Proclaimed the campest movie in the world, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a true staple of the Halloween-movie collection, without being the tiniest bit frightening.
Unless you’re afraid of transsexuals. Or aliens. Or Susan Sarandon’s high-pitched singing.
How camp can you get?
What is this film?
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) is an adaptation of the stage show, “The Rocky Horror Show”, and is truly a beacon of kult films.
Upon released it was an epic fail, but fortunately it started showing at midnight screenings in cinemas (growing in popularity in the 70s) and steadily it grew a faithful following.
And I’m talking proper following. For cinema screenings, people will dress up as characters from the movie and bring props to use at specific points to become more a part of the movie than a silent audience.
I have personally only attended the stage production, but I will most definitely be looking out for a screening just to experience all the props and the dancing.
Curiously, it was the debut film of Tim Curry (among his more brilliant renditions is the evil concierge in Home Alone 2) which just tells you that anything can happen in this world. He actually created the role of Frank N. Furter in the original stage production (do you see where this is heading).
So, what is the movie actually about?
Does it really matter?
You get a goody two shoes couple who ignite their sexual needs. There is a humpback butler, a french maid a la Helena Bonham Carter, transvestite dress-up, an actual transvestite, a man of muscle, Meat Loaf and a great monitor that just lets you see anything.
Oh yes, and there are aliens.
And a ridiculous narrator.
Do you really need a story as well?
Do I Love it or Hate it?
After some deliberation, I have decided that I am going to love it.
You often won’t love a kult film the first time you see it. You will love elements of it, but still be too scarred by the elements that were bad. I will have to watch it again and again (preferably with some die hard fans) to proper love it. This way, my brain will gradually delete all the things that are bad and leave me noticing only the delightfully funny and weird.
I love the human brain.
There is kind of a story there, but not really. It is truly a perfect specimen of a film that is so bad that it kind of feels good.
The singing lips
The movie opens on a traditional, way-to-long-for-modern-audiences, intro. It is basically a pair of red lips on black background singing the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature”. And it’s kind of a mind fuck as the lips are clearly female, but the voice sounds off. And indeed it his the voice of writer and Riff Raff, Richard O’Brien.
The mood is set already at this point.
The intro is apparently inspired by the artist Man Ray and his painting “A l’heure de l’observatoire, les Amoureux” (Observatory Time, the Lovers).
My favourite song
You will be surprised, as was my boyfriend, as to how many songs from this film you have actually heard before. And danced to.
My absolute favourite is “Time Warp“. It has a psychedelic quality to the whole group performace of the piece due to the choice of an angled and trippy filming style. For some reason I am reminded of the “Banana Boat Song (Day Oh)” from “Beetlejuice” (1988), which isn’t in any way similar, but has the same kind of epic, quirky quality.
It is in some way amazing that Tim Burton hasn’t made a version of this musical yet. Maybe that could take it from kult to classic.
Or maybe I should shut up and realize that there is no story there, so it can never be better. Only stay suspended it time as a movie that for some inexplicable reason is great.
What mood should you be in?
You absolutely have to set your mind to total blank before you watch this film. Your taste and your sense of what a movie is supposed to be is going to be violated whether you like it or not.
There is not going to be a great quality running through the entire experience. At times it will be frustrating and often it will be weird, but you will just have to embrace it, because there is no other way to have a good time with this movie than to decide that you are going to enjoy it.
They had me at “Hello” (watch it and you will know what I am talking about).
Further watching
The first thing that came to my mind was “Beetlejuice” (1988) by Tim Burton, which inhabits the same weird and wonderful mood. There are no adequate words to describe this film, just know that there are ghosts, Emo Winona Ryder and a host of famous (and thus brilliant) actors.
Tim Burton is never a waste of time.
If you would like to watch som more transvestites (who doesn’t), I can recommend the australian “The Adventures of Priscilla; Queen of the Desert” (1994) where you get to experience Hugo Weaving (the chief elf Elrond in Lord of the Rings) as a drag queen or the wonderfully camp, british comedy “Kinky Boots” (2995) where Chiwetel Ejiofor (the slave in 12 Years a slave) gets his drag queen on.
In need of more good ideas of what to watch in the vast movie world? Take a look at one of my Guilty Pleasure movies, or follow the blog and get a notification next time. It is usually once every week, but you will also get another Best movies on Netflix on Sunday this week. 😀
Riff Raff says “Hello”
Who am I?
I am an aspiring screenwriter who loves to watch movies.
I am particularly fascinated by Kult Films and want to watch as many as I can to try and make sense of why they become a source of comfort and nostalgia to such large groups of people.
When I watch a new Kult Film, I will let you know what you are in for in advance, so that you don’t have to waste your time with movies there is no chance you will ever like. But sometimes I will recommend you to just take a leap of faith. You might just like it simply because it is different.
Why do I think I can talk about movies?
With an over average interest in movies since watching Star Wars as an 8 year-old, and with some background in the industry, I know at least a little bit about what it takes to get a movie made, and have loads of opinions about what makes them great.
But no matter my merits, it is whether or not you agree with my taste in movies (or my boyfriend’s, whose opinion will be noted if opposing my own) that will make these reviews beneficial to you.
For this movie in particular, note that my boyfriend, who normally favours action and war movies, wanted to watch “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” again the next day. Just saying.
Where can you find the film?
I had to buy it in the store (no time to wait for online shipment, Halloween came quickly this year), and thankfully they had it (and pretty cheaply).
This is the kind of movie that it seems to me streaming services avoid because elements can be deemed slightly offensive (by all the goody two shoes who haven’t met Dr. Frank N Furter), so it is not to be found on Netflix.
However, it is a Kult Film, so you might as well buy it as you will watch that sucker to death anyway 😉
If you like what I write, please follow this blog and I will give you a host of good reasons for why you should or shouldn’t watch movies.
On Sunday, we will take a look at another Halloween classic, this one part of the Netflix catalogue and thus unearth another “Best movie on Netflix“.
Alternate Realities 