Paul Magne Haakonsen While I am a big fan of the original "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", then it is sort of odd that it has taken me so long to actually getting around to watching "Shock Treatment".This sequel to the immensely popular "Rocky Horror Picture Show" is much less known. and it wasn't before 2017 that I actually had the chance to watch it. So was it worth the wait?Hardly so! The story is nowhere near in comparison to the predecessor. And it was really odd to see Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Charles Gray and Nell Campbell return to the movie but in different roles than in "Rocky Horror Picture Show". That just didn't really work for me. The roles of Brad and Janet were now played by someone else entirely, which just was a slap to the face.It should be said that the cast was good, and I was surprised to see Rik Mayall here.There were a few good songs here and there, but they are not classics like the tunes from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"."Shock Treatment" was adequate enough if you haven't seen "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", but since most of us have, then "Shock Treatment" turned out to be a mediocre experience.

t_atzmueller Right, let's start off by saying it how it is: "Shock Treatment" will forever be measured up against "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". How else could it be? Sharing a similar cast, almost identical crew, and by the similar formula, being considered somewhat of an "unofficial sequel", how could it not be so? And that's already addressing the core of the problem. Few sequels manage to live up to the original (from the top of my head, the only ones that currently comes to mind is "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Godfather II", and that was a few days ago), and it's even more difficult, nay, virtually impossible to compete with one of the films for which the term 'cult-movie' was virtually invented.But it is not only the inevitable comparison to the big "RHPS" that ails "Shock Treatment". There are various other flaws, most are more or less minor, others are, as I have to admit, a matter of personal taste.Let's start off with the story itself: presuming that a majority of the audience already come from the "RHPS"-corner (indeed, I would bet my last buck on it), it's really not what the audience were expecting or came for. Sure, a parody / persiflage of TV-culture and consumerism in form of a musical sounds like a nifty idea, but I for one expected, or shall we say, "hoped for" another persiflage of B-movies, the midnight circuit flicks, just like in… well, you know which one. Call me boring or conservative, but I'm very sure that most other viewers expected the same. On the other hand, as Richard O'Brien himself once stated, the storyline is way more convoluted and confusing than the simple RHPS Then there is the issue of the actors: naturally, it's nice to see a couple of the "well known faces", namely Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Charles Gray and Little Nell, but those in turn raise memory and makes the lack of the other RHPS-regulars so much more obvious. Especially when one two the main characters, once played by Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick have been replaced, and one keeps imagining that Tim Curry would / could / should have played the main-villain. Now, I'm talking personal taste here, but I found Cliff De Young and Jessica Harper as leads rather boring, often uninteresting, which made me miss the "originals" even more.But could a Tim Curry and a Susan Sarandon elevated the film to a cult-movie in the vein? Again, I have my doubts. For that, the musical numbers – or shall we say, a majority of them – are too weak. There are a few catchy tunes, but nothing of the format of "Time Warp", "Dammit Janet", "Hot Patootie" and most other RHPS-tunes.After all the criticism, one might come to the conclusion that I disliked "Shock Treatment". Not so. It does have a number of catchy songs, it does have that over-the-top / colourful weirdness that the predecessor had and it's quiet enjoyable, if you're able to forget "that other film" for 90 minutes. Which is difficult, of course. As Columbia would have said (and would have gotten reprimanded for it): "It's okay." And all I can say in the end: 5/10

stormcatcher-2 The biggest problem with "Shock Treatment" is that at its core, it is a much, much deeper and somewhat darker film than "Rocky Horror". RHPS is more of a flat-out comedy, but "Shock Treatment" is very much a dark comedy. You have to think a little bit to "get" what the movie is pushing to you, and you'll probably have to watch it more than once before it'll all really make sense, and that's not something that most people are willing to do.It also doesn't help the fact that Brad and Janet, while technically still the same characters from RHPS, are played by different people - and that Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, and Little Nell are playing completely different characters. Again, this confuses the heck out of most people, and it generally ruins the movie for them.And that's a shame - because once you get under the surface of this movie, it's really quite ahead of its time. How many movies from the 70's and 80's can you think of that "prophesied" the coming of reality TV as a widely-accepted form of entertainment nearly two decades beforehand? And how likely do you think it would be that a married couple today might be willing to turn to video-administered pop psychology, a studio audience, and some very fake celebrities to try to find the answers to save their troubled marriages? "Shock Treatment" hits very close to home - maybe a little TOO close. I don't think too many people will argue that we live in some seriously dark times, and this movie takes that theme and runs with it.The only major sore spot I had with the film was that I thought the plot thread between Brad and Farley Flavors was a little forced and contrived - but given that Richard O'Brien had to drastically re-write the script because Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, and Susan Sarandon chose not to take part, he did the best he could with the crew he did have, and I think it could have been much worse. No studio writer today could have written themselves out of such a corner, that's for sure. Plus, it's great fun to see Barrie Humphries hamming it up as Bert Schnick (quite the silly change from his stint as Dame Edna Everage), and a subtle cameo of Rik Mayall before "The Young Ones".And oddly enough, I find the music for "Shock Treatment" to be far more enjoyable and catchy than the tunes from RHPS. I know, I know, how can anyone NOT love "Time Warp", "Sweet Transvestite", etc.? Well, it's not that I hate them...I've just heard them only about a million times apiece, and even with the audience participation, they get stale after awhile. But there's something infectious about the tunes here; every time I hear or read yet another story about some stupid celebrity marriage that's going down the tubes, I get the urge to hum "Bitchin' in the Kitchen". When I think about my small hometown, I start singing "Denton" under my breath. Hearing Brad and Farley verbally slug it out in "Duel Duet" is both sad and hilarious, and though it's very short, I think that Jessica Harper, as Janet, singing "In My Own Way" is one of the most bittersweet situational songs I've ever heard, as she questions her decisions about Brad and their marriage, and vows to try to see things through to the end. If you ever saw "Phantom of the Paradise", you'll be familiar with Jessica's singing voice - the gal can belt out a tune.There are thousands of RHPS fans out there that will avoid this movie like the plague because they think it will taint everything about the original that they hold so dear to their hearts. And that's fine. They are two very, very different films, and "Shock Treatment" is not meant to be a late-night audience participation kind of gig.But if you can see this one with an open mind, I really encourage you to give it a viewing. It's definitely more fun than the individual sum of its parts.

DuctTapeAvenger I first saw this movie by going out on a limb and buying it on VHS from amazon. Now, I must warn you, this strays far from Rocky Horror Picture Show, so try not to compare the two too much.Now I could go over the plot but that is what what the plot outline is for correct?What I would like to base my review on is about the SERIOUSNESS of the plot. Predating the movie "The Running Man" by six years and the novel of the same name by five. It touched on other things so blatantly obvious now it's ridiculous. Now, (spoiler alert) during the scene where they go to the home area with Janet's family, there is product placement everywhere and gives echoes of Fahrenheit 451.I highly recommend this movie to sci-fi nerds, even if you're not a fan of RHPS.