SCHLOCK (FUTURE SCHLOCK)

Australia, 1984, 85 minutes, Colour.
Maryanne Fahey, Michael Bishop, Tracey Callander, Tiriel Mora.
Directed by Chris Kiely and Barry Peek.

Future Shlock is the first of four very small-budget Melbourne films made by Barry Peek and Chris Kiely: Channel Chaos, As Time Goes By, The Big Hurt.

The film is a satire on the future – suburban people are very much Stepford robots and have conquered any nonconformist. However, the film focuses on two nonconformists who try to upset society. A curiosity item.



1. What was you overall response to this film? Was it enjoyable? What aspects of it were enjoyable? Why was it made?

2. How clever was the film? Many reviews said it was not clever at all. Do you agree?

3. The film was a parody. How clever do parodies have to be? Why are parodies made? Are they meant to stand on their own? How do they relate to the original? Do they destroy the original? What kind of film was this film parodying?

4. What insight into the American mentality? Sense of humour, sense of mockery? How much successful parody of science fiction, King Kong type films?

5. How was the film a satire on American behaviour? People confronted with the animals? People confronted by the murders, the police, family life? In which characters was this most obvious?

6. Comment on the parody of such films as The Planet of the Apes, The Boston Strangler and other mass murder films, 2001 with the ape and the throwing of the rock through the shop window, the romance of Elvira Madigan and Mozart’s music, the conception of Schlock and King King, science fiction films about the missing link, the end with its direct quotation from King Kong? Was this cleverly done and worth doing?

7. Did the Schlock have a character? How did the film attempt to portray its character? In the situation and confrontation with others, the murders, the moving around the town, the ending? Were any other characters well portrayed?

8. Was there any message at the end of the film as in King Kong and Beauty destroying the Beast? Or, was this mere mockery?

9. Did this film enhance or debase the original which it parodied?