Shock Treatment
Shock Treatment is a 1981 American musical, black-comedy film and a follow-up to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The late ‘70s were filled with rumors of a Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel. There were a number of false starts and scripts that surfaced, but The Rocky Horror Picture Show finally got its reprise in the form of Shock Treatment, which had several of the original actors, and the now married characters of Brad and Janet as its central stars. It was written by Richard O'Brien, directed by Jim Sharman, and produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, the same team that brought Rocky Horror to the screen in 1975. Reacting to cult success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, composers Richard O’Brien and Richard Hartley initially worked on a sequel called "Rocky Horror Shows His Heels," but Fox turned it down. O’Brien and Hartley were able to rescue some of the songs, including "Breaking Out" and "Looking for Trade" for their next attempt, with the working title of “The Brad and Janet Show.” Eventually, that morphed into it's release title, Shock Treatment.
Much of the original cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show were approached to be in the film once it was green-lit. Since the producers could not come to terms with Susan Sarandon, and they decided to bypass Barry Bostwick, instead offering Tim Curry the dual role of Brad Majors and Farley Flavors, which he declined. Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, and Charles Gray joined the cast in new roles, while the roles of Brad and Janet went to Jessica Harper (who had a cult following based on her role as Phoenix in Brian DePalma’s Phantom of the Paradise), and Cliff DeYoung (who was almost cast as Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Jeremy Newson, who played Ralph Hapschatt, was the only actor to repeat a role from the original. Christopher Malcolm, the original Brad from the Original London Cast of The Rocky Horror Show had a small role as Officer Vance Parker. Rounding out the cast is Australian actor Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) in a stand-out performance as game show host Bert Schnick.
Shock Treatment was filmed entirely on a sound stage in England as a Screen Actors Guild strike interfered with the plans to shoot on locations in the United States. The theme of the movie changed to accommodate shooting in one location, which gave O’Brien the idea to make the story revolve around a TV studio.
Although billed as "Not A Prequel, Not A Sequel, But An Equal", most fans did not see it that way at the time. Opening on October 30, 1981, Shock Treatment was released to tepid reaction. One strike against it was it was released as a Midnight movie, in direct competition with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was at its peak success. Although hard-core fans were willing to embrace the film, it initially fell short of expectations. Without the core characters of Rocky Horror, it didn’t have the same impact. It also felt as if it was created to be a cult film as opposed to becoming one organically. Casual fans ignored it, most hard-core fans kept going to see Rocky Horror. Without a general release, most movie-goers never even heard about Shock Treatment.
Interestingly, the theme of Shock Treatment was quite a bit before its time, with a reality TV/Truman Show-esque quality. The bottom-line was that the music was good. A sub-cult of costumed performers eventually arose around it, with its own special screenings and enthusiastic inclusion at Rocky Horror conventions.
A Shock Treatment Soundtrack LP was released on Ode Records, with an alternate version of the title track with a picture-sleeve as a 7" single in 1981. In 1990, the album was released on CD for the first time.
In the early ‘90s, O’Brien and Hartley collaborated again on a sequel idea. It was titled "Return of the Old Queen" and included the songs "The Moon-Drenched Shores of Transylvania" and "Never Let Your Daughter Date an Alien." A script was completed, but it was never produced.
Cast
Jessica Harper - Janet Weiss Majors
Cliff De Young - Brad Majors / Farley Flavors
Richard O'Brien - Dr. Cosmo McKinley
Patricia Quinn - Dr. Nation McKinley
Nell Campbell (aka Little Nell) - Nurse Ansalong
Charles Gray - Judge Oliver Wright
Barry Humphries - Bert Schnick
Ruby Wax - Betty Munroe Hapschatt
Jeremy Newson - Ralph Hapschatt
Wendy Raebeck - Macy Struthers
Rik Mayall - "Rest Home" Ricky
Darlene Johnson - Emily Weiss
Manning Redwood - Harry Weiss
Barry Dennen - Irwin Lapsey
Betsy Brantley - Neely Pritt
Christopher Malcolm - Officer Vance Parker
Eugene Lipinski -Kirk
Gary Shailas - Oscar Drill
Claire Toeman - Brenda Drill
Donald Waugh - Glish Davidson
David John - 'Bit' drummer
Gary Martin - 'Bit' guitarist
Sinitta Renet - Frankie
Sal Piro (uncredited) - Guy on pay phone
Musical Numbers
Overture N/A (Instrumental)
Denton U.S.A. (Neely, Harry, Emily, Vance, Brenda, 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)
Stage Adaptation
From April and June of 2015, a stage adaptation of Shock Treatment was seen at the King's Head Theater in London, starring Julie Atherton (from the original London cast of Avenue Q) as Janet.
