Central thesis: being lazy, callow and non-committal is what causes evil to propagate. As a basis for horror it's... interesting, I guess? Ultimately unthreatening though, despite its ghoulishness.
Also the film most in need of a drastic fan edit, possibly ever.
Hear that splash...?
...
That's the cast bravely jumping in to save this movie.
“Ok, so the plot is that Kevin Bacon’s character comes to a repressed small town and frees the kids’ sexuality through dance, right?”
“Um, kinda, but there’s no sex”
“Really? Ok, so it’s a makeout film then, yeah? Lots of ‘over the clothes’ making-out?”
“…not really, guy. There’s a lot of half-naked men, if that helps..?”
“Oh! So it’s a gay film? That’s coo…”
“…no, no, sorry. It’s hetero”
“Right: so it’s a sweet, PG-rated love story a bit like…
Rocky Horror always had a game strut in its step and half a bratwurst down its codpiece; sweet transvestitism against RKO backdrops. Most importantly, it had a wonderful soundtrack; a kitsch encapsulation of a world moving from the innocent Forties into the more sophisticated, sexually-charged Sixties.
The pseudo-sequel, Shock Treatment is another sideways stab at manufactured culture, with Richard O’Brien targeting asinine TV. Sporting a dayglo, cartoonish look, we get the further adventures of Brad and Janet as their home…
