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| Shock Treatment | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jim Sharman |
| Written by | Jim Sharman Richard O'Brien |
| Produced by | Lou Adler Michael White |
| Starring | Jessica Harper Cliff De Young Richard O'Brien Patricia Quinn Little Nell |
| Cinematography | Mike Molloy |
| Edited by | Richard Bedford |
| Music by | Richard O'Brien (Songs) Richard Hartley (Score) |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Shock Treatment is a 1981 musical-black comedy film and a follow-up to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While not an outright sequel, the movie does feature several characters from the movie portrayed by different actors and several Rocky Horror actors portraying new characters. It was originally titled The Brad and Janet Show, which included a similar plot and the same songs, but was rewritten to take place entirely in a studio when a strike made filming the outdoor scenes impossible.
Plot
[edit]{{Plot|date=June 2011}} A narrator introduces the audience to shadowy Denton TV executive Farley Flavors, who has lived his life "fast" but still feels incomplete without a certain woman - who belongs to someone else. As Flavors watches, his television studio - which now encompasses the entire town of Denton - is steadily filled with the former residents of Denton, who gleefully assume their new roles as studio audience members of a 24 hour live television broadcast ("Overture"). The sole holdout in the celebration is Brad Majors (Cliff De Young), who, despite the insistence of his wife Janet (Jessica Harper), that things will be OK, is ambivalent about the town's transformation. Once the audience is seated, they are greeted by a welcoming committee, who inform the audience-- and viewers on television-- of Denton's supposed virtues ("Denton, U.S.A.").
Brad and Janet are chosen as contestants on "Marriage Maze", a supposed game show whose only purpose seems to be committing people to "Dentonvale", Denton's resident insane asylum. Janet is given the opportunity to have Brad committed by the show's host, a supposedly blind Austrian named Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries), who promises her that the experience will improve their marriage. Janet and Brad lament the state of their relationship, with Janet ultimately deciding to have Brad sent to Dentonvale ("Bitchin' in the Kitchen").
Upon arriving at Dentonvale, Brad and Janet are greeted by the staff: Nurse Ansalong (Nell Campbell), Rest Home Ricky (Rik Mayall), and Dentonvale's supervisors, the apparently incestuous siblings Dr. Cosmo and Nation McKinley (Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn). Despite Brad's objections, Cosmo has him drugged, bound, gagged, and placed in a padded cell known as the "Terminal Ward". Before Janet can sign the papers permitting the McKinleys to treat Brad, Ansalong tells her to wait a day, to give her time to make up her mind. Meanwhile, Janet's parents, Harry (Manning Redwood) and Emily (Darlene Johnson), are brought onto Marriage Maze and promised a prize if they offer a psychological assessment of Brad. Deciding that he's regressing into childhood, the Weisses are awarded a vacation home on another of DTV's programs. Janet goes to meet them there and laments Brad's lack of assertiveness, wishing he could see that she still loves him instead of giving into the doldrums of marriage ("In My Own Way"). Harry chastises Janet for marrying Brad, an orphan whose parents died in a car crash, rather than other boys from more stable home backgrounds. Janet tells her father that the boy he'd wanted her to marry turned out to be gay, prompting Harry to proclaim the virtues of traditional American masculinity (Thank God I'm a Man).
Meanwhile, the McKinleys are informed that financing for their show has been taken over by Flavors' own personal company, a fast food enterprise which Farley hopes to use to finance a pop psychology movement, using a new TV program, "Faith Factory", as the platform and the McKinleys as his mouthpieces. The reluctant McKinleys are quickly taken in by a persuasive videotaped pitch, and on Farley's orders, they recruit Janet to be the face of Farley's "Take Away Psychology," as he believes she is the perfect example of the girl next door ("Farley's Song"). Janet moves into Dentonvale with the McKinleys and Bert Shnick, with the promise that her new life as an exciting model will make her desirable to Brad again ("Lullaby"). Meanwhile, Judge Wright and Betty Hapschatt (Charles Gray and Ruby Wax), two DTV presenters sympathetic to Brad, look into the histories of Farley and the McKinleys, suspecting that there is a sinister motive behind "Faith Factory".
The next day, after Nation catches a fully-sighted Bert spying on Janet in the shower, Cosmo strokes Janet's ego and designs a sexy new outfit for her, transforming her into "Miss Mental Health" ("Little Black Dress"). DTV manufactures Janet into an overnight sensation, and the newfound fame goes to Janet's head, causing her to forget about repairing her marriage with Brad ("Me of Me"). Janet, her parents, and Bert go to visit Brad at Dentonvale, where the Weisses question whether the McKinleys can really help him. The Dentonvale Staff assure everyone of their competency, "curing" Bert's blindness to demonstrate their abilities ("Shock Treatment"). Janet and her parents are completely sucked in, but Janet's ego becomes difficult for the McKinleys to control. To keep her manageable, they drug her, resulting in a dream sequence in which she patrols Denton looking for sex while Brad begs her for love ("Looking for Trade").
