Shock Treatment

As people have said, this film got a horribly bad rap, and made very little money. The reason, as people have also said, is that it was expected to be in the same vein as RHPS, which it simply was not. Sure, it had Richard O'Brien's trademark musical style and whimsy, but it wasn't the campy kitsch people were expecting. It was, in fact, an intellectual movie with a serious message, a brilliant satire of life in the late 20th century. O'Brien takes jabs at the hallmarks of the decline of modern Western civilisation; conformity, machismo, brainwashing, and the absurdity of the "American Dream".

The plot can be a little hard to discern on the first viewing, but, as with many great intellectual films, more nuances of what O'Brien is trying to say are picked up with each subsequent viewing. The film is certainly surreal, to say the least; and I would suspect psychedelics were somehow involved in the writing of the script. Denton, the picaresque happy U.S. everytown, is actually just a television studio; and all the residents are characters on television shows or are in the audience. Enter Brad and Janet, who, after experiencing the "horrors" of RHPS, are having marital difficulties. This works perfectly into the plan of a mysterious fast food magnate, who intends to steal Janet away from her husband and use her to promote his business. He conspires to have Brad locked up in the local mental hospital/soap opera, while promoting Janet as a new bombshell sensation, and taking the whole town under his thumb.

In short, if you're looking for more of RHPS, you will be sorely disappointed. But if you want a thought-provoking yet whimsical, tongue-in-cheek attack on all that is mind-numbing and soul crushing in our modern world, definately check this film out. Jonathan Swift would be proud.

'Shock Treatment' will always suffer in comparison with its older, weirder sibling 'Rocky Horror', but comparison of the two is not really the point. Richard O'Brien, the author of both films, has created a movie musical spoof of American pop culture that should be viewed and enjoyed in its own right. Sure Brad and Janet, the wholesome couple who ran afoul of the Transylvanians in the first film reappear, but from that point on 'Shock Treatment' spins dementedly off on a trajectory all its own.

Jessica Harper takes over the role of Janet, Cliff de Young is Brad (and Farley Flavor, sinister tv station owner) and both actors are fine. Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn, the incestuous siblings from 'Rocky Horror' appear as, well, incestuous siblings, doctor hosts of a tv medical show. Barry Humphries is slyly hilarious in the role of Bert Schnick, gameshow compere.

The central concept of 'Shock Treatment' is that Denton, USA, the wholesome American town alluded to as the benchmark of normality in 'Rocky Horror', is in the thrall of tv culture. Citizens are avid viewers who live vicariously through the personalities inhabiting the various programmes broadcast by DTV, the local television station. Popularity is all, and independent thought regarded as a sign of mental instability. Into this brightly lit soap opera of a world come Brad and Janet, unhappily married and contestants on a game show which airs their marital disharmony for all the world to see. Brad is whisked off for psychiatric help and Janet groomed for stardom on a new show. Farley Flavor covets Janet from afar and schemes with Cosmo & Nation McKinley, the fraudulent tv doctors and character actors, to keep Brad and Janet apart while he makes his move. Rushing to brad's help comes Betty Hapschatt, recently sacked morning show hostess (and Rocky Horror newlywed), played deliciously by the ever-abrasive Ruby Wax.

Richard O'Brien shrinks from a more incisive scrutiny of the dumbing-down of America by it's television obsession. The songs in 'Shock Treatment' are short, bright and instantly forgettable, and the characters flat and garish as, er, cartoons. But the whole package is shiny, good-humoured and utterly entertaining. Watch 'Network' if you want a bitter critique of television culture, but watch 'Shock Treatment' for the sheer mindless pleasure of it.

I had heard a lot of bad things about this "sequel" to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and I can see how people expecting a return to the sexual hi-jinx of that classic would be disappointed. I found this to be great in a completely different way. Save for a few RHPS character and location names, this is pretty much unrelated to that flick. This stands on it's own as an excellent musical-comedy with great songs and characters.

"Shock Treatment" takes place entirely in the television station of DTV, a local TV station that probes into the lives of its town's citizens. Brad and Janet (who act differently and are played by different actors than in RHPS) discuss their marital strife and appear on "Marriage Maze". Brad is found to be in need of help, so he's shipped off to "Dentonvale", the channel's bizarre medical show, while Janet is groomed to be the new star of "Denton Dossier", a show that tells people how great Denton is. Meanwhile, nefarious fast food mogul Farley Flavors is conspiring to take over the town and Janet with his latest show, "Farley Flavor's Faith Factory".

Jessica Campbell (who has worked with Dario Argento AND Woody Allen) is superb as Janet, and Cliff De Young plays Brad and Farley so excellently it's hard to tell it's the same actor (he even has a duet with himself!). The rest of the cast is populated with British comedians (Ruby Wax, Barry Humphries, and "The Young Ones"' Rik Mayal, who should have had a bigger part) and RHPS vets including Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Charles Grey (also a former Blofeld!), and composer Richard O'Brian.

O'Brian's songs are fantastic and some exceed the quality of tunes in the better known "Rocky Horror". Clever lyrics and catchy tunes abound in classics like "Bitchin' in the Kitchen", "Little Black Dress", and the haunting "Lullaby". The choreography is great too, like the brief mirror-dance that accompanies "Look What I Did To My Id".

"Shock Treatmet" gets T-E-N, that's ten out of ten!

This movie does match and surpass "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in many ways. You can tell that Richard O'Brien and the film's producers had a bigger budget to work with. The songs are a match to the original (same song writer, same style...). Visually, a little too heavy on the reds, but this WAS 1981, after all. This movie will be enjoyed by those who will get the Rocky Horror references that are scattered throughout. Too bad Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon weren't there to provide a little more continuity to their characters. Jessica Harper does a great job though, she appeared in several off-beat movies in the 70s ("Phantom Of The Paradise" and "Suspiria" spring to mind) so playing in a Richard O'Brien movie was not too much of a stretch for her it seems. This sequel was, to me, a lot sexier than RHPS. The original seemed to center on campiness and shock value, it's here as well, but there is a lot more eye-candy in this sequel.

I'm still waiting for a Richard O'Brien / John Waters musical collaboration. Imagine the possibilities!

Shock Treatment is an extremely strange movie, the plot is all over the place, the songs are weird and the confusion factor for the viewer is high. But Shock Treatment is a good movie. Forget everything about RHPS, there are no singing tranvestites or Meat Loaf getting hacked to bits with an axe, Shock Treatment is very different. It is a funny satire about how television has become an obsession. It's also about Brad and Janet Majors, who become contestants on a show called Marriage Maze and Brad is committed into a mental asylum, placed convieniently inside the TV studio. It's funny to see most of the cast return for a great big musical full of memorable songs. But a warning to the gay community, one song contains the lyrics.."Faggots are maggots-thank god I'm a man!"

Australian Classification

PG

No consumer advice but it really doesn't need any. There's nothing that troubling.