Future Schlock (1984)

Set in the dystopian future of 21st Century Melbourne (Australia), this low-budget mating of Mad Max and The Rocky Horror Picture Show postulates class wars when – following the “Middle-Class Revolution of 1990” – control of Australia is handed over to a repressive suburban power elite – the “subbies” – and its ruthless law enforcement arm, The Squad.

Non-conformists and rebels – mostly young and fashionably punk – live in walled-in inner-city ghettos and are subdued by a drugged water supply and exhaust their remaining frustrations in gang warfare.

Sarah (future Comedy Company star Mary-Anne Fahey) and Bear (Mike Bishop) – who come to be known as Cisco and Pancho – occasionally burst out of the inner-city through Checkpoint Charles in their low-slung Batmobile-style black Corvette to harass the cops, create havoc in the suburbs and leave a trail of elegantly-wrought anarchy wherever they go.

Independently made and lumberingly satirical (the nightclub where the hero and heroine perform is called ‘Alvin’s Hole’), Future Schlock was a financial flop, only recovering half of its $80,000 production cost at the box office and has dated badly.

Sarah
Mary-Anne Fahey
Bear
Mike Bishop
Ronnie
Tracey Callander
Alvin
Tiriel Mora
Sammy
Simon Thorpe
Cap’n Fruitcake
Peter Cox
Sgt. Tatts
Keith Walker
Skunk
Evan Zachariah
Bob
Gary Adams
Trish
Deborah Force
Dr Allen
Mitchell Faircloth
Simon 
Trevor Marmalade (as Jason Van De Velde)
Lois
Tracy Harvey
Mrs Christie
Effie James
Mr Christie
Ron Granger
Minister
Peter Moon
Il Revolto
Tom Elovaris
School Teacher
Michael Eckersall
Newsreader
Paul Harris
Scruff
Phil Zachariah
Man without a tongue
Drago Sapina
Police Captain
David J.G. Hirst
Mervyn
Peter Thompson
Lizard of Oz
Axe Palling
Carnal Miranda
Susie Plisken

Director
Chris Kiely
Barry Peak

Video