Category Archives: Sci-fi Horror and Musical Hybrids

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW-United Kingdom/United States-1975

Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors-A Hero

Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss-A Heroine

Richard O'Brien as Riff Raff-A Handyman

Patricia Quinn as Magenta-A Domestic

Little Nell as Columbia-A Groupie

Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter-A Scientist

Meatloaf as Eddie-Ex Delivery Boy

Peter Hinwood as Rocky Horror-A Creation

Directed by Jim Sharman

Original Musical Play written by Richard O’Brien

Screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien

I’m going to step way out on a limb and say that this is one weird fucking movie. But wait, don’t get me wrong, weird does not equal bad. In this case weird just equals weird. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an experience that everybody from the dogs and cats living in your house to grandma in the nursing home needs to experience at least once in their ho-hum lives. It is an amalgamation of sci-fi, horror, musical and God knows what that comes together in such a way that it shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t possibly work and yet, like a colt taking its first steps or a tarantula sucking the insides out of its first cricket, it does indeed work.

The film is one part Wizard of Oz, one part Plan Nine from Outer Space and several parts whatever other movies that popped into the writer and directors head. At the end, when Frank-N-Furter imagines that he is putting on that one last performance before going back home to the planet Transsexual, located in the galaxy of Transylvania, he is channeling Nora Desmond in her climactic scene in Sunset Boulevard. It is spoof, homage, triumph and tragedy all rolled into one. This film plays with each and every emotion in your tiny little brain and throws it back at you spent and bleeding on the floor. Time is indeed, fleeting. Madness is taking control. There is only one The Rocky Horror Picture Show and my dear God, boys and girls, isn’t one enough? Sanity must be maintained!!

Trivia

In the opening wedding scene, the minister is Tim Curry (Dr. Frank N. Furter), the “old man” to his left is Richard O’Brien (Riff Raff) and the “wife” to his right is Patricia Quinn(Magenta). The spinster who joins them inside the church is Nell Campbell, a.k.a. Little Nell (Columbia). They are parodying the famous American Gothic painting, which appears later on in the castle.

Mick Jagger wanted to play Dr. Frank N. Furter in the film version.

Steve Martin auditioned for the role of Brad.

One night, during a typical midnight screening at a New York theater, a patron was asked to leave before the film ended. This patron was accused of being an impostor. The patron was Tim Curry.