Shock Treatment
Encyclopedia
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.
), 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 Austria
n 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 incest
uous 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 hosts 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 actor
s 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)").
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. 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.
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
. Shock Treatments 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.
in theaters. It turned out, with its increased budget and box office failure, to be an even bigger flop than Rocky Horrors original general release in 1975.
The film currently holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
, though only five reviews were collected.
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 trailer
s.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
-black comedy film
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
and a follow-up to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
. While not an outright sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, 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
Shortly after the events in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 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 HarperJessica Harper
Jessica Harper is an American actress and producer, as well as a singer and author of children's music and books.-Early life:...
), 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
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
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 Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n named Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
), 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
Nell Campbell
"Little" Nell Campbell is an Australian actress, club owner and singer.-Early life:She was born in Sydney, to Ruth and Ross Campbell, a writer, who called her "Little Nell" in his family life column in the Sydney Daily Telegraph...
), Rest Home Ricky (Rik Mayall
Rik Mayall
Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...
), and Dentonvale's supervisors, the apparently incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
uous siblings Dr. Cosmo and Nation McKinley (Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...
and Patricia Quinn
Patricia Quinn
Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens is a Northern Irish actress best known for her role as Magenta in the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Hers were the red lips that appeared in the film's opening song "Science Fiction/Double Feature"...
). 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
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called 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
Girl next door
The cultural and sexual stereotype of the girl next door or the All-American girl is invoked in American contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming femininity, as opposed to the culture's other female stereotypes such as the tomboy, the valley girl, the femme fatale, girly girl, or the slut. The...
("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
Charles Gray (actor)
Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
and Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
), two DTV hosts 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 actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
s 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)").
Cast
- Jessica HarperJessica HarperJessica Harper is an American actress and producer, as well as a singer and author of children's music and books.-Early life:...
as Janet Majors (née Weiss) - Cliff De Young as Brad Majors / Farley Flavors
- Richard O'BrienRichard O'BrienRichard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...
as Dr. Cosmo McKinley - Patricia QuinnPatricia QuinnPatricia Quinn, Lady Stephens is a Northern Irish actress best known for her role as Magenta in the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Hers were the red lips that appeared in the film's opening song "Science Fiction/Double Feature"...
as Dr. Nation McKinley - Barry HumphriesBarry HumphriesJohn Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
as Bert Schnick - Ruby WaxRuby WaxRuby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
as Betty Munroe/Hapschatt - Charles GrayCharles Gray (actor)Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
as Judge Oliver Wright - Jeremy Newson as Ralph Hapschatt
- Wendy Raeback as Macy Struthers
- Nell CampbellNell Campbell"Little" Nell Campbell is an Australian actress, club owner and singer.-Early life:She was born in Sydney, to Ruth and Ross Campbell, a writer, who called her "Little Nell" in his family life column in the Sydney Daily Telegraph...
as Nurse Ansalong - Rik MayallRik MayallRichard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...
as "Rest Home" Ricky - Darlene Johnson as Emily Weiss
- Manning Redwood as Harry Weiss
- Barry DennenBarry DennenBarry Dennen is an American actor, singer, and writer.Dennen was born in Chicago, Illinois. In New York City from 1960 to 1963, he had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, including living together for a year, during which time he helped her develop the nightclub act that began her successful...
as Irwin Lapsey - Betsy BrantleyBetsy BrantleyBetsy Brantley is an American actress.Brantley was born Rutherfordton, North Carolina. She is the older sister of producer/screenwriter Duncan Brantley, and formerly married to Simon Dutton and Steven Soderbergh....
as Neely Pritt - Chris MalcolmChristopher MalcolmChristopher Malcolm is a Scottish television and film actor, director and producer. He first achieved fame for his role as Brad Majors in the original stage production of The Rocky Horror Show.-Early life and education:...
as Vance Parker - Sal PiroSal PiroSal Piro is the president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club, a position he's held since 1977. Piro was a part of the original Waverly Theatre audience, from which the unique audience participation elements and much of the film's cult following were born...
(uncredited) as Guy on pay phone
Musical numbers
| 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
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 GuildScreen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
strike froze the production funds. Director Jim Sharman
Jim Sharman
James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
suggested possibly doing the production as a London stage show and filming it in a theater, which gave Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...
the idea to rework the locations as a giant TV studio using a film studio in England, trimming the budget and reviving the project. 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
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
was offered the roles of Brad and Farley, but declined because he didn't think his American accent would be convincing. Barry Bostwick
Barry Bostwick
Barry Knapp Bostwick is an American actor and singer. He is known for playing Brad Majors in the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, replacing Peter Scolari as Mr. Tyler in the sitcom What I Like About You, and playing mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom Spin City...
was unable to reprise his role as Brad due to other filming commitments, and Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
wanted half a million dollars to play Janet again.
Cliff De Young had been Sharman's original choice for Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
, 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
David Eisenhower
Dwight David Eisenhower II is an American author, public policy fellow, and eponym of the U.S. Presidential retreat, Camp David. He is the grandson of the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D...
, and modeled Farley Flavors after Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
. Shock Treatments original working title was The Brad and Janet Show. Founder and long-time president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show fan club
Fan club
A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well-known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person...
, Sal Piro
Sal Piro
Sal Piro is the president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club, a position he's held since 1977. Piro was a part of the original Waverly Theatre audience, from which the unique audience participation elements and much of the film's cult following were born...
, has a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
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
Time Warp
"The Time Warp" is a song featured in the 1973 rock musical The Rocky Horror Show and in the 1975 film adaption The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as a dance performed during the chorus of the song of the same name. The song is both an example and a parody of the dance song genre in which much...
", and Eddie's jacket, can be seen in Shock Treatment.
Reaction
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 releaseWide release
Wide release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing nationally . Specifically, a movie is considered to be in wide release when it is on 600 screens or more in the United States and Canada.In the US, films holding an NC-17 rating almost never have a...
in theaters. It turned out, with its increased budget and box office failure, to be an even bigger flop than Rocky Horrors original general release in 1975.
The film currently holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, though only five reviews were collected.
Home release
A special edition DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on September 5, 2006, its first US DVD release. Included is a 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
transfer, Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1, Dolby Surround
Dolby Surround
Dolby Surround was the earliest consumer version of Dolby's multichannel analog film sound decoding format Dolby Stereo introduced to the public in 1982 during the time home video recording formats were introducing Stereo and HiFi capability...
2.0, and Spanish Mono
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
audio tracks, with Spanish, French and English subtitles. Bonus materials include an audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
with fan club presidents Mad Man Mike & Bill Brennan, a making-of featurette, a music retrospective featurette, and domestic and international trailer
Trailer (film)
A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the...
s.
See also
- Revenge of the Old QueenRevenge of the Old QueenRevenge of the Old Queen is the title of the intended third film in The Rocky Horror Picture Show comedy-horror musical trilogy. The script was written in the late 1980s by Richard O'Brien, who had also written Rocky Horror Picture Show and its follow-up, Shock Treatment. The script features...
- One of the written but never filmed Rocky Horror sequels - Rocky Horror sequels and other mediaRocky Horror sequels and other mediaThe Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 British Parody Musical comedy that satirizes science fiction and horror B-movies. It was one of the first successful midnight movies and has gained a cult following. Because of the cult following it has spawned a sequel Shock Treatment, as well as merchandise...