There is nothing particularly wrong with this movie. The reason why people hate it is that it has nothing to do with Rocky Horror. The fault for this movie's failing is exclusively on idiots who promoted it as a sequel. Same story as with Halloween 3. Good/decent movie ruined by poorly focused promotion.
It wasn't marketed as a sequel. All of the marketing clearly states "from the people who brought you The Rocky Horror Picture Show" - never outright states it's sequel anywhere. In fact, "it's not a sequel, it's not a prequel - it's an equal."
Ignore Republicans; then you rob them of their lies having any influence. http://foxnewslies.net/
Hate to break it to you RHPSVegas, but despite the taglines, the OP's absolutely correct. "Shock Treatment" never got any sort of a mainstream release, it was marketed exclusively as a midnight movie, usually double-billed with "Rocky." By 2 am when the movie ran, the raucous (and usually drunken) RHPS audiences didn't know what to make of this somewhat cerebral, prophetic flick which bore little resemblance to its predecessor, so it wound up being an even bigger bomb than RHPS's 1975 mainstream release. Key Video released it in '84 or '85, but it languished on video store shelves (I frequented a ton of video stores in my life and only ever saw that tape in one of em). In the '90s, Fox reissued it on VHS with the box description highlighting the RHPS connection, and then it was double-billed with RHPS again for a 2006 DVD release. To the best of my knowledge, it's never aired on American TV -- which really sucks, because that could've widened the audience. It's never been allowed to stand on its own, so virtually the only people who've discovered it have done so because of Rocky Horror... and the vast majority of RHPS fans hate it because it jutted off in a completely different direction (just like "Halloween III!").
shareYeah its aired on american tv, Fox Movie Channel used to show it alot a few years back
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My mistake -- to this day I don't have the Fox Movie Channel. And what I meant was if it had played on TV in the '80s and '90s (when viewing choices were far more limited than our current DVR, on-Demand, digital download era) it might've found an audience. '80s HBO in particular turned a ton of massive theatrical flops into beloved hits and cult classics.
I hate to break it to YOU, Vinnie, but I have copies of all of the original advertising (in fact, my name is actually mentioned in the thank-yous on the audio commentary on the DVD), and Shock Treatment was NEVER originally marketed as a "sequel" to RHPS. Michael White even said in The Rocky Horror Treatment (the short 1981 TV documentary about the RHPS phenomenon with behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Shock Treatment), "it's not a sequel, it's not a prequel, it's an equal to the Rocky Horror Picture Show." Not one piece of original advertising bills it as a "sequel" - it all either says, "from the creators of Rocky Horror" or "from the people who brought you TRHPS." The only misguided thing that says that it's a "sequel" is the back of the 1993 VHS cover, obviously trying to cash in on the resurgeance RHPS had when it was re-issued on VHS in 1992. As a matter of fact, it has been wholly embraced by the majority of RHPS fans, and it's been kept alive at conventions and as stand-alone shows in movie theaters throughout the country to this very day (I should know, I'm staging it at the RHPS convention taking place later this week). It also HAS aired on American TV: Sci-Fi Channel in November of 1998 (I still have the VHS I recorded of it).
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Not to mention the pretty decent run it has had in the home video market. It may not have made the same impression theatrically that The Rocky Horror Picture has made, but it certainly caught up in the rent market where it failed theatrically. Also, don't forget that beyond the SciFi channel airing twice, it also has aired on Fox Movie Channel several times as well...One of it's cast members (Jessica Harper- Janet) makes updated posts on her facebook regarding her films on that network. I think she married someone who worked for them. Steve,don't forget that the original promotional material as well as Richard O'Brien list it as a continuation of the lives of Brad & Janet and that RHPS has no baring on the film and to watch it you don't have to have seen RHPS.
shareShe's married to Tom Rothman, former head of Fox. When Fox Movie Channel aired Phantom of the Paradise, he did an intro telling how he fell in love with her the first time he saw Phantom as a teenager and how they eventually met and fell in love.
shareTo the best of my knowledge, it's never aired on American TV -- which really sucks, because that could've widened the audience.