Shock Treatment | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Jim Sharman |
Written by |
|
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Mike Molloy |
Edited by | Richard Bedford |
Music by |
|
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3.5 million[citation needed] |
Shock Treatment is a 1981 American musical comedy film directed by Jim Sharman, and co-written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien. It is a follow-up to the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While not an outright sequel, the film does feature characters from the previous film, most portrayed by different actors, as well as several Rocky Horror actors in new roles. The film stars Jessica Harper as Janet and Cliff DeYoung in a dual role as Brad and the film's main antagonist Farley Flavors, with O'Brien and Patricia Quinn playing sibling character actors, Cosmo and Nation McKinley, and Nell Campbell playing Nurse Ansalong.
The film is set in the fictional town of Denton, which has been placed under the control of a television network. The town's entire population is involved in the network's productions. Brad Majors finds himself imprisoned in the local mental hospital, while his wife Janet becomes the pet project of Farley Flavors, the local plutocrat.
Given a limited release on the midnight movie circuit beginning on October 30, 1981, Shock Treatment was a critical and commercial failure, not earning the same level of cult film status its predecessor received, but contemporary reviews have since praised its satirical themes, particularly a prescient satire of reality television. In 2015, the film was adapted as a stage production in London.