Review of Shock Treatment (1981) by Aj V — 02 Jan 2011

I don't how in the hell I - as a Rocky Horror Picture Show fan - never knew this sort of sequel existed. And as though it is nowhere near the geniality of Rocky Horror, and it has barely any connection with its predecessor, it still gets my 3 stars, almost reaching 3 and a half.

I like how it goes musically, the lines are very well written for most of the film (see "Thank God he was born an orphan... it would have killed his parents" hahahaha), many scenes have a metalinguistic thing to them, but I just think the whole movie was put together very loosely.

Except for Cliff De Young playing Farley and Brad, The characters lack charisma and depth here. I missed loving or hating profoundly anyone (perhaps it's because I have my mind set on Tim Curry's awesome Frank N Furter and then my judgment is impaired). Shock Treatment is cluttered with small parts who get too much attention, stealing the scene from the main plot and making it all seem shallow, and that's the huge flaw of it. Add to that the moments when the twists of the plot are delivered with little or no impact, and you get why this movie never reached the same cult status as its older brother.

It was supposed to be a satire of reality shows just as Rocky is a satire of horror movies, but it was executed too light heartedly. Such a shame! But okay: it's not a waste of your time if you watch it out of curiosity :).