Watch Shock Treatment For Free

So much average

It is a performances centric movie

Excellent but underrated film

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The further adventures of Brad and Janet Majors are detailed in this follow-up, rather than true sequel, to the cult phenomenon "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Instead of paying tribute to classic schlock cinema, what screenwriter / songwriter / actor Richard O'Brien and screenwriter / director Jim Sharman do is savagely satirize the whole television industry. In so doing, they create a film that, while maybe not as memorable as RHPS, is fairly entertaining in its own right. You miss the presence of Tim Curry, but there are several other returnees from the first film. The efforts of the cast are really what make this work as well as it does. Not all of the songs are that great, but there are a few that are insidiously catchy.Brad is now played by Cliff De Young and Janet by the lovely Jessica Harper. Their hometown of Denton has been transformed into one big TV studio in which a citizenry full of sheep gleefully take in an assortment of soap operas and game shows and the like. In fact, they're even made to live at the studio! Brad and Janet, in their attempt to salvage their now shaky marriage, are eventually made prisoners of the local TV programming, with maniacal business mogul Farley Flavors (also played by De Young) intending to make a star out of Janet.Ms. Harper is such a pleasure to watch, especially when she dons that great black dress. De Young is fun in his dual roles. O'Brien and Patricia Quinn are delicious as the "doctors" who see to Brads' needs. Charles Gray and Ruby Wax do well as the two characters out to undermine the whole charade. Nell Campbell is fantastically sexy as the short skirted nurse. And Barry Humphries clearly enjoys himself as eccentric and flamboyant TV host Bert Schnick. Also appearing are Rik Mayall, Betsy Brantley, and Wendy Raebeck."Shock Treatment" is now notable, of course, for the way it portrays the reality television business and the way that celebrities can be manufactured out of any individual. It's not macabre and campy in the way that RHPS was, but it's still fairly wacky, and has a reasonable amount of energy to keep it going. Fans of "Network" may enjoy it just as much as any fans of "Rocky Horror".Seven out of 10.

Forget everything you know about newlyweds Brad and Janet Majors and the events involving a drag queen from space for the time being. There will be no aliens or references to classic science fiction, b movie, and horror films. No Barry and no Susan. What we have now is a different couple to play the pair in the new decade. This time the role of Brad Majors goes to Cliff De Young, an actor from films like The Hunger and even a Stephen King miniseries. Janet Weiss, Or should I say Janet Majors now, is to be played by Jessica Harper, known primarily for her main role in Dario Argento?M)s Suspiria. But there are a few familiar faces out there to put a smile on our faces. Though familiar, they hold different identities then what we knew them as before. Our tub of warm waters of sins of the flesh will now be drained clean and refilled by misunderstood reality and game show satire. The music is usually hit-and-miss in the tune department but tends to make up for it in lyrics. This movie is quite different from its predecessor, which caused the movie to be... well... not as much beloved by the Rocky Horror fans. For its time, no one could quite understand the satire, seeing as back then there were few game shows and reality Television. The movie is definitely a cult classic, but never quite managed to stack up to Rocky Horror. You could say being the sequel to Rocky Horror is both a blessing and a curse. Without Rocky, this movie would probably not catch as many fans's interest, yet with it, people, even today consider this quite a terrible sequel for the franchise. Although terrible in it's way, it is quite entertaining and difficult not to love at times. You have to watch it numerous times to truly understand what goes on behind the scenes of DTV. Like sushi in the 80s, they both plead for a second chance and eventually gain it by some. The idea of the film's satire may be a brilliant one but sadly it leaves most viewers "Bitchin' in the kitchen" in the end.Overall Best Songs: "Duel Duet", "Lullaby", "Shock Treatment", Great lyrics: "Look What I Did To My Id", "Looking For Trade"

