Strangers in Paradise

My review was written in September 1986 after watching the movie on Vestron video cassette.

German actor-director Ulli Lommel has made a name for himself Stateside with a series of low-budget horror and fantasy features (notably "Boogey Man"), but comes a cropper with he music video-styled misfire "Strangers in Paradise". Filmed in 1983, incoherent picture tries hard to enter the cult territory of a "Rocky Horror Picture Show" but fails.

Opening reel is in black & white, with Lommel cameoing as Hitler in 1939 Berlin, while also playing stage mentalist Jonathan Sage, who escapes in 1940 to Lonon where he is frozen. Decades later, a scientist (Geoffrey Barker) unfreezes Sage to help his right wing group of Californians in their quest to modify young people's aberrant behavior. For the jumpteenth time, rock 'n' roll music is treated by the straw man bad guys as a symbol of moral decay that must be wiped out.

Everyone in sight keeps belting out songs, while expository dialog is poorly recorded in what sounds like an echo chamber, and crudely post-synchronized with the action. Fantasy musical numbers aren't very interesting to watch here, while the eclectic music track by Moonlight Drive includes material sounding like everyone from the Doors to Devo.

Running time is padded by a boring highlights sequence that repeats mucho footage already seen and pic then ends abruptly with no resolution of the storyline.

This is mostly a political statement with some of the worst directed and staged song and dance numbers ever. Since the film is 50% song and dance, would it be too much to ask for the dancing to match the beat or the singers to lip-sync properly? The director, writer, and producer of STRANGERS IN PARADISE, Ulli Lommel, also stars as a mesmerist from WWII Germany named Sage, who is cryogenically frozen in the 1940s to escape Hitler (also played by Ulli Lommel). A group of crazy California fascists thaw out Sage in the 1980s and try to get him to hypnotize gays and punks into being upstanding citizens. There are a few effective moments in the movie, like a record burning and a scene of Sage hypnotizing the fascists into punks. But really! The songs are imitation Doors songs for the most part, very dated sounding even in the 80s, and Ulli Lommel the director gets a very poor performance out of Ulli Lommel the actor. Sage is so out of it most of the time and can barely speak in a whisper, and then he has nothing interesting to say! The rest of the acting is designed so none of the actors would upstage the zombie-like lead actor, and all of the musical numbers are very messy. It seems to be a movie that Ulli Lommel made for Ulli Lommel, and maybe his grandkids would enjoy it but I thought it was a missed opportunity. See THE PRODUCERS instead.

I saw this film as part of a retrospective of Ulli Lommel films in Munch, Germany, back in December of 2009. I do not care much for his recent horror flicks, but this film deserves attention and acclaim. As one can see, it polarizes, lots of 9s and 10s and lots of 1-ratings. Wow! Seldom has there been a director who is that controversial. I enjoyed the camera work and the acting and the song and dance numbers, my favorite one is THE SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE, where Lommel takes a swing at the Reagan area born again Christians in America and their double standards in morals and ethics. It's a very political movie for me, yet highly entertaining. Made back in 1984, it has almost vanished. Someone should remaster this film and do a new release on DVD or put it back in the theatres where it belongs. This has the potential of becoming a cult hit like ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, I mean it. It's almost a master piece.

Part musical romp, science-fiction, comedy, and anti-Fascist rant, STRANGERS IN PARADISE is an extended put-down of the politics of power, as well as an admonishing comparison between 1980s U. S. and Nazi Germany. It follows Jonathan Sage, a mesmerist and master of mind control courted and controlled by the power-mad.

In a black-and-white prologue, Sage (played by the director) visits Hitler (also played by Lommel) in 1939 Berlin. Drafted to mesmerize the Allied forces at the Russian front, Sage instead flees to London, where he performs at a smoke-filled hall while an energetic emcee sings, "Nobody's gonna put me down." Almost immediately, Nazi war planes start dropping bombs and Sage must again seek refuge. This time, though, he is placed in a cryogenic tube.

The movie turns color and advances to 1984. Sage is thawed and taken to Paradise Hills, a nondescript California suburb filled with "good" families. Some of the parents chastise their children for liking punk music and dyeing their hair. For a while, Sage is still groggy but retains his unusual abilities. He is brought under the control of reactionary, right-wing parents and others that want to fulfill a "master plan" that includes brainwashing anyone who doesn't agree with them. The group's leader, Staggers (Ken Letner), complains that the country being overrun by a "horde of perverted cretins."

The usual targets -- including homosexuals, rock 'n roll music, and drugs -- are blamed for America's decline. However, Lommel scores points by portraying the "perverts" as normal and the upstanding citizens as ludicrous nuts. The latter runs a covert group with wealth and connections in high places. The centerpiece of their activities is an enormous subterranean bomb shelter in Staggers' back yard, where scientists experiment on rebellious teenagers, hookers, and homosexuals using a computer called a Repentogram. This silly-looking machine goes "woop woop" a lot but repeatedly fails to change their captives' minds, who languish in a makeshift jail. That is where Sage comes in -- the group wants him to hypnotize the kids into being "upstanding citizens." Sage rebels and turns the tables on Staggers.

STRANGERS IN PARADISE is foremost a musical, although there's way too much singing and dancing, and some of it is really awful. Most of the 14 songs play out as fantasies in characters' minds, and this formula is overused. Nonetheless, there are several amusing and ironic moments. It is unlike any musical-comedy-fantasy-anti-Fascist film you'll ever see.

Actually not too bad as I thought it would be (although I did fast forward through the screaming female punk singer near the beginning) and really enjoyed most of the music. The story is a familiar one that always reminds me of those cult religions, where we are supposed to live perfect lives in a paradise, but always ends up looking like we'd all be robots. Z grade budget, of course, but must say that the editing was brilliant and made the movie much more interesting than it would have been. Tried getting the film soundtrack, but no luck, of course. Loved the "Nobody" song in particular. Highly recommended, though, if you like unusual musicals.