The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1975
This is a legendary cult movie, made in 1975 based on a successful live show, but a box office failure. Then it started being shown at midnight movies and picked up a devoted following where people would participate in the movie, including dressing up and acting out parts. I watched it in high school, maybe around 1983 and remember a few people dressing up and acting it out. I remember thinking it was pretty weird with all the transsexual stuff and really didn’t make a lot of sense, but I thought it was okay. Then in my freshman year of college I was randomly paired up with a roommate who loved it and he would play the soundtrack all the time and yell back at the appropriate parts. So I learned to like the music and eventually bought it on CD, but never saw the movie again. A couple of years ago I bought the 35th anniversary blu-ray, well after that came and went. And I finally watched it again. Parts of the movie are pretty famous (the very overrated “Time Warp"), so I may have seen parts, but not the movie because I didn’t realize the soundtrack left a couple of songs out (a good decision). Watching again and knowing what to expect and liking the songs, the movie is much easier to watch. It is mostly music plus maybe I have a little more appreciation for the classic sci-fi and other movies that Rocky Horror references (though it is a long list and I haven’t seen very many). It is fun to see Susan Sarandon so young, good looking, and mostly in her underwear. I think it is fitting that the movie was made on a low budget just like the movies it idolizes, with 50’s era music instead of disco or whatever people listened to in 1975. It has a certain period feel, but still seems timeless, even though Janet Weiss is now in her 70’s! All of that said, the movie really isn’t very good with a pretty random plot, some really bad production values (Riff Raff’s hump) and a lot of silly characters, but it is entertaining and that is the most important thing.
Written: 07 Sep 2020
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital