One of my favorite movies of all time is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and I was happy to find out there was a sequel, with some of the same actors! But alas, once I found it on Youtube, I was disappointed and bored. I couldn't believe that the same writer who brought us such colorful characters, great music, and brilliant comedy could have given us this train wreck. Without further ado, let's talk about "Shock Treatment".
This movie starts off with somebody putting their back to the audience, with a narrator describing Farley Flavors, by saying "He was a fast man". We then cut to a TV studio, with the channel's employees singing the somewhat catchy Denton anthem, with a live audience joining in. We then see the same couple from the first film, Brad (Cliff Dee Young), and Janet (Jessica Harper, who is in another one of my favorite films, "Phantom of the Paradise").
They are chosen to play in the channel game show, Marriage Maze, hosted by the blind Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries). Bert says that Brad has to go to the Denton insane asylum, which doesn't really come to surprise, because he was singing about how the kitchen appliances don't help him with his relationship. They are then sent to the asylum, by the name of Dentonvale. The employees include brother and sister Dr, Cosmo and Dr, Nation McKinley (Richard O' Brien and Patricia Quinn), Nurse Ansalong (Nell Cambell AKA Little Nell), and "Rest Home" Ricky (Rik Mayall).
So the definitely mentally-stable workers drug and tie up Brad, and allow Janet to stay at the asylum, At the same time, these events are being viewed as a soap opera, and is being watched by the live audience in the studio. We then cut to a decent song called "Lullaby", as we see all the characters before they go to sleep. We see Janet laying down for some shut-eye (Or as Tor Johnson would say it, "Time for go to bed!"), Cosmo and Nation having an incest-relationship, and Ricky taking pictures of the nurse.
We then find out that Farley Flavors is behind all this, because he has a crush on Janet. He then sings a song to her through a television, and the lyrics prove that he wants to be the ultimate supervillain- "Im going to shoot for the moon, im going to play high noon, im gonna play high noon, i'm going to take on the entire human race". Then, Cosmo plays up to Janet's ego, makes her a new outfit, and makes her an overnight sensation.
Janet, her parents, and Bert decide to visit Brad, by Janet saying her entering line "Hi Brad! I've just come to tell you how fabulous I am!". They then sing the best song in the movie, which is ironically the title track, and then it is shown that Bert actually isn't really blind. Then, back in Janet's room, she starts to get out of control, so Cosmo drugs her. This leads to an extremely unnecessary dream sequence that goes on for too long.
Right before Janet's new show premiers, two secondary characters Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray) and Betty Hapschatt (Ruby Wax) find out that Cosmo and Nation aren't actually doctors, and that Dentonvale isn't a real hospital. It is also found out Brad and Farley (Who is also played by Cliff De Young) are twins that were separated after their parents died in a car crash.
They then confront Farley about the plan, and he requests that Brad gets sent back to the hospital after Oliver and Betty saved him. Janet then snaps out of her ego, and says that she never signed the contract that they asked her to sign in the beginning of the movie. Farley makes them get arrested, and hands the studio audience straight jackets, which they happily put on. Our protagonists escape from the cell they were put in, steal a car that was meant to a prize, and drive off, supposedly never to return to Denton,
Yes, this was indeed a hard one to sit through. I almost fell asleep from it four times, I was that bored from it. Also, the plot is very confused, as it tries to be symbolic, but it doesn't exactly know what its trying to say. But, on the other hand, a lot of the performances are good, and I also like some of the songs off the soundtrack, including "Farley's Song", "Little Black Dress", "Denton USA", and of course, "Shock Treatment". Other than that otherwise, this is a movie I wouldn't watch again.
My rating: 4/10 IMDB rating: 5.7
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