The Rocky Horror Picture Show

''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also a member of the cast. The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production ''The Rocky Horror Show'', with music, book, and lyrics by O'Brien. The production is a tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s. Along with O'Brien, the film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray, with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions, including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.

The story centres on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle, where they seek a telephone to call for help. The castle or country home is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. They discover the head of the house is Dr. Frank N. Furter, an apparently mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, who creates a living muscle man named Rocky in his laboratory.

The film was shot in the United Kingdom at Bray Studios and on location at an old country estate named Oakley Court, best known for its earlier use by Hammer Film Productions. A number of props and set pieces were reused from the Hammer horror films. Although the film is both a parody of and tribute to many kitsch science fiction and horror films, costume designer Sue Blane conducted no research for her designs. Blane has claimed that her creations for the film directly affected the development of punk rock fashion trends, such as torn fishnet stockings and colourfully dyed hair.

Initial reception was extremely negative, but it soon became a hit as a midnight movie, when audiences began participating with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976. Audience members returned to the cinemas frequently and talked back to the screen and began dressing as the characters, spawning similar performance groups across the United States. At almost the same time, fans in costume at the King's Court Theater in Pittsburgh began performing alongside the film. This "shadow cast" mimed the actions on screen above and behind them, while lip-synching their character's lines.

Still in limited release in , some years after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history. In many cities, live amateur shadow-casts act out the film as it is being shown and heavily draw upon a tradition of audience participation. The film is most often shown close to Halloween. Today, the film has a large international cult following and has been considered by many as one of the greatest musical films of all time. In 2005, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Plot

The film begins with a pair of floating disembodied lips welcoming the audience to a science fiction double feature. Throughout the film, a criminologist from an unspecified point in the future narrates and provides commentary on the events.

Following the wedding of their friends, a naïve young couple, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, get engaged and decide to celebrate with their high school science teacher Dr. Scott, who taught the class where they first met. En route to Scott's house on a dark and rainy night, they get lost with a flat tire. Seeking a telephone to call for help, the couple walks to a nearby castle where a party is going on. They are accepted in by the strangely dressed inhabitants, led by the butler Riff Raff, the maid Magenta, and a groupie named Columbia, who dance to "The Time Warp". Despite feeling apprehensive, they stay to meet the owner of the castle, Dr. Frank-N-Furter. He invites them to stay for the night.

With the help of Riff Raff, Frank brings to life a tall, muscular, handsome blond man named Rocky. As Frank vows he can improve Rocky into an ideal man in a week, a delivery boy named Eddie (half of whose brain Frank had used in the creation of Rocky) breaks out of a deep freeze riding a motorcycle. Frank kills Eddie with a pickaxe, justifying it as a "mercy killing". Rocky and Frank depart for the bridal suite.

Brad and Janet are shown to separate bedrooms, where each is visited and seduced by Frank. Meanwhile, Riff Raff and his sister Magenta torment Rocky. Janet, upset and emotional, sees Brad smoking a cigarette in bed with Frank on a video monitor. She then discovers Rocky, cowering in his birth tank. While tending to his wounds, Janet seduces Rocky as Magenta and Columbia watch from their bedroom monitor.

Dr. Scott, now an investigator of UFOs for the government, arrives at the castle in search of his nephew Eddie, unaware of Brad and Janet's presence. Everyone discovers Janet and Rocky together, enraging Frank. At this point, Magenta summons everyone to an uncomfortable dinner, which they soon realise has been prepared from Eddie's mutilated remains. Columbia, Eddie’s lover, flees from the room in tears. Janet runs screaming into Rocky's arms, provoking Frank to chase her through the halls to the lab.

Frank uses his Medusa Transducer to turn Dr. Scott, Brad, Janet, Rocky and Columbia into nude statues. After dressing them in cabaret costumes, Frank "unfreezes" them, and they perform a live cabaret floor show, complete with an RKO tower and a swimming pool, with Frank as the leader. Riff Raff and Magenta interrupt the performance to declare mutiny; they disapprove of Frank's extreme lifestyle and are ready to return to Transylvania. Frank makes an impassioned plea to return with them, but Riff Raff kills him, as well as Columbia and Rocky. Riff Raff warns Brad, Janet and Dr. Scott to leave immediately; the castle lifts off into space. The injured survivors are then left crawling in the smog and dirt and the criminologist concludes that the human race is equivalent to insects crawling on the planet's surface: "lost in time, and lost in space... and meaning".

Cast

* Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, The Eccentric Transvestite Scientist
* Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss, The Heroine and Brad's Fiancée
* Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors, The Hero and Janet's Fiancé
* Richard O'Brien as Riff Raff, Hunch-Backed Handyman and Magenta's Brother
* Patricia Quinn as Magenta, Maid and Riff Raff's Sister
* Nell Campbell (credited as Little Nell) as Columbia, Groupie
* Jonathan Adams as Dr. Everett V. Scott, Rival Scientist
* Peter Hinwood as Rocky Horror, Creation ( Trevor White as singing voice)
* Meat Loaf as Eddie, Ex-Delivery Boy
* Charles Gray as The Criminologist, An Expert

Production

Concept and development

Richard O'Brien was living as an unemployed actor in London during the early 1970s. He wrote most of ''The Rocky Horror Show'' during one winter just to occupy himself. Since his youth, O'Brien had loved science fiction and B horror movies. He wanted to combine elements of the unintentional humour of B horror movies, portentous dialogue of schlock-horror, Steve Reeves muscle flicks, and fifties rock and roll into his musical. O'Brien conceived and wrote the play set against the backdrop of the glam era that had manifested itself in British popular culture in the 1970s. Allowing his concept to come into being, O'Brien states "glam rock allowed me to be myself more".

