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Shock Treatment (1981)

Director: Jim Sharman

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4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

The Rocky Horror Picture Show again, thinly disguised. The same writers (Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley), the same director, virtually the same songs. As an exercise in nostalgia, it might work, but who wants to remember the '70s? Harper proves she can sing, O'Brien proves he can't act, and Sharman films inventively, but fringe theatre material does not a big screen musical make. Rocky Horror succeeded in its spot-on sense of style, but here the style, like the whole concept of rock musicals, seems a decade out of date, bypassed by films like Quadrophenia which integrate music and story in a different way.

Author: MB

Time Out Film Guide


User reviews of this film

  • jasmine said...
    Posted on Mar 21 2009 22:23 i loved RHPS i also loved shock treatment although first time i watched it and saw the first song i thought oh noooo but ii loved it after that unlike my family when i watched it with them they switched it off after 45 mins b4 it even got good but i loved this although RHPS is very very different and better.
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  • Gareth said...
    Posted on May 31 2008 17:51 Too early for its time.. look at the world of "reality TV" stars we make them a name almost over night. Shock treatment does this with songs and dance routines that are good fun.
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  • Pockets said...
    Posted on Feb 22 2008 14:08 Personally i disliked shock therapy at first, but after watching it a couple of times i rather enjoy it. Again, of course, it has nothing over Rocky Horror, but i still think it's a great movie. All things considered
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  • michelle said...
    Posted on Dec 19 2007 04:40 The Rocky Horror Picure Show is a great cult clasic. I saw it once and i was hooked I watch it all the time and i also like to add that Shock treatment greatly differs from RHPS the songs are different and i did not like Shock treatme as much. Ricard O'Brien is a good actor and a very entertaning writer.
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