Richard O'Brien follows up his cult classic THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with this sequel-of-sorts that features the return of Brad Majors and Janet Weiss (now Janet Majors). It gives up on all the horror, sci-fi, and sexual confusion aspects of the other story, focusing on a new topic: egotism and the poisons of television on the human psyche. The only reason I alllow it into my sacred Tomb is because it's a semi-sequel to one of my favorite cult classics. Other than that, it's FAR from resembling any kind of horror or sci-fi flick. SHOCK TREATMENT is another wacky musical concieved in it's entirity by O'Brien and based upon his stage play of the same name, SHOCK TREATMENT features the return of ROCKY HORROR stars Nell Campbell (looking far hotter in her skimpy nurse outfit than she did in that weird glitzy shit), Patricia Quinn, Charles Gray, and, of course, O'Brien himself. None of these actors play returning characters from ROCKY HORROR, and the characters that DO return (Brad and Janet) are played by different actors (Cliff De Young and Jessica Harper, in that order)... confusing yes, but Beavis likes it too...

This time around, everyone's favorite dweeby couple is married and having some marital troubles. After the shit that they went through in ROCKY HORROR, I'm not shocked... wait, was that a joke playing on the movie's title, or was it just an unintended subconscious choice of words? No one cares, so let's forget about it. Anyway, to help out their unholy union, the young lovers go on the TV show "Marriage Maze". Can they solve their problems by making them televised? Well, after the experience, Brad is carted away to have his dorkocity cured (good luck kids, cuz "God" sure couldn't do it) and Janet is whisked away at the orders of TV mogul Farley Flavors (also played by De Young), who's taken a shine to the attractive Mrs. Majors... not exactly a great start for an already weak relationship. The couple's journeys are both put on television for all to see on good old DTV, making a soap opera out of it all, called "Dentonvale", bringing other members of Janet's life into the mix, including her imbalanced parents. Mr. Flavors gradually makes Janet as popular as sliced bread and turnips, emersing her in her own developing ego, telling her it's the only way to bring Brad out of a coma he's fallen into... I guess it kind of makes sense, as Janet's happiness is supposed to wake him up, but is she just acting or is her blossoming ego really turning her into a total bitch? Thanx to some disgruntled DTV employees (one of which played by Gray), it's uncovered that Farley and Brad are really twins, seperated at birth. The two then help Brad bust out of his straight-jacket confinement, Janet breaks out of her bitchy attitude, and the now happy couple reveals on live television just how twisted Mr. Flavors is. Everything breaks down in to a mass of confusion as Brad and Janet are boo'ed and kicked off of TV, everyone starts singing again, and, uhm, Farley and his lackeys are still loved by the public... I don't know what just happened here, but I'm glad it's all over.

You know how sometimes, when a moviemaker puts out a good movie, people say it's simply a bout of beginner's luck, and the person is forced to make another movie to show that it was skill and talent that made the first movie so good, not luck? Well, sorry Richard, but ROCKY HORROR was beginner's luck... Seriously, this is the first time that I've actually wished for Barry Bostwick to arrive, as that De Young guy was just sad. When you're outshone by Barry Bostwick, you're screwed in Hollywood. O'Brien and Quinn play medical experimentors Cosmo and Nation McKinley... ok, by those names, I'd say they're once again playing an incestual couple from another planet, but that's not a surprise. The best is Campell as the beyond fuckable Nurse Ansalong, who, like I said, is bonerizingly hot in her very skimpy skirt and long red hair. Shit, wearing less than half of the make-up she did in ROCKY HORROR really helps too. Though the songs themselves were in the usually odd O'Brien vein, many of the people singing sounded as if their voice boxes had been attacked by hungry weed whackers. I would have liked nothing better than to put them all out of my misery... I mean, their misery. The energy of the first film is long gone too, and I liked Richard better in his Riff Raff outfits, as opposed to his scary tight medical outfit here. Don't get me wrong, I think O'Brien's hilarious, but his penchant for tight fitting uniforms is flat out wrong. Well, all this talk of how hot Nurse Ansalong has awakened the three snakes, so I should get going before this gets messy. All in all, I suggest that you only rent this flick if you're indifferent to ROCKY HORROR, because if you loved it and expect more of the same, then you're likely to hate Richard O'Brien after watching SHOCK TREATMENT.

Sequels: None

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