Rocky Horror Shows His Heels

Shock Treament first began as a direct sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Titled "Rocky Horror Shows His Heels"). In it, Dr. Frank N. Furtur is revived from the dead and Janet Weiss (Whom both he and Rocky slept with) is now pregnant with a child that could be either of theirs. While that is happening, Frank and his followers set to turn Denton U.S.A into a town of raging transsexuals. However, Frank has to deal with interference from both Riff-Raff and Magenta. However, Tim Curry has retired from playing Frank, and Jim Sharman felt it would be too similar to the first movie. So, some of the songs featured in the script were transferred over to the next one.

The Brad and Janet Show

Ditching the idea of a direct sequel, Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien set out to rewrite the script. In this, Brad and Janet are now living unhappily married in Denton, while the town is under the growing influence of a fast food mogul named Farley Flavors, who has bought up the Dentonvale Mental Hospital and has Brad committed there. Meanwhile, he sets his sights on Janet, as she is transformed into an overnight star ("Miss Mental Health"). However, the fame and the prescription drugs get to her head, as she forgets about Brad. And Farley is holding a long lost secret about Brad's past.

For this production, they originally attemped to bring back Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon for Brad and Janet. However, Bostwick was honoring other film commitments at the time (Though he recently revealed that his agent turned the role down without his consent), and Sarandon reportedly wanted $500,000 to play Janet again, though the exact reason has never been confirmed. So, Sharman brought in Cliff DeYoung and Jessica Harper. DeYoung was orignally going to play Brad in Rocky Horror, but had to drop due to a TV series he was in at the time. Harper was a gifted vocalist/actress who was already known for her roles in Phantom of the Paradise, Suspiria, and Pennies From Heaven. Tim Curry was offered both Brad and Farley, but felt he had to decline after being unable to master a midwestern American accent.

However, Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn returned as the incestuous siblings Cosmo and Nation McKinley, the custodians of Dentonvale. Nell Campbell returned as Nurse Ansalong, while Rik Mayall (Drop Dead Fred) played Rest Home Ricky, the nurses of the hospital. Charles Gray returned as Judge Oliver Wright (Possibly the Crimionlogist's real name?), as he investgates Farley's true intentions, along with Betty Hapshatt (Played by Ruby Wax), in an expanded role. Same goes for Ralph Hapshatt (Jeremy Newsome, the only actor to reprise his previous role), who is bitterly divorced from Betty. Many of the suviving Transylvanian actors at the time returned as part of the townsfolk.

Filming was to take place in the town of Denton, TX, and both Sue Blaine and Brian Thomson went down to survey the town and buy up many costumes used by the townspeople. However, just as shooting was to commence, the 1980 Screen Actors Guild strike happened, which cut down on the budget severely and made shooting in the United States impossible. Sharman and O'Brien decided to convert the movie's setting into taking place entirely in a TV studio, and retitled it "Shock Treatment"

DTV Proudly Presents

With the production moved to a studio in London, England, Shock Treatment kept all the basic elements of the previous script, but gave it more of an emphasis on instant celebrity and Reality TV (A very foreign concept back in 1981). Dentonvale was now a TV show/mental hospital, and Brad is committed to it as a prize on the game show Marriage Maze hosted by the mysterious Bert Schnick (Played by Barry Humphries). Farley Flavors not only has bought up Dentonvale, but the entire DTV station as he plans to use it to launch his new show "Faith Factory", selling his brand of mental hygine and "Sanity For Today". And Janet is the perfect cover girl to sell the new product.

R.I.P, You're Off The Air

The hope for Shock Treatment was to replicate the success of Rocky Horror, both in box office and in it's following. It was emhapzised by producer Michael White as "Not a Sequel, Not a Prequel, but an Equal". Hype was built up in Rocky Horror circles during the course of 1981, topped off by a TV special for cable called "The Rocky Horror Treatment". Hosted by fan club president Sal Piro, it examined a look into the Rocky Horror cult, the 8th Street Playhouse cast, and the 1980 fan convention. It also gave a comphensive behind the scenes look at the making of Shock Treatment as Piro flies to the set to do a cameo for the film. You can watch the entire special here!

However, there was little effort to market it as a mainstream first-run movie, so it was premiered as a Midnight Movie. The premiere was in August 1981 in Fresno, CA, as part of a double bill with Rocky Horror. However, it was an even bigger flop than Rocky Horror was in it's first-run release. Critics didn't know what it was about, and many Rocky Horror fans were critical of the movie as well. In spite of praise for the music of the movie, many felt that the encouraged Audience Participation of Shock Treatment was forced.

In a 2006 interview, producer John Goldstone said it best: "It was hoped that Shock Treatment would repeat the success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I think in hindsight that what you realize is that you can't create a cult. Cults happen organically. An audience finds a movie, embraces it, and makes it into a cult."

We're Gonna Do It Anyhow, Anyhow

For about 20 years, the film was buried in hard to get VHS tapes. It was seen as the ugly stepchild to Rocky Horror and rarely referenced to. However, much like it's predecessor, it rose from the dead during the 2000s. In 2001, at the Frankie Goes to Hollywood convention (Held by Midnight Insanity of Orange County, CA), the first full shadowcast peformance of Shock Treatment was put on, to great success. Since then, it has become a staple of every Rocky Horror convention. With the rise of Reality TV programming and the focus on instant celebrities who become famous for virtually no reason, Shock Treatment became more relevant and easier to understand.

In 2006, for it's 25th Anniversary, it finally got a beautiful DVD restoration. Not only was it finally in widescreen, but it had commentary by two of it's biggest fans, and two great documentaries on the making of the movie and the music of it. Featured in it were Jim Sharman, Cliff DeYoung, Patricia Quinn, Sue Blaine and John Goldstone.

In 2010, things came full circle as part of the 35th Anniversary Rocky Horror convention (The 7 Deadly Sins) devoted a good portion to Shock Treatment, as Cliff DeYoung and Jessica Harper came out for the festivites and a Q&A session. So, in an ironic sense, it did become a legit cult movie over time, even if it had to ride on the coattails of it's predecessor.