Arthouse favorites Alain Delon and Annie Girardot bare all for art in SHOCK TREATMENT, on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

Jilted by her longtime lover for a much younger woman, thirty-eight year old fashion designer Helene Masson (Girardot, JUPITER'S THIGH) has a midlife crisis and checks into the coastal wellness clinic of Dr. Devilers (Delon, DIABOLICALLY YOURS) under the recommendation of her gay best friend Jérôme (Robert Hirsch, MORTAL TRANSFER) to undergo Thalassotherapy involving the rejuvenating effects of seaweed and the water of the area's microclimate. She discovers that her fellow patients – judges, politicians, industrialists, journalists – are longtime regulars who think of themselves as one big family; but all families have secrets, and Jérôme finds himself on the outs when he has money problems, and Helene is shocked when he apparently commits suicide by throwing himself off the cliffs when he cannot secure a loan. Helene is at first ready to accept the verdict of Devilers' mysterious partner Dr. Bernard (Michel Duchaussoy, CHARLOTTE) – particularly since she has welcomed Devilers into her bed – but she become suspicious of the high turnover in the clinic staff of young undocumented foreign men who all gradually exhibit signs of ill health, and one of whom begs her to help him get away from the clinic. Snooping around the clinic under cover of night, Helene soon discovers that the treatment involves more than just a seaweed diet.

Not to be confused with the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW follow-up film of the same name, SHOCK TREAMENT belongs to a seventies subgenre of redefining the vampire mythos for social commentary – as such, it would make a great double bill with Corrado Farina's THEY'VE CHAGNED FACES which recasts Count Dracula as an industrialist with his fingers in many pies – while the clinic setting anticipates the Australian vampire film THIRST as well as the French gore film NIGHT OF DEATH, and the pact between the clinics wealthy patients anticipates "The Thirteenth Reunion" episode of the HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR series. That the revelations will be of no surprise to seasoned horror viewers is of no consequence since director Alain Jessua is more interested in the fear and vanity of aging and the ruthlessly blasé attitudes of the wealthy patients towards those who do not fit in with their circle, be it the foreign workers or castoffs like Jerome. Just as Helene's insecurity comes from her perception of herself after her romantic rejection, one wonders to what degree the treatment is psychological since all of the patients look their age and are simply fit, tanned, and untroubled emotionally. Far more likely to shock viewers is the film's nudity, including the sight of Delon and Girardot running bare into the surf and frolicking with a bunch of similarly uninhibited performers – the film was retitled DOCTOR IN THE NUDE for the UK release through exploitation distributor Anthony Balch (SECRETS OF SEX) – while the more overtly-horrific elements are kept under wraps until a late scene reveal. The film instead gets its mileage out of Girardot's increasing discomfort, suggestive throwaway comments about Devilers' attempts to live in the jungles of Africa, and a soundtrack that incorporates samba, Portuguese vocals, and African drums in counterpoint to the action. As one of his last films, Jessua would take an idiosyncratic approach to the Frankenstein story with FRANKENSTEIN 90.

Released theatrically stateside by New Line Cinema in their more daring pre-NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET days, SHOCK TREATMENT was MIA on home video even into the DVD age when a Studio Canal master made the rounds on various Delon DVD sets in Europe – presumably the company not possessing U.S. rights precluded its inclusion on Lionsgate's Delon DVD set of Studio Canal-licensed titles – coming to Blu-ray finally from Severin in a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen transfer from a 2K scan of the original interpositive. Shot in overcast exterior conditions and predominantly white and chrome interiors, the color scheme looks muted and sterile with the wardrobe and décor choices supporting that look with the only real pop coming from the red lettering of the opening credits and the bronzed and tanned skin of the patients who look more vibrantly healthy than other characters. The original French track along with an English dub are provided in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono – with Girardot dubbed by an artist who has voiced her English performances elsewhere – and both English subtitles for the French dialogue and SDH subtitles for the dub.

Extras start off with "Alain Jessua: The Lone Deranger" (20:13), an interview with Bernard Payen, curator at The Cinémathèque Française, who notes that Jessua began his career as a contemporary of the French New Wave directors but that he got his training in the studio system under directors like Jacques Becker and Max Ophuls, while the manner in which his films resemble the French New Wave aesthetics stemmed from his desire for creative freedom and independence. He suggests that Jessua was never interested in traditional horror films, but that the horrors in his films were an outgrowth of the themes he explored – denoting them as "social science fiction" – and providing examples from his filmography. "Director's Disorder" (9:31) is an archival interview with the late Jessua who discusses approaching his screenplays through a literary filter and that the concerns of SHOCK TREATMENT about aging and seaweed treatments were part of the zeitgeist, noting that he would only make actual horror films when he has nothing more to say.