Sunday Viewing:: Shock Treatment (1981)

I'm guilty of not properly appreciating SHOCK TREATMENT until now. I own it on VHS only because it is one of those KEY videos with the rainbow stripes on the side and I love those because you can line them up and they look so pretty and can you believe I'm not forced to take medication? I have not given this one much of a thought since I saw it as a teen and I think I thought it was just weird back then. I also seem to recall a brief time period where my younger brother was very into the soundtrack and played it everyday and so, by no fault of my own, I partially know all of the songs because they poured through my wall.

Anyway, I decided to watch SHOCK TREATMENT the other night because the tape was in my face and I've decided I like it better than THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW which I'm guilty of not liking quite as much as I'm clearly supposed to. My preference is easily explained by the presence of JESSICA HARPER. Is anyone more beautiful than Jessica Harper? Beauty gets a bad rap these days because magazines are psychotic but I don't think there is anything wrong in noting when someone is visually appealing. It's kinda what art is all about. Well, some art. Also my ears are fond of HARPER's deep voice and now I want to watch PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE right this second.

I'm pretending that SHOCK TREATMENT is a sequel to equally colorful SUSPIRIA rather than a sequel to ROCKY HORROR. I have decided that at the end of SUSPIRIA, Suzy Bannion has lost her mind and so she hallucinates that her name is Janet and she's in a new wave musical. It could happen. Plus that makes more sense than MOTHER OF TEARS. You need a little SHOCK TREATMENT below.