The Rocky Horror Picture Show (film)
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a cult classic musical film that debuted in 1975, featuring a blend of comedy, horror, and rock music. Starring Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, and Meat Loaf, the film follows the story of an engaged couple, Brad and Janet, who seek refuge in a mysterious castle after their car breaks down. Within the castle, they encounter the outrageous Dr. Frank-N-Furter, an androgynous scientist from the planet Transsexual, who has created a muscular companion named Rocky. The film is notable for its catchy musical numbers, vibrant costumes, and themes of sexual liberation and nonconformity.
Initially met with poor box office performance, the film found its audience in midnight screenings, where viewers began to interact with the film by shouting dialogue, throwing props, and dressing up as characters. This unique viewer participation helped establish "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" as a hallmark of cult cinema, influencing the landscape for similar films. Its ongoing popularity has led to regular screenings in theaters, scholarly interest, and the formation of amateur theater groups that perform live alongside the film. Overall, it remains a significant cultural phenomenon that celebrates individuality and self-expression.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (film)
Identification Cult film
Date Released in 1975
Director Jim Sharman
The Rocky Horror Picture Show combined allusions and plot elements from horror, science-fiction, and musical films of the 1950’s with camp, rock music, and a theme of personal and sexual liberation. Audiences participated by dressing like the film’s characters, dancing and performing in front of the screen, and using props and dialogue to interact with the film.
Key Figures
Jim Sharman (1945- ), film director
The Rocky Horror Picture Show starred British stage actor Tim Curry, up-and-coming American actors Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon, and singer Meat Loaf. Produced in six weeks on a one-million-dollar budget, it was received poorly when released on a normal feature film schedule. On April 1, 1976, it entered the midnight circuit at the Waverly Theater in New York City. By summer, 1978, the film had grossed about four million dollars, and by 1979, there were two hundred prints in circulation, all grossing their full potential.
The plot involved an earnest, newly engaged couple, Brad and Janet (played by Bostwick and Sarandon), who, after being stranded as a result of car trouble, seek help at an old castle. They encounter Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Curry), a scientist from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy Transylvania, who has inhabited the castle and created a muscle-man monster, Rocky (Peter Hinwood). Besides marrying Rocky, he seduces both Brad and Janet.
The film’s upbeat tone owes much to the musical genre on which it draws. Its optimism also stems from its catch line (“Don’t dream it—be it,” taken from Frederick’s of Hollywood lingerie ads in period film magazines). Frank-N-Furter’s androgyny (resembling rock star Mick Jagger), Meat Loaf’s saxophone-laced rock songs, the pelvic thrust and hip swiveling of the “time warp” dance, and the costumes of fishnet hose, garter belts, bustiers, and high heels ensure that audience members have a good time and are freed from conventionality.
Perhaps the most notable way in which the film frees its audiences is the way in which it releases them from their conventional role as spectators. Five months into its run at the Waverly Theater, the audience began to “talk back” to the film. Soon people were chanting fifty dialogue inserts, many of them risqué. Viewers threw rice, toast, and toilet paper. Some shot water pistols and used flashlights or cigarette lighters. Amateur theater troupes, such as Midnight Insanity in Long Beach, California, formed to produce their own Rocky Horror show that paralleled the film during each midnight screening.
Impact
The Rocky Horror Picture Show became the unrivaled champion of cult films. Its success on the midnight circuit helped increase the market for other cult and limited-audience films. Interest persisted long past the 1970’s. By the end of the twentieth century, it continued to be screened regularly at fifty theaters. The film received much scholarly attention, from sociological studies of its cult audiences and their ritualistic behavior to analyses from Dionysian, performance, and carnival perspectives.
Bibliography
Dika, Vera. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” In Recycled Culture in Contemporary Art and Film. Boston: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Henkin, Bill. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Book. New York: Hawthorn/Dutton, 1979.