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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Like Germany... Ambitious and Misunderstood, January 25, 2005
Okay, bad comparison. But ST is plenty of the latter, which is a pity, because it's actually a very good movie.
The biggest mistake people have when seeing ST is that they expect 'a straight sequel to Rocky'. With the exception of a few minor elements such as incest and two characters with the names Brad and Janet, the resemblance is hard to find. The fact is that ST is a completely different movie than RHPS and most viewers come away disappointed because the title is inextricably linked to RHPS (in mind, if not in spirit).
Don't make this mistake. Erase all RHPS from your mind before viewing.
For starters, in terms of symbolism, ST is Plato's Allegory of the Cave compared to RHPS. The voyeurism of reality television was not at the extreme degree in 1981 as it is today, making ST's vision a strangely prophetic one. And yet it all seems very familiar. The basic premise is that the town of Denton is obsessed with a monster television show, a kind of all-encapsulating collection of programs with a seemingly never-ending time schedule. Brad and Janet are forced to participate in an isolating reality TV show called Dentonvale, supposedly to help their failing marriage, while two characters whose show has been dropped have uncovered a devastating conspiracy about DTV and must race against the clock to expose it before it's too late.
There is a deep sense of entrapment (the entire movie takes place on the TV set) and irony in ST. Whereas RHPS was a lighthearted homage to bygone celluloid, ST is a dark, cynical satire on a different kind of picture show, possibly even taking on the original Rocky fans with its portrayal of an audience who does nothing but 'participate' vicariously in the events onscreen. The movie contains elements, and often messages about, the following exhaustive list: broken relationships, fame (the darker side of), voyeurism, consumerism, conformity, obsession, freedom (the loss, search and gain of), the search for truth, redemption, gender roles, groupies (another stab at the RHPS community), sexuality (in an entirely different manner than RHPS), show biz, American icons, mental health, the relationships between siblings, and of course, reality TV and the sort of bizarre Phil McGraw-solves-all brain cures that populate the airwaves these days.
O'Brien manages to link all these elements with recurring symbolic images (Brad`s cage, the television screens) and symbolic lyrics ('Breaking Out'), then ties it all up in a darkly ironic package and sets it down in the even more ironic setting of a television studio. When you watch this movie, as well you should, you are watching a screen depicting people watching a screen being watched by a character watching a screen, and the things being depicted on the screens-within-your-screen are satirizing things we see on our screens in real-life everyday; not only that, but the characters watching television are satires of us watching television, which we are, and those characters watching other characters watch television might be us as well, since we are doing the same. On another mind-bending note, you are also watching a screen depicting a satire of a movie that appeared in so many screens it made possible the creation of the movie you're watching now. And the fact that you're trapped in this never-ending cycle is also represented symbolically in the movie, so basically, there's no escape.
Confusing? Yes. Deliberate? Probably not, but so much of it is fairly well done and so fun to watch (some people might call it sloppy, but then maybe they weren`t analyzing it for metaphorical content) that it's hard to imagine at least some of it wasn't intentional. There is still a sort of Rocky-esque flavour hovering around the set, with foreshadowing and important plot points steamrolled over by the seemingly non-sequitor dialogue and zany goings-on, but I didn`t find that this damaged the entertainment value any more than it did RH. Like RHPS, ST needs a few watchings to get it put in perspective. But, for aforementioned reasons, most viewers never get that far.
Oh, and the songs were great too.
A FEW NOTES ABOUT THE CAST:
O'Brien never should have used the names Brad and Janet for his leading characters, nor do I think De Young makes a good Brad (though his other role is quite pleasing and he manages to pull a few stunts I can`t imagine Curry doing as well. Blasphemy, I know). The roles call for completely different people and Harper and Young, while suffering under the burden of the B and J names which the movie could do without, deliver as best they can (and I maintain, after the "Looking for Trade" sequence, that Sarandon could never have pulled this off in her Janet role). Humphries' saliva-laden Bert Schnicks is the closest character to RHPS aside from O'Brien and Quinn's ever-present brother/sister duo.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Get Commited!, July 11, 2001
If you are a fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, or any cult movie, for that matter, this movie's worth a look. Cliff DeYoung and Jessica Harper star as Brad and Janet Majors (the hapless couple from RHPS), now unhappily married. They are contestants on the game show Marriage Maze, a sort of Newlyweds Game for people on the verge of divorce, hosted by Bert Schnick, a blind, abrasive German (Barry Humphries, in a hilarious pre-Dame Edna role). Brad ends up on Dentonvale, a reality TV show run by Doctors Cosmo and Nation McKinly (RHPS veterans Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn). As Brad is drugged and dragged off into the care of Nurse Ansalong (RHPS veteran Nell Campbell), Janet finds herself flung headfirst into the heart of the local TV studio,quickly becoming a local celebrity. And past that, you'll have to see the movie to find out what happens.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Be Prepared..., February 23, 2004
...for one of the most confusing movies you will ever see. I personally got a little bit of detail out of this movie, but the rest of it was random singing and dancing. The funniest thing about this picture is in Richard O'Briens storytelling of live as a tv show. Many people whine and moan that it's nothing like the rocky horror picture show, let alone not a sequel, well guess what....THERE'S NOT GONNA BE A SEQUEL, FRANKS DEAD, OK!? (sobs...) Anyway, for those of you who want to hear of the movie in itself, Denton (Brad and Janet's hometown) is now a big tv studio. Each morning, studio audience members arise from their chairs to view the newest game shows. Brad and Janet (again, nothing like their other characters) are having problems. Seems brads an emotional reck, and after going on a new game show hosted by crazy blind man bert schnidt, Brad is soon committed to a tv show/psychiatric ward called Dentonvale. Richard O'Brien and Patricia quinn once again give stunning performances, this time as Cosmo and Nation McKinley (again into the idea of incest). Little Nell is in the movie as Nurse Ansalong, not too big of a role actually, just eye candy. Charles Gray however has a much more active role than in the R.H.P.S, and he sings too! I suppose the main plot is centered around Janet becoming famous to help brad, then forgetting about him completely and becoming too thrilled with being famous. I highly recommend this, not as being compared to the R.H.P.S (nothing compares with that) but rather as an open minded person who loves looking at weird stuff.
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