Halloween Horrors: ROCKY HORROR

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW  (1975)
Directed by Jim Sharman
Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Nell Campbell, Patricia Quinn, Jonathan Adams, Peter Hinwood, Meat Loaf, Charles Gray
R for unspecified reasons (sexual content).
SCAREmeter: 1/10
GOREmeter: 3/10
OVERALL: 3 out of 4 stars

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW,... what the hell is it?  It's a musical-comedy tribute to B-horror movies, one of the gayest movies of all time and often considered the longest-running theatrical release of any movie history, thanks to perpetual limited engagements sustained by one of the largest, most devoted and most enthusiastic cult followings of any pop culture phenomenon ever.  It's also bizarre with a capital "Q".
Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) are a newly-engaged couple driving home from a friend's wedding one stormy night, when they get a flat tire.  Hoping to find a telephone, Brad and Janet walk to a castle in the near distance.  Once there, they are greeted by a host of outlandish persons, including the hunched-over handyman, Riff Raff (Richard O'Brien, who also wrote the stage musical on which the film is based), his domestic sister, Magenta (Patricia Quinn) and the young groupie, Columbia (Nell "Little Nell" Campbell).  Overseeing the flamboyant proceedings is Mr. Flamboyant himself, Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a "scientist", and self-proclaimed "Sweet Transvestite From Transsexual, Transylvania" (later, it is revealed that Transylvania is a planet from which the castle inhabitants hail).  Brad and Janet struggle to elaborate on their dilemma and ask for a telephone, but Frank-N-Furter has his own psycho-sexual agenda, and they're helplessly swept up into his weird world.  Frank-N-Furter has been using the castle as a laboratory for his outrageous experiments, the latest of which is Rocky (Peter Hinwood), a muscular man for "relieving tension".  He drags Brad and Janet along to his little unveiling ceremony, which is interrupted by Eddie (Meat Loaf), an ex-delivery boy who Frank-N-Furter borrowed parts from to make Rocky.  Frank-N-Furter hacks him to death with an ice axe.  Later that night, after all the distressing proceeding, Brad, Janet, Frank-N-Furter and Rocky take part in a series of sexual escapades with one another, while Dr. Everett Scott, a rival scientist and U.F.O. investigator for the government, arrives at the house to the Transylvanians' dismay.

I dare you to caption this.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".  I think that it's reasonable to say that this one was more in the area of being "culturally significant".  ROCKY HORROR is widely considered the greatest "midnight movie" experience out there, with the famous audience interactions, as seen in the 2012 teen drama, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, having a legendary status of their own.  Among the most frequently used though sometimes varied participation methods at showings around the world, especially at Halloween time, are dressing up as characters from the film (fishnet stockings abound) and use of props, like throwing toast in the air at the line, "A toast!" or throwing toilet tissue (Scott brand) at the line, "Great Scott!" as well as verbal riffing.  Some showings even have live casts who act out the film as it plays, and strive for accuracy.  I've never been to one of these screening, and despite their popularity, I have a hard time imagining myself finding enjoyment in that.  The use of props (especially food-based) sounds uncomfortably messy and even irritating, and I just don't have an appreciation for that kind of garish flamboyancy.  My personal taste aside, those screenings are obviously very fun for a lot of people, be warned however, that first-timers to these sort of late-night theatrical screenings may be prone to (hopefully) good-natured hazing, such as "V"s for "virgin" being written on the face in lipstick and risque pranks.
To those watching a movie, rather than taking part in an "experience," it's an alright movie, with catchy "get-stuck-in-your-head-until-you-want-to-blow-your-brains-out" songs inspired by 1950s rock and slow ballads, and Tim Curry's breakout role as the corset and fishnets-wearing drama drag-queen Dr. Frank-N-Furter is reason enough to watch the movie.  Curry struts his stuff while belting out the musical numbers with a comically sultry manner, and his double seduction of the young couple is hilarious.

Or this.

Despite all other appearances, the film apparently is set in 1974, as identified by Nixon's resignation speech that plays on Brad and Janet's car radio in an early scene.  However, the musical numbers all have a 1950s flavor, and early in the film, before their corruption by Frank-N-Furter, Brad and Janet are a squeaky clean couple with a stereotypical 50s white bread sensibility.  There's definitely a 1970s approach to sexuality however, as the very kinky film has a pervading philosophy of "succumbing to pleasure," certain to distress even the mildest moral conservative to mistakenly wander into such a movie.  A large portion of the ROCKY HORROR fan-base is part of the LGBT crowd, for whom the film's potent themes of counter-cultural
sexuality may more strongly resonate, although much of what is in the film shows a much more extreme and even satiric side of such lifestyles.  It's all in good fun though, and plus, it's a musical, so there's that.