Video Psychotherapy was a cure for the insane world. Heads exploding. Blood gushing from human flesh. Vomit spewing and endless screaming. How can people in their right minds find any of that amusing? They can if they are shut-Ins at the asylum, or if they attended the Video Psychotherapy (VPT) DVD Party on October 30 at the Beachland Ballroom.

VPT was first introduced to Cleveland as a local cult cable show in the 1990’s. Due to its wild popularity, 2 new sessions were released on DVD and premiered last Saturday. A pompous, dictatorial, arrogant puppet, otherwise known as The Doctor, who wears a turtleneck and sunglasses, conducts each session. Just by reading that description, even the sane should crack a grin.) After showing a few minutes of visual/audio shock treatment of gush and gore, The Doctor appears and offers you much needed analysis. It guarantees to induce intense laughter and attempts to correct your inept view of society—much like the real dummies do in Washington, D.C.

For example, right after you see someone slashing a human neck with blood oozing from it, The Doctor rhetorically asks, “Don’t you have anything better to do than watch this?” which affirmed how audiences can’t get enough of suffering and killing. The Doctor sometimes interrupts the fireworks of gruesome video clips to enlighten his worshippers with proper social rhetoric, such as advocating that parents would be proud if their kids drank more than them. The Doctor also professes the ultimate capitalistic prospective, asserting that factory workers pore sweat to let him live the life of luxury. The Doctor’s finest (funniest to VPT fans) moment comes in a nightclub scene when he acts all cool and tough by slinging insults at patrons and then he says, “Oh dear me, look at the hour. Come on, Betty, let’s get goin’.” In addition to the outrageous dummy, the video collage shocks and humors you simultaneously, juxtaposing and repeating clips of old movies and documentaries. (I heard loud laughter from women after seeing the repetitive clip of a man yelling in agony after being shot in the groin.) Intense music blends in with the video tapestry, blasting your mind right into temporary insanity. VPT definitely isn’t for everyone. Only open-minded individuals who appreciates an ironic, shocking portrayal of life and laughs at it will get a real kick out of the cult series. To see VPT clips or to write to The Doctor, go to http://www.videopsychotherapy.com from Cool Cleveland reader Rosemary Musachio rosemary02@sbcglobal.net (:divend:)