Okay, fellow tapeheads, gather 'round the flickering glow of the phantom CRT in your mind. Tonight, we're digging deep into the dusty bins of Italian exploitation cinema for a title that’s whispered about in hushed, slightly bewildered tones: Bruno Mattei's 1989 sci-fi… homage?… Shocking Dark. You might have stumbled across this gem under one of its gloriously misleading aliases – Alienators, Contaminator, or, most notoriously, Terminator II. Yes, really. Before Cameron unleashed his T-1000, Mattei (working under his frequent pseudonym Vincent Dawn) and his go-to scribe Claudio Fragasso (yes, the maestro behind Troll 2) gifted us this.
Finding this tape back in the day felt like uncovering forbidden knowledge. The cover art probably promised something epic, maybe slightly familiar, but nothing quite prepares you for the sheer, unadulterated borrowing on display. Forget subtlety; Shocking Dark wears its influences like badges of honour, stitched crudely onto a spacesuit seemingly bought from a surplus store.
### Welcome to Future Venice... Sort Of
The setup? It's the far-flung future, Venice is an ecological disaster zone shrouded in toxic fog (a convenient, budget-friendly way to obscure the actual Venice filming locations, perhaps?), and a team of researchers at the Tubular Corporation's underground lab has gone silent. Enter the Megaforce marines – okay, technically the crew of the Hydra salvage vessel and some corporate suits – led by the stoic Commander Samuel Fuller (Christopher Ahrens) and scientist Sara (Haven Tyler), sent in to investigate. What they find isn't just malfunctioning equipment; it's mutated monstrosities and a desperate fight for survival in dimly lit corridors. Sound familiar? Yeah, about that...
### Aliens vs. Terminator vs. Budget Constraints
Let's be blunt: Shocking Dark is basically James Cameron's Aliens filtered through a distinctly Italian, low-budget lens. You've got the tough female protagonist (Sara, doing her best Ripley), the stoic military leader with a secret (Fuller), a plucky kid survivor (Samantha), corporate betrayal, creatures bursting from chests (well, near chests), and soldiers getting picked off one by one in claustrophobic industrial settings. Remember how intense the motion tracker scenes were in Aliens? Mattei tries, bless him, often substituting suspense with characters yelling exposition over tinny synth scores.
But here's where the Terminator II moniker gets really cheeky. One of the team members, the seemingly unflappable Fuller, turns out to be... well, let's just say he shares more than a passing resemblance to a certain cybernetic organism sent from the future. It’s a plot twist thrown in with all the grace of a malfunctioning garbage disposal, yet it adds another layer to the film's delightful absurdity. Reportedly, the Terminator II title was slapped on for some international markets purely to cash in on the hype for Cameron’s upcoming sequel, leading to some understandable confusion and probably a few cease-and-desist letters flying around.
### Practical Effects, God Bless 'Em
Now, let's talk action and effects, because this is where Shocking Dark delivers… something. Forget polished CGI; this is the realm of rubbery monster suits, flashing lightbulb eyes, and squibs that look suspiciously like packets of ketchup taped to actors' chests. And you know what? There's a certain charm to it. The creatures, clearly inspired by Giger's Xenomorph but looking more like something Sid and Marty Krofft might have rejected, are endearingly clunky. When someone gets blasted, the blood spray feels tangible, messy, practical. Was it convincing even back then? Maybe not compared to its big-budget inspirations, but there's an undeniable visceral quality to seeing actual materials being ripped and splattered. You feel the effort, the sheer determination to put something monstrous on screen, budget be damned. The gunfire often sounds canned, the explosions are sometimes clearly contained charges, but it’s real stuff happening in front of the camera. Remember how much impact those practical bullet hits had back in the day? Shocking Dark tries to capture that energy, even if it occasionally trips over its own ambition.
The direction by Bruno Mattei, a legend in the world of Italian exploitation for films like Rats: Night of Terror, is exactly what you'd expect: efficient, derivative, and occasionally baffling. He keeps things moving, leveraging the claustrophobic sets (likely repurposed industrial locations or very basic studio builds) for maximum gloom, even if the logic sometimes takes a backseat to the next scare or shoot-out attempt. And the dialogue, courtesy of Claudio Fragasso and Rossella Drudi, has that signature flavour – earnest, slightly unnatural, and often unintentionally hilarious. Look out too for Geretta Geretta, instantly recognisable to fans of Lamberto Bava's Demons, bringing some familiar genre energy to her role as Koster.
### A Cult Oddity Worth the Tracking Adjustment
Was Shocking Dark a hit? Not really. It mostly bypassed theatres outside of certain territories and found its audience, such as it is, on home video. Critics at the time likely dismissed it (if they noticed it at all) as a cheap knock-off. But time has been strangely kind to it. It’s become a beloved piece of cult cinema, appreciated not just for its "so bad it's good" qualities, but as a fascinating example of low-budget filmmaking ingenuity and brazen imitation. I distinctly remember renting this from a local video store under one of its weird titles, drawn in by the promise of sci-fi horror, and being utterly baffled yet strangely entertained by the Aliens-but-not-Aliens experience. It’s a movie made with more enthusiasm than resources, a testament to filmmakers trying to play in the Hollywood sandbox with only a bucket and spade.
Rating: 4/10
Explained: Look, let's be honest. On a technical level, judged against its clear inspirations (Aliens, Terminator), Shocking Dark falls spectacularly short. The acting is wooden, the script is derivative bordering on plagiarism, and the effects are often laughable. However, for sheer audacity, unintentional humour, and as a prime example of Italian exploitation filmmaking trying to punch way above its weight, it’s weirdly compelling. The 4 points are awarded almost entirely for its entertainment value as a cult artifact and its fascinating place in B-movie history. It absolutely nails the gritty, low-budget VHS aesthetic.
Final Take: Shocking Dark is the cinematic equivalent of a bootleg action figure – the paint job's sloppy, the limbs are stiff, and it barely resembles the character it's meant to be, but damn if it isn't strangely collectible and fun to look at. A must-see for Mattei fans, Italian horror completists, and anyone who appreciates the sheer guts it took to release this as Terminator II. Adjust your tracking, grab some popcorn, and embrace the shock.