Main Cast: Peter Berg, Michael Murphy, Mitch Pileggi, Cami Cooper, Richard Brooks, Heather Langenkamp
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Wes Craven's Shocker takes media manipulation to a new level in this story of an evil force emitted from television sets that has the power to kill. The film centers on high school athlete Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg). His estranged father is homicide detective Don Parker (Michael Murphy), who has been working on capturing an elusive serial killer plaguing the town. One night, during a particularly vivid nightmare, Jonathan dreams that while Parker is away on an assignment, his family is murdered by the serial killer. In the dream, Jonathan can identify the killer -- local television repairman Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi). Amazingly, it turns out that Jonathan's nightmare was reality. Using Jonathan's dream as evidence, Pinker is brought to trail, found guilty, and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Before his execution, Pinker makes a pact with the devil so when he is electrocuted, the electricity from the chair will give his spirit powers of evil. At first, Pinker's murderous spirit travels in and out of people's bodies, prompting the host to commit murder. But when it seems more effective to communicate with people by television signals, the spirit is willing and soon people suddenly become possessed by Pinker's spirit through TV screens and engage in murderous atrocities. All this is done by Pinker to exact retribution upon Jonathan, who was responsible for sending him to his death. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Theodore Raimi - Pac Man; John Tesh - TV Newscaster; Bingham Ray - Bartender; Ray Bickel - Man Couch Potato; Eugene Chadbourne - Man in Bar; Jessica Craven - Counterperson; Jonathan Craven - Jogger; Marvin Elkins - Guard; Vincent Guastaferro - Pastori; Sue Ann Harris - Waitress; Stephen Held - Rookie; Jack Hoar - Sergeant; Stephen R. Hudis - Officer Robinson; Holly Kaplan - Neighbor; Linda Kaye - Woman at Stairs; Christopher Kriesa - Guard; Dr. Timothy Leary - TV Evangelist; Ernie Lively - Warden; Keith Anthony Lubow-Bellamy - Football Player; Virginia Morris - Diane; Janne K. Peters - Doctor; Sam Scarber - Cooper; Wes Craven - Neighbor; Richard Price; Kane Roberts - Road Worker; Bruce Wagner - Executioner; Lindsay Parker - Little Girl; Gary Michael Davies - Cameraman; Richard J. Gasparian - Cop; Richardo Gutierrez - Guard Sergeant; Joyce Guy - Cop; Christopher Keyes - Bruno; Marji Martin - Woman Couch Potato; Michael Matthews - Evil Mouth; John Mueller - Fireman; Joseph Roy O'Flynn - Priest; Emily Samuel - Sally; Mark Slama - Kid with Crow Bar; Bobby Lee Swain - Priest; Dendrie Allyn Taylor - Young Mother; Peter Tilden - Reporter; Karl Vincent - Kid with Mask; Gary M. Zuckerbrod
Credit
Randy Moore - Art Director, Warren Chadwick - Associate Producer, Gary M. Zuckerbrod - Casting, Peter Foster - Co-producer, Barin Kumar - Co-producer, Marianne Maddalena - Co-producer, Isis Mussenden - Costume Designer, Wes Craven - Director, Andy Blumenthal - Editor, Wes Craven - Executive Producer, Shep Gordon - Executive Producer, William Goldstein - Composer (Music Score), Lance Anderson - Makeup, Suzanne Sanders - Makeup, Cynthia Kay Charette - Production Designer, Jacques Haitkin - Cinematographer, Bob Engelman - Producer, John Bryant - Research, Keith Brian Burns - Set Designer, Naomi Shohan - Set Designer, Larry Fioritto - Special Effects, Tony Cecere - Stunts, Wes Craven - Screenwriter
Both Wes Craven and Universal had hoped for the film to launch a franchise (Craven had particularly wanted to create a new series since he felt he had not been given due profits from New Line Cinema resulting from the Nightmare on Elm Street series). However, due to the middling commercial performance of the film, no sequel was made.
A serial killer is on the loose in a Los Angeles suburb, and a television repairman with a pronounced limp named Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) becomes the prime suspect. When the investigating detective, Lt. Don Parker (Michael Murphy), gets too close, Pinker murders Parker's wife, daughter, and his biological son. However, his adopted son Jonathan (Peter Berg) 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. He targets Jonathan's girlfriend Allison (Camille Cooper) in retribution.
Another dream leads Lt. Parker and the police to Pinker, who is in the midst 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 as a boy, Jonathan had shot him in the knee 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 he is executed, he does not actually die but instead becomes pure electricity who 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. Don Parker.
Eventually, Jonathan, with the aid of Alison's "spirit," devises a scheme to bring Pinker back into the real world and accidentally discovers that he, as with all energy sources, is bound by the laws of the real world and uses this limitation to defeat him.
Soundtrack listing:
"Sword & Stone" – Bonfire
"No More Mr. Nice Guy" – Megadeth
"Shocker" – The Dudes Of Wrath
"Timeless Love" – Saraya
"Demon Bell - The Ballad Of Horace Pinker" – Dangerous Toys
"Love Transfusion" – Iggy Pop
"Different Breed" – Dead On