As the premier of "Faith Factory" nears, Bert, the Dentonvale Staff, and the Weisses prepare for their new TV roles; meanwhile, Betty hacks into DTV's computer and learns that the McKinleys are in fact character actors and that "Dentonvale" isn't a real hospital ("Look What I Did to My Id"). "Faith Factory" goes on the air, opening with a live musical performance by Janet's groupies, a punk band called Oscar Drill and the Bits ("Breaking Out"). Using the performance as a cover, Judge Wright and Betty break Brad out of Dentonvale, telling him that they've learned Farley is his biological brother, who was split from him during the adoption process and grew up poor; now Farley wants to destroy Brad's life out of jealousy, and is planning to seduce Janet on national TV as the last part of his plan.
Brad, Wright, and Betty break through the wall of the "Faith Factory" set, and Brad confronts Farley about his plan ("Duel Duet"). Farley demands Brad be remanded to the hospital, but Janet, snapped out of her ego-trip, informs him that she never signed the consent forms. Angry, Farley has Brad, Janet, Wright, and Betty arrested, and hastily names DTV host Macy Struthers (Wendy Raeback) as the new "Miss Mental Health". His psychology program ready to go, Farley invites the studio audience to join in, to which they readily agree-- they are all summarily handed straight jackets, which they happily don. Betty uses a hairpin to pick the lock on she, Brad, Janet and the Judge's holding cell, and the foursome resolves to leave Denton behind. With the help of Oscar Drill and the Bits, they hotwire a car that was meant to be a prize on "Faith Factory" and drive away, as Farley and the Dentonvale staff celebrate having just committed the entire town of Denton to the terminal ward ("Anyhow Anyhow"/"Denton, U.S.A. (Reprise)").
Cult Films
[edit]Shock Treatment is known as a cult film. A cult film is a film with highly dedicated fans with specific needs and goals. The cult that established around Shock Treatment originated from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Most fans that were cult-fans of Rocky Horror, transferred over to Shock Treatment when the movie was released. However, some true Rocky Horror fans claimed that Shock Treatment was a useless film and it was a cop-out of Rocky Horror. Others claimed that it was a total disaster and it will never be as good as the original. Fans of these cult films usually get extremely involved with the plot of the story. For example, some may dress-up and act the story plot out as the movie is playing. This is also known as shadow casting. Others will just act out the movie without any help from the film because they memorized the parts. Some fans will actually perform their own interpretation of the film by acting it out they way they want to. Fans can also start fan clubs and organize a giant shadow casting event which could take place at a local community center. One example of this would be a Rocky Horror night on a college campus. This is a good way to bring fans together to show their appreciation of the film. Although this was mostly done with Rocky Horror, most fans did relatively the same thing with Shock Treatment, just maybe not to the full extent.
Black Comedy Films
[edit]Shock Treatment is also known as a black comedy film. In a nutshell, this means that the mood and humor of the movie is very dark. It is not your average humor. For example, when Brad was locked up in the cage during the entire show and was tied up and forced drugs into his system, this was funny to the audience and almost made it humorous even if at first it was so funny. It is awkward and twisted situations that make this film a black comedy. However, others such as Freud argue that there is no such thing as black or dark comedy because everyone's sense of humor is different and therefore we cannot assume that this particular type of humor is dark.[1] Another example of a black comedy film would obviously be Rocky Horror. These two are easily related because Shock Treatment is the equal, not sequel, to Rocky Horror. Both movies were written and directed by the same two men, Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman which share the same sense of humor, which is this case is considered dark.
