Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery
by Ron Oliver
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DVD details
Actor: Chad Allen, Daryl Shuttleworth, Michael Woods, Morgan Fairchild, Sebastian SpenceDirector: Ron Oliver
Brand: GPI
Cinematographer: C. Kim Miles
Producer: Barry Krost
Producer: James Shavick
Producer: Jeffrey Schenck
Producer: Kirk Shaw
Producer: Lindsay MacAdam
Writer: Ron McGee
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 79911
Studio: Regent Releasing
Product features:
- Out actor Chad Allen is back in the second (and better) installment of the Donald Strachey murder mystery series. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR Age: 796019799119 UPC: 796019799119 Manufacturer No: 79911
DVD Reviews of Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery
DVD Review: A nice, complicated murder mystery with an interesting private eye. Don't forget to read the books by Richard Stevenson
Summary: 4 Stars
"Trevor Cornell is one of the most successful reparative therapy providers in New York," says Timmy Callahan. "I wonder what his idea of 'successful' is," says Donald Strachey, a private eye. "Dressing badly," says Callahan, "decorating your home with duck decoys, breaking out in a rash whenever Barbra Streisand sings."
To explain: Reparative therapy means conversion from being gay or lesbian into happy, contented heteroes. Timmy Callahan (Sebastian Spence) is a political type in Albany, New York. Donald Strachey (Chad Allen) is not only a capable and tough private eye in Albany, he and Timmy are married. "At least," as Strachey says, "as close as two men can get to it...more important, I'm in love with him." Those who find a gay agenda under every leaf, revolver and bloody baseball bat may not like this movie. On the other hand, those with a fondness for well-constructed mysteries that feature politics, victimization, murder, martinis and phenalzine should enjoy the story, the style of Donald Strachey and the puzzle. Bet you don't guess the murderer. It's worth pointing out that you don't need to be a collie to enjoy "Lassie" or a guy with a gut to enjoy John Wayne. And you don't need to be gay to enjoy Shock to the System. The movie has it's faults...it was made for cable with awkward acting in some of the secondary roles and it has that clean, careful look of most made-for-TV films. But the mystery is satisfyingly complicated, with a nice number of red herrings. Chad Allen makes a believable, interesting private eye. And his happy home life with Timmy would probably be the envy of many married couples, gay or straight.
Paul Hale, a frightened 20-year-old man, wants Strachey to help him. But before he can tell Strachey what he wants, he is found dead. At first it's thought Hale died of a stroke, but when a lethal mixture of alcohol and barbiturates is found in Hale's system, Strachey decides to find out what was going on. And that takes him undercover to the Phoenix Foundation, a successful institution led by Dr. Trevor Cornell and his wife, where gays and lesbians, Dr. Cornell says, can find their true path to heterosexuality. It turns out that Hale was going to be a poster boy for the Foundation when Cornell announced a major push to go nation-wide with his cures. Not only does Strachey find himself taking part in group therapy and flashing back to his own earlier life, he gets threatened, beaten up, chased and shot. Almost as frightening, he encounter's Hale's wealthy, well-groomed and surgically-enhanced mother. "My son was not gay!" she says. "He was...confused." Strachey eventually solves the crime. Justice, formal and informal, is dealt out.
Donald Strachey is the gay private eye in eight mysteries written by Richard Stevenson, beginning with Death Trick in 1981. They are first-rate reads with clever, involved and sometimes violent plots. In other words, they aren't gay mysteries...they're mysteries that happen to feature a gay private eye. Two of the books have been made into cable movies; this one was shown in 2006 and Third Man Out was shown in 2005. The books are well worth reading if you like mysteries. This movie is no classic, but it makes it's "gay agenda" points low-key enough that they don't interfere with the story. And although there is a bit of beef cake that shows up from time to time, one or two friendly smooches and a quick flash of frontal nudity, the movie has none of the leering smarminess that seems built-in to many of the boy-girl Hollywood films nowadays.
The DVD transfer is excellent. The disc has a director's commentary and two or three extras. I didn't bother to sample them.
Description of Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery
(Gay Thriller) When private eye Donald Strachey finds his latest client dead, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Strachey?s investigation leads him on a dark and dangerous trail into the world of "gay conversion therapy" - a twisted mix of psychology and religion designed by a doctor to turn homosexuals "straight." Based on the best-selling series of novels by Richard StevensonBestsellers in DVD
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