A Shock to the System (1990)

Director: Jan Egleson

Starring: Michael Caine, Elizabeth McGovern, Peter Riegert

More info: IMDB

Tagline: Killing is easy... Getting away with it is murder.

Plot: Graham Marshall already celebrates his anxiously awaited promotion in an advertising company, when he learns that Roger Benham, one of his subordinates, will be promoted instead of him. Frustrated that his hated life will never change, he starts a cunning ploy to take bloody revenge on everyone who humiliated him - starting with his unnerving wife.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? HELL, YEAH!!!


I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't just love Michael Caine. He's got a fantastic track record, better than most I'd say. He's very likable and sympathetic even when playing an absolute cad like in ALFIE (1966). In A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM you feel for this miserable guy from the get go. He hates his life and so do you and you cheer for him every step of the way. He's shit on so badly that you egg him on as he climbs the corporate ladder by knocking off his bosses! It's fucking brilliant.


Riegert was great casting as his younger, asshole rival. Don't worry, it all works out but, oh, how it works out and McGovern is soooo cute and needs to be my secretary so she can handle the long list of women that need to have my babies. SHOCK is brilliantly, darkly funny and the last line of the film is a fucking classic. You NEED to see this. You NEED to see this. You NEED to see this and I need to see it again.