9. Combat Shock (1986)
If ever there was a film to depress the life out of you and convince you that the Vietnam War was a very bad thing indeed, it is Combat Shock. It shows the effects of the war upon a veteran. They say war is hell... well, life after war is hell as well. Frankie's nightmares never end. Every night he is in Vietnam in his dreams. He cannot escape. Frankie wakes up to a mutant baby (which he believes is the result of his exposure to Agent Orange) and a pregnant wife nagging him about his unemployment cheque. There is a long sequence of urban squalor with squalid people - junkies, thieves and child prostitutes. There is no work for Frankie at the unemployment place. He phones up his dad for money but his dad thinks it is a crank call as his son died in Saigon years ago. At his wit's ends, Frankie steals a woman's purse. She starts screaming and some guys beat the crap out of Frankie. Frankie finds a gun in the purse and blows the men away. He has a flashback to Vietnam where a whole village had killed themselves rather than face rape, pillage and slaughter at the hands of US soldiers. Frankie goes home, kills his wife, kills his baby then does away with himself. Ladies and Gentlemen! It just does not get any bleaker than this. According to Combat Shock, the Vietnam War will haunt your dreams, render you an unemployable social misfit, make you have deformed progeny and generally lead to a life of misery. There was not an ounce of hope in the film. I'm sure a lot of Vietnam vets lived miserable lives until their plight was recognised. But this is pure hell. Watch at your own discretion.