over the top one.
It doesn't help that it's too obvious that Craven was trying to create another Freddy Krueger in the form of raving maniac Horace Pinker, a savage psychopath played to foaming-at-the-mouth perfection by Mitch Pileggi, eventually to become better known for playing Skinner on 'The X-Files'.Pinker's on the loose, slaughtering whole families, but opposing him is college football star Jonathan Parker (a remarkably sincere Peter Berg), a nice guy who was raised by a police lieutenant (Michael Murphy).
Jonathan and Horace, who are connected in a way that the younger man doesn't anticipate, are also psychically linked, and Jonathan is able to give the cops his name and place of business and before too long the killer is caught and executed.But the story doesn't end there, as Pinker, in league with Satan, "survives" the electric chair and lives on to overtake various unlucky people and control their bodies, including, in the movies' most memorable sequence, a little girl.
(One has to love the "You got it, baby!" moment.)The cast is extremely game throughout this thing; also popping up are Ted Raimi as an assistant coach, Vincent Guastaferro ("Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI") as a victimized cop, Heather Langenkamp in a tiny, non-speaking cameo as a murder victim, Richard Brooks ('Law and Order') as football player Rhino, Ernie Lively as the warden, rock guitarist Kane Roberts also doing the cameo thing as a road worker, and Cravens' kids Jessica and Jonathan in bits.
Wes Craven's Shocker is one of the best Horror films of the late 80s and early 90s that deserves a second chance.
A great mixture of Horror,Comedy,Wonderful direction, excellent soundtrack,great special effects and an unforgettable villain,Shocker is Wes Craven at his best an most underrated.Shocker tells the story of a college football player named Jonathan Parker(Peter Berg)who after a hard day of practice has a nightmare about a serial killer named Horace Pinker(Mitch Pileggi)who kills Jonathan's family and has been murdering families for months.
Now Jonathan has to figure out how to stop Horace Pinker and get rid of Pinker once and for all.Wes Craven's Shocker was Craven's attempt to jump start another Horror film series that revolved around the character Horace Pinker that can rival Freddy Kruger and the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise,after Craven wasn't able to make money off the Elm Street films.
What I also love about Shocker is the Comedy that Craven injects in the film especially when Pinker starts to possess people's bodies,because it's so over the top,insane and filled with maniacal energy and you think as a viewer that the film could not anymore crazier or insane.
Horace Pinker is such a great memorable villain and is one of the most entertaining villains in a 1980s Horror film and is a classic invention from Wes Craven because Pinker is a killer who has a sadistic joy in killing people spitting out funny and insane one-liners and showing no remorse or feelings for what he does.
One of the main criticisms of Shocker is that it's too similar to the first A Nightmare On Elm Street and while they're maybe some similar styles and a few connections(same director,opening credits,dream sequences,main villains)both films are different and should not be compared.
The film also has a great soundtrack with songs by Megadeth(No More Mr Nice Guy),The Dudes Of Wrath (Shocker),Saraya(Timeless Love),Bonfire(Sword&Stone),Dangerous Toys(Demon Bell-The Ballad Of Horace Pinker)Iggy Pop(Love Transfusion)and Dead On(Different Breed).
An excellent Hard-Rockin' Heavy Metal soundtrack.The special effects are well-done and work for the film and hold-up well years later.In final word,if you love Horror films or Wes Craven I highly suggest you check Shocker,a great,underrated Horror film that deserves a second chance and is Wes Craven at his best.
Its a fun movie.Shocker is about a psychopathic family killer named Horace Pinker.
Craven has had a number of deserving successes before he made this shocker, with films like The Last House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street, but this film represents a huge hole in the man's list of directorial credits.
These are enough to make for a rather enthralling time in the finale which is the film's crazies set of circumstances where they begin fighting through the different TV programs and movies which are so much fun and highly entertaining to see them in such classic moments and footage which just adds to the whole appeal of this one.
This one is his best, apart from his other gem, The Serpent And The Rainbow.In this one, Mitch Pileggi plays his most famous and iconic role, the psychopath Horace Pinker: TV repairman by day, serial killer and practitioner of the occult arts at night.Our hero in this film is played by the excellent Peter Berg.Plot: One day Jonathan (Peter Berg) has a dream in which he witnesses his family being slaughtered by a maniac.
Wes Craven, superhero genius of all horror films (besides John Carpenter) decides to revive the Freddy Krueger image with a new type of villain, his name is Horace Pinker and he runs a TV repair business, sounds innocent enough to me!
Bring into play this male teenager: good looking guy, has the hot chick girlfriend, plays football like a mutha and for some reason he is having dreams about Pinker going into peoples homes and killing them, well one of the dream victims turned out to be his family with the exception of his father who is a Lieutenant of the police force.
Horace Pinker (a pre-"X-Files" Mitch Pileggi) spends his evenings slaughtering families, returning to his dungeon-like TV repair shop after (he apparently gets the Vietnam War Atrocity Channel); one night, Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg) has a vision of his family being killed by the madman, and finds himself psychically linked to Pinker.
The Two dive in and out of television programs, chasing each other from channel trough stunning scenes of disaster, game shows and old reruns.This movie is pretty damn good I always enjoy this film I have it on Blu-ray I absolutely love the work from Wes Craven and Heather Langenkamp.
Shocker and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge are very underrated 80's horror movie that I will always cherish and love.
Shocker is underrated horror slasher film in my opinion it defines my childhood I love this movie..
I am a fan of Wes Craven's "work" for the most part, but this movie is a retread of "The Horror Show".
