My Review of Shock Treatment (1981)

 

Written by Jim Sharman And Richard O'Brien And Brian Thomson

Directed by Jim Sharman

Farley: "You've lost your heart!"

Brad: "You lost your cause."

Farley: "You lost your baby when you lost your balls/You lost your mind when you lost your grip, so say bye-bye!"

Ah, a sequel to a classic cult movie. A sequel that also didn't receive anywhere the level of love that said cult classic movie had. Also a first time watch for me and an interesting one to boot.

Going from where it left off of sorts, you've got a married Janet (Jessica Harper) and Brad (Cliff DeYoung) and their marriage happened to be in a very tricky place. Brad's depressed and Janet seemed to be at her wits end with him.

On top of that, the town of Denton has been taken over by fast food magnate Farley Flavors and a game show resulted in giving Brad the very type of medical treatment he didn't want but everyone else seemed to think was appropriate for him. Brad's not much of a character with agency in this movie and a certain extent, neither was Janet.

With Brad being bound and gagged and constantly sedated, Janey found herself being groomed as Miss Mental Health by Farley Flavours magnate, Farley (Cliff DeYoung). The latter revealed to be Brad's envious half brother, who wanted to mess with Brad's life and take over the town and he certainly had enough helpers in that regard.

Notably there was the doctor duo Cosmo (Richard O'Brien) and Nation McKinley (Patricia Quinn), blind tv host Burt Schnick (Barry Humphries), Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray), Nurse Ansalong (Little Nell) to name a few. Even Janet's parents Harry (Manning Redwood) and Emily (Darlene Johnson) seemed to be going along with Farley's big scheme until they weren't.

I do think this movie had it's moments and I do like the half twin brother reveal with DeYoung playing both parts well. Saying that this movie did a lot to make me root against Brad and Janet and it's got a very rushed conclusion.

- There's appearances from the likes of Ruby Wax and Sinitta while some original cast members were recast in new roles. The movie's even become a stage production.

- There were other ideas for a sequel including Brad and Dr Scott being lovers and Janet being pregnant with Frank's baby. 

- Standout music: A good few choices with Thank God I'm A Man, Lullaby, Little Black Dress, Breaking Out and Duel Duel being the standout.

- Chronology: A few years since the events of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Shock Treatment might have been a massive box office and while it doesn't quite have the charm of it's predecessor, it's not totally a terrible movie either. I liked a lot of the musical numbers, the reality TV satire was a bit ahead of it's time and that's it really.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Written by Jim Sharman And Richard O'Brien
Directed by Jim Sharman

Frank: "It's not easy having a good time! Even smiling makes my face ache!"

It's been a good 40 years since the release of this one and needless to say, it's a movie that is both an all time classic and something everyone has an awareness of, even if they've never seen it. Myself, this was a movie that I've seen properly in recent years and have watched over and over because it genuinely is that brilliant and absolutely bizarre in equal measures.

Merging horror, science fiction, comedy, drama and musical in a manner so effortless it's rarely been repeated since, this movie sees a rather sickly sweet couple Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Saradon) forced to spend the night at a rather creepy castle, owned by a "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania" named Dr Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) and his band of misfits.

Now this is a movie with so many bright and vibrant characters, it's almost hard to keep up in a way but each of the characters are truly sublime though. Curry practically steals the whole thing as Frank - going from playful, charming, homicidal, jealous, seductive, vulnerable and even a touch sympathetic at some point too while his servants Riff Raff (Richard O'Brien), Magenta (Patricia Quinn) and Columbia (Nell Campbell) are also a forced to be reckoned with.

Then there's Rocky himself - the cute, perfect Adonis like creation of Frank's that managed to create some accidental havoc of his own while both Janet and Brad themselves are given something of a sexual awakening the deeper they get involved with Frank and his minions.

Of course, the most memorable moments of the movies involve the actual musical numbers themselves. Whether it's The Time Warp, Damnit Janet, There's a Light (Over At The Frankenstein Place), Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me, Planet Schmanet Janet and Science Fiction/Double Feature, you'll certainly know them and you'll certain find yourself singing along to them, whether you'd want to or not. I don't think there's ever been a musical where every single has truly stood out for me.

As for the alien plot of the movie - it's not always the strongest bit and the conclusion does seem a little rushed at the end but there's so much madness and fun to this whole movie that it almost doesn't matter. There's a reason why this movie is such a classic and if you've never seen it before, do yourself a favour and seek it out.

- I was surprised to read that this movie was critically panned upon initial release but it has become a midnight classic at cinemas nowadays.
- There's a sort of sequel called Shock Treatment that focuses on Brad and Janet but it bombed and didn't feature the original cast.
- One of the more underrated roles in the movie is the role of the Criminologist, who does the narration.
- Just check the wikipedia page to see the true impact this movie has made. It even has a page dedicated it's own cult following.

An absolute classic of a movie - The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the best and without a doubt, one of the maddest movies you will ever watch in your life but it's also one of the few movies where you really do owe it to yourself to watch as well, especially during this spooky week.

Rating: 10 out of 10