Socket Movie Review

A movie about electric sex would be fine with me. Too bad Socket is seriously lacking in juice. This low-powered sci-fi exercise is actually a soft-core gay skin flick (with full-frontal nudity) masquerading as some kind of "thriller" with a heavy message. About what? Dunno.

A victim of a lightning strike, Dr. Bill Matthews (Derek Long) wakes up in the hospital and finds out that Craig (Matthew Montgomery), the intern taking care of him, has also been struck by lightning. So lightning really does strike twice. The mysterious Craig lets it be known that he's involved in a sort-of support group for lightning survivors, and he'd love to have Bill attend one of the meetings. For his part, Bill, who has suddenly become an obsessive neatnik and finds himself attracted to the static on his TV set, stalls for a while but eventually attends.

You can start filling in the rest of the obvious plot here. The members of the support group turn out to be electricity addicts, and meetings end not with a group hug but with a group jolt from a buzzing contraption in the corner. The jolts do a number on Bill's memory, but he does remember that he and Craig have become hot lovers, their pleasure increased exponentially by a shock, however they can get one. Eventually Dr. Bill figures out a way to install a plug right into his arm so he can tap into any available outlet, but like a vampire, he also feels the need to feed off of unsuspecting victims, sapping their strength while zapping his impressive libido.

So what are we really talking about here? Drugs? Sex? The power of addiction? Vampires? It's hard to tell. The excitement never really amps up, and the amateur acting ranges from OK to avert-your-eyes. There's just more sex and more attacks on bystanders, and every jolt is accompanied by a tightly edited rehash of the entire movie in reverse fast-motion... including electricity sound effects. Was I praying for a blackout? Oh, yes.







You'll go blind sitting that close to this movie.