Shock Treatment

source: Shock Treatment

Trailer—Shock Treatment

Shock Treatment

This is the sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Again, it was directed by Jim Sharman, with songs and screenplay from Richard O'Brien; many of the cast of the former film return too, mostly in different roles. The story has Brad and Janet become contestants on a deranged game show. Definitely, not on the same level as the earlier film, with a confusing plot and lack of overall focus. Nevertheless, it looks good and has some decent songs.

The follow up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Yawn. Esoteric at best. The songs are good though. The movie isn't even understood by the actors who star in it so how can we, as the audience understand the little inside jokes? Some people say the film was ahead of it's time. That it laid the groundwork for the reality shows of today. It may have been ahead of it's time but that doesn't mean it is interesting or fun to watch. I was literally falling asleep because it meant nothing to me. It would have been much more fun had Pat Quinn, Little Nell and Richard O'brien played the same characters from RHPS. They don't. They are all together here but are different people. Charles Grey is here also but is someone else. I think the reason this film never worked well is because of that very reason; a lot of the original actors are back but aren't the same characters. Just didn't do anything for me. Sorry.

This movie is actually so fun and campy. I honestly think it would have done so much better if it wasn't marked or related to rocky horror in any way shape or form. I think people turned on it because they lived rocky horror so much. The songs are great. The story is a bit muddy but it is fun if you take the time to understand what is going on. Costumes are fab too

A decent movie, and nowhere near as bad as everyone makes out. Whereas Rocky Horror is weird in it's transvestite/alien way, this is actually better for a mainstream audience - it may be weird, but in a surreal/escapist way. Nice to see Ruby Wax in a lead role - she actually has a pretty big part as Betty, And the Rocky Horror actors - Richard O' Brien, Pat Quinn, Charles Gray and Nell Campbell are all great too (although it would have been nice to see a bit more of Nell) Keep a look out too for a pre-'Young Ones' Rik Mayall, playing Nell's love interest, interestingly enough. My advice is, if you can find a copy, get it - it's well worth investing in, whatever people may say.

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.

After afew years since my last comment on this movie things have changed. The explosion of reality television on TV now makes the commentary on this movie a lot more relevant then when it was originally released. This movie looks not only at the "actors" of this form of entertainment but also the audience and even the producers. A lot of the people who watch this movie are seeing it in a monotone 2 dimensional way, when this movie has a lot more depth then can be seen with such a view. This movie still deserves the 9/10 I gave it 2 years ago, it probably deserves 10. The style with which O'Brien shows the consumer/TV culture that was forming at the time this movie was made still works even today. This movie is a satire, it is not a spoof like the RHPS was, it is not a sequel, and it cannot be watched in the same manner. It works very very well as a satire on it's topic though using over the top imagery, effective musical numbers, and very over the top characterization.