Trivia / Shock Treatment

• Acting for Two: Cliff DeYoung plays both Farley Flavors and Brad Majors.
• Alan Smithee: Jim Sharman applied to have his credit changed to Alan Smithee but was turned down.
• Box Office Bomb: As of 1997, it had only grossed $100,000 from an estimated $3.5 million budget.
• California Doubling: Denton is said to be in America but filming took place in Wembley in England.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Finland/Russia/Ukraine: Shock Therapy.
  • Hungary: Rubber Room.
• Creator Backlash: Zig-zagged. While Richard O'Brien dislikes this film due to its confusing plot as a result of its many rewrites (going as far to refer to it as "an abortion"), he does praise the music and the fact it foretold reality TV by two decades.
• The Danza: Rik Mayall as Rest Home Ricky.
• Descended Creator: Rocky Horror creator, Richard O'Brien plays Cosmo.
• Divorced Installment: This was the final incarnation of a horrendous script titled Rocky Horror Shows His Heels, which would have been a very direct sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the end, the plot was changed entirely while many of the songs remained, though the final film bears no resemblance and only weak connections to Rocky Horror.
• Fake American:
  • Australian-born Darlene Johnson played Janet's mother, Emily Weiss.
  • The Scottish-Canadian Christopher Malcolm as Officer Parker.
  • The British-Canadian Eugene Lipinski as Kirk.
  • All the members of Oscar Drill and the Bits (Gary Shail, Claire Toeman, Donald Waugh, David John, Gary Martin, and Sinitta) were Brits.
• Fake Nationality: The Viennese Bert Schnick was played by the Australian Barry Humphries.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: Was originally meant to be a parody of horror films like its predecessor.
• Orphaned Reference:
  • During "Little Black Dress", Cosmo's plans for the dress read "The Brad and Janet Show", which was the movie's Working Title.
  • Some songs seem random and out of place until you learn who was meant to sing them in the early scripts:
    • "Breaking Out" was supposed to be sung by Rocky who'd been in a Convenient Coma since the last movie. It matches the tone of his only song, "Sword of Damocles".
    • "Shock Treatment" was about using electroshock to clean mold off the resurrected Frank.
    • Cosmo seems to be heterosexual but sings in "Little Black Dress" that his greatest joy has always been making dresses. This song was written to be sung by Frank.
    • "Looking For Trade" is sung by Janet in a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment dream sequence. It was originally to be sung by Frank or Brad looking for male virgins whose blood Frank needs to stay alive.
• The Other Darrin: Of the four returning characters from Rocky Horror (Brad, Janet, Betty, and Ralph), only Ralph is played by his original actor.
• The Other Marty: During "Looking for Trade", Brenda Drill is played by a different actress than Claire Toeman, who portrays her in all scenes before and after the song.
• Playing Their Own Twin: Cliff DeYoung playing both Farley and Brad.
• Promoted Fanboy: Sal Piro, (the president of the Rocky Horror fan club) gets a cameo near the start.
• Prop Recycling: The throne Janet sits on is Frank's after being upholstered red, while American Gothic Couple painting seen hanging in the dressing room is presumably the one from the first movie.
• Real-Life Relative: The children appearing with Macy Struthers in the commercial for Farley Flavors' Fabulous Fast Foods are played by the actual children of Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn.
• Recursive Adaptation/ Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: The stage play is a play based on a movie, based on a movie that's based on a play.
• Role Reprise: Ignoring fan theories that Cosmo is Riff Raff in disguise etc., Jeremy Newson is the only actor to play the same character (Ralph) in both this and Rocky Horror.
• Similarly Named Works: According to the Other Wiki there are at least four other films, a reality TV show and three albums also called Shock Treatment.
• Throw It In!: Cliff DeYoung stated that during "Farley's Song," he's impersonating Jack Nicholson.
• Troubled Production/What Could Have Been: Where do we begin... There's a reason some shadowcasts affectionately refer to this film as a "thing" and an "abortion".
  • Once it was clear that Rocky Horror Shows His Heels wasn't going to go forward, this project was originally conceived as The Brad & Janet Show and was to be filmed on-location in Denton, Texas. Many of the songs that were written for Shows His Heels were re-purposed for this one ^note (for example, what became "Looking for Trade" was about literally looking for the "young blood" necessary to revive Frank-N-Furter). However, the 1980 SAG strike and other circumstances forced them to shoot entirely indoors in London, and rewrite the script to match.
  • When it comes to actors, Tim Curry was worried he couldn't pull off the required accents for Brad and Farley^note That didn't stop him from taking on the role of Rooster for Annie (1982), however, Susan Sarandon (Janet) wanted a prohibitively-large amount of money to reprise her role, and Barry Bostwick (Brad) was unavailable. (Cliff DeYoung was the one they originally wanted to play Brad Majors in RHPS.)
• Working Title: Rocky Horror Shows His Heels was the earliest sequel title that would have been a completely different story but the same songs that ended up in the finished product. A later script titled The Brad and Janet Show was much closer to the end product.
• Written by Cast Member: The script was co-written by Richard O'Brien, who played Cosmo.
• You Look Familiar:
  • The major returning cast members from Rocky Horror (Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, and Charles Gray) all play new characters here. Ralph Hapschatt is played by the same actor (Jeremy Newson) — he had a minor role in the first one, though.
  • Imogen Clare, Perry Bedden, and Rufus Collins (who were Transylvanians in the first film) play the wardrobe mistress and Neely's camera crew.
  • Officer Parker's actor, Christopher Malcolm, and Raynor Bourton who played one of the soldiers in "Thank God I'm A Man" had played Brad and Rocky respectfully in the original stage show.

---