"Shocker" is truly horrible:no suspense,no gore,just stupid mess.Yes,Horace Pinker is a cool psycho,the film is fast-paced,cheesy and pretty enjoyable but I like horror movies to be scary and disturbing.I'm sure that kiddies under 16 or fans of politically correct garbage from Hollywood will like this one,as for me,I give up.If you want to watch a good horror film,check out Argento's or Fulci's stuff instead.My rating:3/10(because the ending is really funny!)..
The violence is useless and for a horror film it just fails to do anything useful or unique.Watch this movie and you will either not make it through the entire thing, turning it off about half way in, or you will suffer through it and realize these are two hours you will never get back.Obviously the budget on this wasn't huge as Craven has commented before on going after unknown actors because they were cheaper.
If you want a good 80's horror film by Wes Craven try Nightmare on Elm Street I or II and don't go to sleep.
But with that in mind, I found it to be an mildly rousing, if unevenly confounded horror comedy with Craven's vivid direction (with characteristically free-flowing cinematography) and an amusing animated performance by Mitch Pileggi as a family serial killer who manages to survive the electric chair by body hopping to continue his vicious murder spree while also seeking vengeance against the teenager (a deadpan Peter Berg) that put him in the chair.
After dying in the electric chair the killer manages to force his spirit into the bodies of others via electricity.SHOCKER was meant for the horror legend as an attempt to start up a new series since the Freddy Krueger character had gone into directions that he didn't really like.
To say Wes Craven has made his share of terrible films is an understatement; in fact, one could say that for every "Nightmare on Elm Street" there is a "Hills Have Eyes 2" and for every "Scream" there is a "Cursed." But like most of his late '80s/early '90s output, "Shocker" is a film that slips under the radar.
Business is fine and good for Pinker until local high school jock Jonathan Parker (played by Peter Berg) hits his head a little too hard and starts seeing visions of the bad guy doing his dirty deeds.
It's a shame then that the movie peters out in the second half, making way for ridiculous scenarios and inane plot-twists, culminating in a "so bad it's good" chase scene through TV channels that feels like it belongs in a different film altogether.
Now the electrified killer is back with a huge hard-on to get revenge on Jonathon by making his life a living hell.As I watched this film it seemed like a poor retread of the director's earlier "Nightmare on Elm Street" than anything else.
Shocker is one of Wes Craven film's best.
Shocker (1989) was Wes Craven's last old school hardcore horror film (to date).
Shocker sees horror director Wes Craven attempting (but failing) to replicate the success he enjoyed with A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), bringing to the screen another supernatural psycho in the form of serial killer Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi), who uses black magic to free his spirit as he is being zapped in the electric chair.
Transferring from body to body, Pinker is able to continue his grisly murder spree, AND have a little fun with Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg), the high school football star who was instrumental in Pinker's arrest.Craven not only rips off his own ideas, using dreams as a major plot device, but also mimics the horrible tongue-in-cheek style of the later Elm Street movies, his killer a wisecracking figure unable to be destroyed by normal means.
The result is a real stinker of a movie, boasting a lousy central performance from Berg (whose whiny nasal delivery is unbearable), lots of dreadful visual effects, and a plot that makes very little sense, all capped off with a sequence that is easily one of the worst things Craven has ever committed to film (and that's saying something): a battle that takes place inside a television set, with Pinker and Jonathan travelling through several TV shows, the plucky high-schooler eventually using the TV remote to control his enemy.
Examples include hero Jonathan Parker falling into a bed full of water ( a dream sequence never explained), to psycho killer Horace Pinker coming to life as a human recliner ( you think that's funny, you have to actually see it!) Shocker is not a bad movie to watch, it's certainly not boring, however, Craven has several other titles, earlier titles I may mention, that are worth having a look before you dive into this fest.
If you've never watched a Wes Craven movie, I strongly recommend Invitation To Hell or A Nightmare On Elm Street.
I only recently discovered this 1989 Wes Craven feature and even though it's cheap(cost only $5 million to make), I actually thought this was an alright film.It follows a serial killer with a limp named Horace Pinker(Mitch Pileggi), who is terrorizing Los Angeles.
Only Jonathan, along with help from the spirit of his dead girlfriend Allison(Camille Cooper), can stop Pinker and his murderous ways for good.This movie actually made me laugh, and not completely in a bad way.
The premise is pretty good: Horace Pinker (Pileggi)is an EXTREMELY vicious serial killer that has been caught by Jonathan Parker(Berg), who has a strange kind of link to Pinker, and whose family and girlfriend (Cooper)were killed by Pinker.
Watch the movie and try to tell its story; In first part we have slasher that goes around neighborhood killing entire families, our main hero is actually son of the villain but he doesn't knows it at first (no sht), he has dreams about murders that his daddy commits, daddy kills son's new family and girlfriend, gets caught,burned to crisp and resurrects as electrical ghost not even minute after, then in second part of the movie we have main villain entering other people's bodies and goes after hero, hero starts seeing ghosts of his dead girlfriend and other people that villain killed, villain gets bored with his new ability and returns to his old hobby of killing families but this time by going through TV sets, hero goes after him and fights him through the bunch of different channels of the TV world while "Demon Bell" is playing in background and in the end traps him in TV and walks away into the night.
If you like Wes Craven's style of movie making and campy horror you should like this one..
Directed by Wes Craven, who has had years of experience behind him now, the film seems to have stolen from a number of sources - HOUSE, THE EVIL DEAD, and the director's own A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
Mitch Pillegi, Peter Perg and Michael Murphy star in Wes Craven's 1989 horror film.
Wes Craven used to make good Horror films once.
Good horror movie,ala Nightmare On Elm Street.Not as gruesome,which is why I liked this movie.Some good actors,I liked Peter Berg & Michael Murphy best,but Mitch Pileggi excels,as usual.Too bad this didn't make as much money as it should have,it really is black comedy,and I really cared about the characters..