Shock Treatment

1981

Action / Comedy / Musical

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 62% · 7 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 62% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 5.7/10 10 5825 5.8K

small town american way of life musical satire social commentary fictional game show

Plot summary

Brad and Janet Majors find their strained marriage put to the test on popular Denton TV show Marriage Maze. Poor Brad is heavily sedated and institutionalised, whilst Janet is given a radical makeover and primed for stardom. But what are the real motivations behind the kooky DTV crew and their enigmatic head-honcho, Farley Flavors?

Director

Jim Sharman Photo
Jim Sharman

Top cast

Betsy Brantley Photo
Betsy Brantley as Neely Pritt
Richard O'Brien Photo
Richard O'Brien as Dr. Cosmo McKinley
Patricia Quinn Photo
Patricia Quinn as Dr. Nation McKinley
Jeremy Newson Photo
Jeremy Newson as Ralph Hapschatt
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
873.5 MB
1280*700
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 2
1.75 GB
1904*1040
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 24

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by jhroyal3 7 / 10

I just wanted to tell you how fabulous I am!

Forget everything you know about newlyweds Brad and Janet Majors and the events involving a drag queen from space for the time being. There will be no aliens or references to classic science fiction, b movie, and horror films. No Barry and no Susan. What we have now is a different couple to play the pair in the new decade. This time the role of Brad Majors goes to Cliff De Young, an actor from films like The Hunger and even a Stephen King miniseries. Janet Weiss, Or should I say Janet Majors now, is to be played by Jessica Harper, known primarily for her main role in Dario Argento?M)s Suspiria. But there are a few familiar faces out there to put a smile on our faces. Though familiar, they hold different identities then what we knew them as before. Our tub of warm waters of sins of the flesh will now be drained clean and refilled by misunderstood reality and game show satire. The music is usually hit-and-miss in the tune department but tends to make up for it in lyrics. This movie is quite different from its predecessor, which caused the movie to be... well... not as much beloved by the Rocky Horror fans. For its time, no one could quite understand the satire, seeing as back then there were few game shows and reality Television. The movie is definitely a cult classic, but never quite managed to stack up to Rocky Horror. You could say being the sequel to Rocky Horror is both a blessing and a curse. Without Rocky, this movie would probably not catch as many fans's interest, yet with it, people, even today consider this quite a terrible sequel for the franchise. Although terrible in it's way, it is quite entertaining and difficult not to love at times. You have to watch it numerous times to truly understand what goes on behind the scenes of DTV. Like sushi in the 80s, they both plead for a second chance and eventually gain it by some. The idea of the film's satire may be a brilliant one but sadly it leaves most viewers "Bitchin' in the kitchen" in the end.Overall Best Songs: "Duel Duet", "Lullaby", "Shock Treatment", Great lyrics: "Look What I Did To My Id", "Looking For Trade"
Reviewed by preppy-3 5 / 10

Bad, but so was RHPS

I'm a BIG RHPS fan but, seriously, it's not a good movie. Take away the audience and what you have is a stupid, confusing movie with good acting and great musical numbers. "Shock Treatment" is a lot like that. Some good acting and fantastic musical numbers...but that's about it. The plot is confusing and vague (WHY is Janet becoming a star? What do her parents have to do with anything? Why lock up Brad? What are the Judge and Betty Hapschatt doing in this movie?) and (compared to "Rocky") VERY tame (it's PG). Jessica Harper replaces Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss and she's a good choice. She seems a little lost at times (not her fault, the script is against her) but mostly is very good and sings better than Sarandon (although that doesn't take much). Cliff De Young replaces Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors and he's horrible. He manages to overact and underact and his singing is.....um, unmemorable. Also Barry Humphries plays Bert Schnick, an evil TV host. He's loud, annoying and very unfunny...unfortunately, he has a major role. Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn (who looks wonderful) are a brother and sister doctor team and are good. Nell Campbell is uproarious as a nurse and her boyfriend (played by Rik Mayall) is also very good but they are both sadly underused. Charles Gray does what he can with a nothing role.The set design is impressive (with WAY too much red lighting) and the songs are very good and performed with gusto by the entire cast (LOVE the title tune!). Still, it's not a good movie. If only comes to life during the music numbers. It's worth seeing for those and some of the performances. Otherwise, it's a waste.Also, O'Brien (who wrote it) disowns this film now--what does that tell you?
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