Cast
[edit]- Jessica Harper as Janet Majors (nee Weiss)
- Cliff De Young as Brad Majors / Farley Flavors
- Richard O'Brien as Dr. Cosmo McKinley
- Patricia Quinn as Dr. Nation McKinley
- Barry Humphries as Bert Schnick
- Ruby Wax as Betty Munroe/Hapschatt
- Charles Gray as Judge Oliver Wright
- Jeremy Newson as Ralph Hapschatt
- Wendy Raeback as Macy Struthers
- Nell Campbell as Nurse Ansalong
- Rik Mayall as "Rest Home" Ricky
- Darlene Johnson as Emily Weiss
- Manning Redwood as Harry Weiss
- Barry Dennen as Irwin Lapsey
- Betsy Brantley as Neely Pritt
- Chris Malcolm as Vance Parker
- Sal Piro (uncredited) as Guy on pay phone
Musical numbers
[edit]| Song | Chiefly Sung By | Other Singers |
|---|---|---|
| Overture | — (Instrumental) | — |
| Denton U.S.A. | Neely, Harry, Emily, Vance, Brenda and Frankie, Ralph, Macy |
Audience |
| Bitchin' in the Kitchen | Brad, Janet | — |
| In My Own Way | Janet | — |
| Thank God I'm a Man | Harry | Audience |
| Farley's Song | Farley | Cosmo, Nation, Ansalong, Ricky |
| Lullaby | Nation, Cosmo, Janet, Ansalong, Ricky | — |
| Little Black Dress | Cosmo, Janet, Bert, Nation | — |
| Me of Me | Janet | Frankie and Brenda |
| Shock Treatment | Cosmo, Nation, Ansalong | Janet, Ricky, Bert, Harry, Emily |
| Carte Blanche | Janet | — |
| Looking for Trade | Janet | Brad |
| Look What I Did to My Id | Emily, Harry, Cosmo, Nation, Macy, Ralph, Ansalong, Ricky |
— |
| Breaking Out | Oscar Drill | The Bits |
| Duel Duet | Farley, Brad | — |
| Anyhow, Anyhow | Brad, Janet, Oliver, Betty | All characters (including chorus and other minor characters) |
Production
[edit]The film was shot entirely in a sound studio. The original intent had been to shoot the film in realistic locations in the USA, but a 1979 Screen Actors Guild strike froze the production funds. Director Jim Sharman suggested possibly doing the production as a London stage show and filming it in a theater, which gave Richard O'Brien the idea to rework the locations as a giant TV studio using a film studio in England, trimming the budget and reviving the project.[2] Although several Rocky Horror cast members returned for this film, only Jeremy Newson reprised his role as Ralph Hapschatt (though it is possible Judge Oliver Wright is the Criminologist from Rocky Horror). Tim Curry was offered the roles of Brad and Farley, but declined because he didn't think his American accent would be convincing. Barry Bostwick was unable to reprise his role as Brad due to other filming commitments, and Susan Sarandon wanted half a million dollars to play Janet again.[3]
Cliff De Young had been Sharman's original choice for Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as Sharman had worked with De Young off-Broadway in the play "Trials of Oz" in 1972. De Young had been unavailable then, as he was appearing on the television show Sunshine in California. Cast now as Brad and Farley, De Young modeled his performance of Brad Majors after David Eisenhower, and modeled Farley Flavors after Jack Nicholson.[4] Shock Treatment's original working title was The Brad and Janet Show. Founder and long-time president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show fan club, Sal Piro, has a cameo appearance as the man using the payphone during the opening sequence. Several of the costumes and props from Rocky Horror, including Frank's throne (painted red), a portrait seen in the beginning of the "Time Warp", and Eddie's jacket, can be seen in Shock Treatment.
Reaction
[edit]In spite of pre-release hype (including a promotional TV special called The Rocky Horror Treatment), the film was both a critical and commercial failure when it was released only as a midnight movie on Halloween 1981. It never had a full general first-run release in theaters. It turned out, with its increased budget and box office failure, to be an even bigger flop than Rocky Horror's original general release in 1975.
The film currently holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though only five reviews were collected.[5]
Home release
[edit]A special edition DVD was released in the United States on September 5, 2006, its first US DVD release. Included is a 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0, and Spanish Mono audio tracks, with Spanish, French and English subtitles. Bonus materials include an audio commentary with fan club presidents Mad Man Mike & Bill Brennan, a making-of featurette, a music retrospective featurette, and domestic and international trailers.[6]
See also
[edit]- Revenge of the Old Queen - One of the written but never filmed Rocky Horror sequels
- Rocky Horror sequels and other media
References
[edit]- ^ Merriam-Webster, Inc (1995) Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature, entry black humor, p.144
- ^ Conroy, Mike (1981). "Richard O'Brien and Shock Treatment." Fangoria, No. 15. New York; O'Quinn Studios. 66.
- ^ Conroy, Mike, "Richard O'Brien and Shock Treatment," op cit., 66.
- ^ 20th Century-Fox (1981). Shock Treatment Press Kit. 5.
- ^ Shock Treatment at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ http://www.davisdvd.com/news/news.html
External links
[edit]- Shock Treatment at RockyHorror.com
- Shock Treatment at IMDb
- Shock Treatment at AllMovie
- Shock Treatment at Rotten Tomatoes
{{The Rocky Horror Picture Show}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Shock Treatment}} [[Category:Rocky Horror]] [[Category:1981 films]] [[Category:1980s comedy films]] [[Category:1980s musical films]] [[Category:American films]] [[Category:American black comedy films]] [[Category:American musical comedy films]] [[Category:American rock musicals]] [[Category:English-language films]] [[Category:Films directed by Jim Sharman]] [[Category:Films shot in London]] [[Category:Incest in fiction]] [[Category:Independent films]] [[Category:Sequel films]] [[Category:20th Century Fox films]] [[it:Shock Treatment]] [[pl:Shock Treatment]] [[ru:Лечение шоком (фильм, 1981)]]