It's hard to follow a piece of genius like the Rocky Horror Picutre Show. Richard O'Brien tries, and nearly succeeds, if he didn't give into being cheesy at times. Some regulars return in different roles, such as O'Brien, Patrica Quinn, "Little" Nell Campbell, and Charles Gray. However, the tongue in cheek humor and craziness of Rocky Horror, gives way to a film that tries to be bizarre for bizarre sake.Cliff DeYoung is underused is a duel role, and Jessica Harper seems even more prudish and isn't as attractive as Susan Surrandon was in Rocky Horror. Not that Harper isn't pretty, just that she frighteningly has too close to a unibrow for my taste.The lines are over the top in delivery too many times, and it detracts from the film. The plot really doesn't matter, and nor should it. The film does have some decent songs,a few of which would have fit in nicely in Rocky Horror. But those sets with the Bright Red and Hot Pink just hurt the eyes, and I pity those who saw this in the theater or watch it in high def, you're going to hurt your eyes.The plus for me is Little Nell as the seductive Nurse Ansalong. As weird as she was in Rocky Horror, she's simply sexy as the nurse who just seems to be the prototype of any erotic fantasy involving a nurse. She looks a lot different then she did in Rocky, with flowing red hair, a delightfully short skirt, which gives way to many pantie shots of her.The film could have used more of an interjection of her, and less of Jessica Harper singing. O'Brien and Quinn seemed that they should have had more screen time as well.That being said, the film is enjoyable in some parts, unwatchable in others (espcially those in the terrible rooms mentioned above)and delivers some decent songs. Good for collectors of O'Brien's work, but those expecting a film on par with Rocky Horror, you'll be disappointed.

Shock Treatment (1981): Richard O'Brien, Cliff De Young, Jessica Harper, Patricia Quinn, Charles Grey, Nelle Campbell, Rik Mayall, Barry Humphries, Darlene Johnson, Manning Redwood, Jeremy Newson, Betsy Brantley, Perry Bedden, Christopher Malcolm, Ray Charleson, Imgone Claire, Eugene Lipinski, Barry Dennen....Original Music by Richard O'Brien, Richard Harley...Director Jim Sharman.Shock Treatment, released in 1981, was the follow-up to the far more popular and successful musical "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" of 1975. Richard O'Brien, the lyricist and Richard Harley the composer, teamed up once again to make this lesser sequel for the new MTV generation of the 1980's. Despite using the same characters of Brad and Janet, and some of the same actors from Rocky Horror, namely Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nelle "Little Nelle" Campbell and Charles Grey (who was the narrator in Rocky Horror), there is still no real semblance to Rocky Horror Picture Show and it's a completely different animal. Gone is the vulgarity of the original, the in-your-face raunchy humor, the camp and the overall fun spirit of Rocky Horror. Also, the plot in this sequel is painfully thin compared to the science fiction/horror parody of the first and it turns out to be simply a boring musical satire about empty glamour of the 80's, the consumerism and materialism of pop culture. Why the creative genius of the Rocky Horror Picture Show should want to make a "thinking man's comedy" is beyond me. If you're like me, you only watched this because it's got the Rocky Horror Picture Show team working on a new musical but it's no Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ultimately, it's too long, boring and the songs aren't even as good. But here's the plot for those curious enough to see this train wreck of a film: Brad and Janet, fresh from their adventures with the ghouls from the Rocky Horror Picture Show (Frank'N'Furter is dead, Riff Raff and Magenta and the rest return to Transsexual Transylvania), return to their beloved and wholesome American small town of Denton. But they soon discover that even this Rockefeller painting of a town is not what it used to be. The whole town has been invaded by the phenomenon of Television and everyone is part of the audience or performers of a hugely popular game show. The whole thing is eerily like what today we call reality television. The "real lives" of certain people are seen as either glamorous or deplorable. In the case of Brad and Janet, Janet decides to liberate herself from her formerly submissive "housewife" role of Brad's woman and turns into a glamorous TV soap star, with the ad and flattery of creepy, agenda-driven producers. The industry mogul is himself Brad Majors' own long lost brother who intends to crush his brother whom he is jealous of and win the heart of Janet Weiss. Brad is sent to a mental asylum where he undergoes the eponymous "shock treatment" by its managers played by Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn, who are NOT Riff Raff and Magenta but entirely new characters. In the end, even Janet realizes she's been brainwashed and turned into a product rather than a whole person and she, Brad, her best friend Betty and Betty's new boyfriend (Charles Grey) decide to leave the crazy TV-infected town.The songs are creatively written, no doubt, and only a few are actually good including "Denton USA" and "Shock Treatment" but this time around the songs are too "intellectual" and satirical. They contain none of the nonsense and campy humor of Rocky Horror Picture Show and therefore are forgettable songs. Everyone knows the songs from Rocky Horror Picture Show and their respective scenes/plot point/ from the movie but with Shock Treatment, the whole thing is like some weird and crazy MTV video spoof. Nevertheless, it contains fine cinematography, and often it does seem to fit into MTV individualized videos. But the story itself is too dull and meaningless. At least with RHPS there was an obvious satire of science fiction and horror mixed with 1970's decadence. Shock Treatment manages to put you in a state of shock, straps you into a chair and gives you high dosage of insane music, color, 80's fashion and pop culture. It's really very sad that this was the last we saw or heard of the Rocy Horror team.