Shock Treatment/Fun Facts

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Shock Treatment

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  • One working idea for the movie was that Frank-N-Furter was going to come back from the dead and travel to Denton to find out Janet was pregnant with his child. Brad and Dr. Scott were supposed to have become lovers, and discovered a way to revive Frank using virgin blood. When he returns to Denton, Frank attempts to convert the entire town into a new cult of Transylvanians, and Riff-Raff and Magenta were to return to kidnap the child and destroy Frank once more. The idea was dropped when Tim Curry declined to participate.
  • This movie was an even bigger financial flop at the box-office than the original first run of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
  • This movie was originally going to be called "The Brad and Janet Show"
  • Susan Sarandon declined to return as Janet over salary disputes.
  • Tim Curry was offered the role of Brad Majors and Farley Flavors but he turned it down because he didn't think he could handle the American accent.
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) is a spoof of horror movies. This film is a spoof of television shows.
  • The original script took place in locations around the town of Denton, like Brad and Janet's house, and Cosmo and Nation's "hospital." It was set to be filmed in the real-life town of Denton, Texas, but the 1979-1980 Screen Actors Guild strike meant no American actor was allowed to act at any location. Filming moved to the UK, but no English locations could pass for an American suburb, so director Jim Sharman set the entire film inside the Denton television studio.
  • While Richard O'Brien dislikes this film due to its confusing plot as a result of its many rewrites, he does praise the music and the fact it foretold reality TV by two decades.
  • The "Lullaby" sequence was filmed in only one take.
  • Barry Bostwick could not appear as Brad Majors due to other filming commitments.
  • When the movie was first released in the USA, it only played in limited engagements and screened only at midnight. This was based on the success of the midnight screening return seasons of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) around the world.
  • In Enter the House of Shock: A Shockumentary, costume designer Sue Blane said she bought clothes for the audience from thrift stores for a cartoonish look and feel.
  • A tie-in promotional television show publicizing this movie was entitled The Rocky Horror Treatment (1981).
  • This movie never achieved the same cult status as its precursor The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) but is notable as a cult film and film history oddity due to its connection with its famous cult predecessor.
  • The role of Bert Schnick was originally written to be Dr. Everett Scott. The part was re-written when Jonathan Adams declined to reprise the role.
  • Writer-Director Jim Sharman, comparing this film to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), said, "The intentions of the two films are quite disparate. The only tangible links are Brad and Janet, who act as catalysts to the plot."
  • A reference to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - the same "American Gothic" painting, seen in 'Time Warp' and personified in 'Dammit Janet', is hanging in the wardrobe room right before the 'Little Black Dress'.
  • The film's main poster was predominantly colored red. Similarly, the record release of the "Shock Treatment" 45" single was embossed on red-colored vinyl.
  • Cliff De Young based his Farley Flavors character on Jack Nicholson.
  • According to the production notes, Barry Humphries played the part of Bert Schnick like Dr. Caligari, a silent film villain of 1920s German Expressionist Cinema. Humphries said, "He's a highly expressionist character, a blind Viennese-born game show host. Right away you know he's not rooted in any reality of any kind, except his own."
  • Allegedly, Susan Sarandon has never actually seen the film to this day.
  • Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Charles Gray, Imogen Claire, and Jeremy Newson are the only cast to return, but Jeremy Newson is the only one of the six to reprise the same role ("Ralph Hapschatt").
  • Comparing this movie to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), producer James Goldstone said, "It's not a sequel, it's not a prequel, it's an equal."
  • Like its prequel The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), it is shadowcasted by many casts. And is also performed once a year at The Rocky Horror Convention (location changes each year) with an international cast.
  • The film was shot entirely in a sound studio.
  • Jim Sharman suggested possibly doing the production as a London stage show and filming it in a theatre This gave Richard O'Brien the idea to rework the locations as a giant TV studio using a film studio in England, trimming the budget.
  • Cliff De Young based his Brad Majors character on David Eisenhower.
  • Cliff De Young who plays Brad Majors and Susan Sarandon who plays Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) are united as a couple in The Hunger (1983).
  • Cliff De Young plays Brad Majors and Farley Flavors.
  • Bert Schnick wears sunglasses for most of the film.
  • This movie was released about six years after The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) premiered.
  • The actors who play Brad Majors and Janet Majors are both different to the actors who played them in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). In this movie they are played by Cliff De Young and Jessica Harper whereas in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) they were played by and Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon.
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