Released by Troma of all studios, "Combat Shock" is a deeply troubling dramatic thriller about a traumatized veteran's daily struggles. It provides a bleak and pessimistic outlook on life in which poverty runs rampant and positive resolutions cannot be found anywhere. The streets of New York slums are portrayed with a complete lack of any hope whatsoever, the characters never truly conquer their deep inner (and outer) pains, and there is NO HAPPY ENDING. Clearly, a movie so depressing and upsetting will not appeal to everybody, and it will likely divide viewers furthermore because of its low budget, sometimes iffy acting, graphic violence, and bitter philosophy. However, I for one absolutely loved this film. It is like an exploitation film that refuses to be exploitative, a REAL horror story, one that does not focus on the typical traits of the horror genre, but one that manages to fit under the genre's vast umbrella simply because of the sheer cruelty of it. "Combat Shock" is many things, it is a war drama, a psychological thriller, a work of astounding realism, a dark nihilistic tragedy, and a gory, shocking, boundary pushing horror film. It grapples the viewer by the neck with unstoppable rage, sucking them into a world of hopelessness and depravity, forcing them to witness the cruelest, darkest, and saddest aspects of humanity, always obscuring that glimmer of hope and lightheartedness your heart knows is there somewhere but just simply cannot find.After watching this it's safe to say that you may want to try to lighten up your mood because, although this movie is a masterpiece of tensity and shocks, this is a goddamn BUMMER!

Come on! This "shock" film is nothing but a series of rip-offs and stereotypes and is pure TRASH! The film tries to present a bleak look at "Viet-Nam Vets" who can't fit back into society following their combat experiences. Themes stolen from Midnight Cowboy (bleak New York City), The Taxi Driver (crazed vet shoots it out with three thugs at the end), Rolling Thunder (crazed and disturbed P.O.W. haunted by wartime nightmares), and Soldier Blue (hacked up bodies, severed heads, in a war setting) are chopped together to make this dull, and boring mess. Each character is too over-the-top and all come across as cartoonish. The acting is terrible and stiff. Honestly, the whole cast looks like heroin addicts. The mutant baby was borrowed from the horror film, It's Alive!. I'm sure the movie was made with good intentions to show the plight of Vets exposed to Agent Orange and Shell Shock, but it just doesn't get it's message across. Instead of wasting your money and time on this trash, you should rent The Best Years of Our Lives or Coming Home.

However, very boring throughout the entire middle of the movie. Seriously, after the first 10 minutes of the film's start (which was the most interesting part of the movie) we are treated with watching a man walk around town for like an hour. Wow, that was so exhilarating just watching this guy walk around and talk to people, it had me on the edge of my seat! The only time it gets exciting is at the end. And I won't say that it was worth the wait, but nevertheless, it was the highlight of the movie.I thought the "baby" character was.....special. The wife was decent. The main lead was, like his "baby",...special.Not Troma's worst film, but definitely not their best on either.

You have read all about the plot, so here is something a little deeper. I just wanted to clear up a few things, I have read a lot of comments on this film and read it was filmed in New Jersey. This is incorrect. This movie was shot in my neighborhood of Port Richmond on Staten Island, New York. Google it, its not NJ, guys. I work a block away from the rail yard that is shown very often in the film, and actually hung out down there in my teens. Because of this, the movie really hit home and stayed with me for a while. I just watched Combat Shock for the first time in 2008 at 28yrs old. And Port Richmond sure did look bleak back in 86, apocalyptic is more the word. I recognized most of the streets and it was depressing, and nostalgic for me to see my neighborhood in such ruins. Port Richmond ave has now populated much more, 90% by illegal immigrants. Most of the businesses that are run down in the film are now active with furniture shops, Mexican food joints and 99 cent stores. But the rail yard remains the same, though non functional for the last 20 years. A total run down abandon hole in the ground ravished with graffiti, bums and littered with empty drug baggies. I thought the film was great, and was even better being a sort of time capsule for me. I can't get this movie out of my head. It was like a window into the darkest crevices of my town, the places I would think about and fear growing up.