Night Night, It's Time for Bye Byes (Shock Treatment)

Photo from shocktreatment.net

The great thing about having your own blog, is sharing weird and odd things about yourself. One of those weird, odd things is this fact: one of my favorite movies is 1981's Shock Treatment. It was a quasi-sequel (or "Equel") to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Since Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon, the stars of the first movie, had moved on to bigger and better things, Cliff DeYoung (also in Protocol with Goldie Hawn) and Jessica Harper (of the cult flick, Suspiria) took over the roles.

The film is set in a TV studio in Denton, Ohio, the same town as Rocky Horror. The whole town basically exists within the studio. Considering that this was 1981, I'd say that Richard O'Brien (creator and songwriter) was darn near psychic. This is what America is on the road to. While the movie follows the further adventures of Brad and Janet, none of the characters from Rocky Horror is reprised, except for Ralph and Betty Hapschatt (happy shit!). The great thing though, is many of the ACTORS did reappear: Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn (once again playing incestuous brother and sister), Little Nell Campbell, and Charles Gray. Added to the mix was Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everidge) and Ruby Wax.

The movie takes a couple of viewings to grow on you, but the music is fantastic. "Breaking Out" by "Oscar Drill & the Bits" (apparently about coming out of the closet) could've been sung by Green Day. Other songs, "Bitchin' in the Kitchen," "Little Black Dress," and the title song "Shock Treatment" are nothing short of delightful. What got me to thinking about the movie was the song, "Lullaby," which has the characters turning in for the night, as I was going to do prior to writing this (lengthy) post. Here it is for your visual and aural pleasure.

And another clip that makes me think George Bush may have been a fan back in the day. I mean, can't you hear him saying, "You're not looking a King, you're looking at a goddamn ACE?




12/26/07 UPDATE: A warning folks, but is wont to happen with these clips, FOX has apparently pulled many of their videos. They've also pulled all of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Simpsons clips. I fail to see why, as all these YouTube clips do is keep interest going in their projects, and raise the profile of their properties. My site has made a whopping 81 cents since it debuted, and I can't even cash that out. I am not putting a dent in Rupert Murdoch's profits. Anyway, it probably won't be long until these are gone too.

06/13/08 UPDATE: Added a different clip, Bitchin' in the Kitchen, since You're Looking at an Ace has been removed.