shock treatment - dvd review
most people know of the rocky horror picture show. it's probably one of the most well known and most commonly viewed "cult" flicks (the film is cult-ish, but c'mon - a film as widely seen as this can hardly be called "cult")... but did you know there was a sequel?!?!?! YES! 1981's shock treatment is the sequel to rocky... that is, to be more accurate, the further adventures of brad and janet. there is no mention of their encounters with transexual aliens in this film!
rather, the plot centers around the home of happiness itself, the town of denton, usa. this is no normal town, however. in true 80's avant-garde fashion, the town of denton is one huge tv studio, and all of the main happenings are television shows, i.e. the hospital - dentonvale. we find brad (cliff de young) and janet (jessica harper) having marital problems - brad is emotionally detached (presumably from his experiences with frank 'n' furter?), and janet is trying to deal with his passive behavior.
so she turns to burt schnick (barry "dame edna" humphries), who hosts marriage maze - a marriage game show - to sort out their problems... and he, in turn, commits brad to the hospital of dentonvale to cure his problems. under the care of doctors cosmo & nation mckinkley (rocky horror's richard o'brien - who wrote the film - and patricia quinn), nurse ansalong (rocky horror's little nell), and "rest home" ricky (the wild one's - and drop dead fred's - rik mayall), brad is kept under lock and key... all of this a plot to seperate him from evil film sponser and denton television control freak farley flavors (de young AGAIN!).
sound crazy?!?!? all of this is. not to mention a subplot involving ralph and betty hapschatt (jeremy newson - the only rocky cast member to reprise his role in this film - and tv sensation ruby wax) and judge oliver wright (rocky's criminologist with no-fucking-neck charles gray) and a score of GREAT GREAT SONGS by richard o'brien... this film is INSANE. i mean, it's dripping with style - more actual style than rocky horror, really, and it features some of the craziest performances i can recall. cliff de young is great as brad/farley, jennifer harper is a funny beautiful knockout, and barry humphries is probably the best actor in the whole stew... this film has to be seen to be believed.
the dvd i viewed was a burnt bootleg, no doubt from the vhs that has been an eBay favorite for quite a while. the image quality, as well as the sound, were as good as you can get from a dvd from a vhs - a step up in quality from a regular vhs (no tracking problems), but the image was in dreadful pan & scan, the colors severely muted, and the sound in drab mono. not the way this film should be viewed.
all in all, shock treatment is a great way to continue the brad and janet story without trying to bring frank 'n' furter back from the dead (a proposed sequel dealing with something of that nature, "Revenge of the Old Queen," never saw fruitation - pardon the pun). while not as popular as RHPS, and definitely not as well-loved, i found shock treatment to be a totally enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.
i give shock treatment four bald heads of richard o'brien out of a possible five.
rather, the plot centers around the home of happiness itself, the town of denton, usa. this is no normal town, however. in true 80's avant-garde fashion, the town of denton is one huge tv studio, and all of the main happenings are television shows, i.e. the hospital - dentonvale. we find brad (cliff de young) and janet (jessica harper) having marital problems - brad is emotionally detached (presumably from his experiences with frank 'n' furter?), and janet is trying to deal with his passive behavior.
so she turns to burt schnick (barry "dame edna" humphries), who hosts marriage maze - a marriage game show - to sort out their problems... and he, in turn, commits brad to the hospital of dentonvale to cure his problems. under the care of doctors cosmo & nation mckinkley (rocky horror's richard o'brien - who wrote the film - and patricia quinn), nurse ansalong (rocky horror's little nell), and "rest home" ricky (the wild one's - and drop dead fred's - rik mayall), brad is kept under lock and key... all of this a plot to seperate him from evil film sponser and denton television control freak farley flavors (de young AGAIN!).
sound crazy?!?!? all of this is. not to mention a subplot involving ralph and betty hapschatt (jeremy newson - the only rocky cast member to reprise his role in this film - and tv sensation ruby wax) and judge oliver wright (rocky's criminologist with no-fucking-neck charles gray) and a score of GREAT GREAT SONGS by richard o'brien... this film is INSANE. i mean, it's dripping with style - more actual style than rocky horror, really, and it features some of the craziest performances i can recall. cliff de young is great as brad/farley, jennifer harper is a funny beautiful knockout, and barry humphries is probably the best actor in the whole stew... this film has to be seen to be believed.
the dvd i viewed was a burnt bootleg, no doubt from the vhs that has been an eBay favorite for quite a while. the image quality, as well as the sound, were as good as you can get from a dvd from a vhs - a step up in quality from a regular vhs (no tracking problems), but the image was in dreadful pan & scan, the colors severely muted, and the sound in drab mono. not the way this film should be viewed.
all in all, shock treatment is a great way to continue the brad and janet story without trying to bring frank 'n' furter back from the dead (a proposed sequel dealing with something of that nature, "Revenge of the Old Queen," never saw fruitation - pardon the pun). while not as popular as RHPS, and definitely not as well-loved, i found shock treatment to be a totally enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.
i give shock treatment four bald heads of richard o'brien out of a possible five.
posted by nathan at 8:59 PM
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