O'Brien showed a portion of the unfinished script to Australian director Jim Sharman, who decided to direct it at the small experimental space Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square, Chelsea, London, which was used as a project space for new work. O'Brien had appeared briefly in a stage production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', directed by Sharman, and the two also worked together in Sam Shepard's ''The Unseen Hand''. Sharman would bring in production designer Brian Thomson. The original creative team was then rounded out by costume designer Sue Blane, musical director Richard Hartley, and stage producer Michael White, who was brought in to produce. As the musical went into rehearsal, the working title, ''They Came from Denton High'', was changed just before previews at the suggestion of Sharman to ''The Rocky Horror Show''.

Having premiered in the small 60-seat Royal Court Theatre, it quickly moved to larger venues in London, transferring to the 230-seat Chelsea Classic Cinema on King's Road on 14 August 1973, before finding a quasi-permanent home at the 500-seat King's Road Theatre from 3 November that year, running for six years. The musical made its U.S. debut in Los Angeles in 1974 before playing in New York City as well as other cities. Producer and Ode Records owner Lou Adler attended the London production in the winter of 1973, escorted by friend Britt Ekland. He immediately decided to purchase the U.S. theatrical rights. His production would be staged at his Roxy Theatre in L.A. In 1975, ''The Rocky Horror Show'' premiered on Broadway at the 1,000-seat Belasco Theatre.

Filming and locations

Set in the fictional town of Denton, the film was shot at Bray Studios and Oakley Court, a country house near Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, and at Elstree Studios for post-production, from 21 October to 19 December 1974. Oakley Court, built in 1857 in the Victorian Gothic style, is known for a number of Hammer films. Much of the location shooting took place there, although at the time the manor was not in good condition. Most of the cast were from the original London stage production, including Tim Curry, who had decided that Dr Frank N. Furter should speak like the Queen of the United Kingdom, extravagantly posh. Fox insisted on casting the two characters of Brad and Janet with American actors, Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon. Filming took place during autumn, which made conditions worse. During filming, Sarandon fell ill with pneumonia. Filming of the laboratory scene and the title character's creation occurred on 30 October 1974.

The film is both a parody and tribute to many of the science fiction and horror movies from the 1930s up to the 1970s. The film production retains many aspects from the stage version, such as production design and music, but adds new scenes not featured in the original stage play. The film's plot, setting, and style echo those of the Hammer horror films, which had their own instantly recognizable style (just as Universal Studios' horror films did). The originally proposed opening sequence was to contain clips of various films mentioned in the lyrics, as well as the first few sequences shot in black and white, but this was deemed too expensive and scrapped.

Costumes, make-up, and props

In the stage productions, actors generally did their own make-up; however, for the film, the producers chose Pierre La Roche, who had previously been a make-up artist for Mick Jagger and David Bowie, to redesign the make-up for each character. Production stills were taken by rock photographer Mick Rock, who has published a number of books from his work. In ''Rocky Horror: From Concept to Cult'', designer Sue Blane discusses the ''Rocky Horror'' costumes' influence on punk music style, opining "t was abig part of the build-up o punk" She states that ripped fishnet stockings, glitter, and coloured hair were directly attributable to ''Rocky Horror''.

Some of the costumes from the film had been originally used in the stage production. Props and set pieces were reused from old Hammer Horror productions and others. The tank and dummy used for Rocky's birth originally appeared in ''The Revenge of Frankenstein'' (1958). These references to earlier productions, in addition to cutting costs, enhanced the cult status of the film.

Costume designer Sue Blane was not keen on working for the film, until she became aware that Curry, an old friend, was committed to the project. Curry and Blane had worked together in Glasgow's Citizens Theatre in a production of ''The Maids'', for which Curry had worn a woman's corset. Blane arranged for the theatre to loan her the corset from the other production for ''Rocky Horror''. Blane admits that she did not conduct research for her designing, had never seen a science fiction film, and is acutely aware that her costumes for Brad and Janet may have been generalizations.

The budget for the film was US$1,600,000, far more than the stage production budget, but having to double up on costumes for the film production was expensive. For filming, corsets for the finale had to be doubled for the pool scene, with one version drying while the other was worn on set. While many of the costumes are exact replicas from the stage productions, other costumes were new to filming, such as Columbia's gold sequined swallow-tail coat and top hat and Magenta's maid's uniform.

Blane was amazed by the recreation and understanding of her designs by fans. When she first heard that people were dressing up, she thought it would be tacky, but was surprised to see the depth to which the fans went to recreate her designs. ''Rocky Horror'' fan Mina Credeur, who designs costumes and performed as Columbia for Houston's performance group, states that "the best part is when everyone leaves with a big smile on their face," noting that there's "such a kitschiness and campiness that it seems to be winking at you." The film still plays at many theatre locations and ''Rocky Horror'' costumes are often made for Halloween, although many require much time and effort to make.

Title sequence

The film starts with the screen fading to black and oversized, disembodied female lips appear overdubbed with a male voice, establishing the theme of androgyny to be repeated as the film unfolds. The opening scene and song, "Science Fiction/Double Feature", consists of the lips of Patricia Quinn (who appears in the film later as the character Magenta and as 'Trixie the Usherette' in the original London production, where she also sings the song) but has the vocals of actor and ''Rocky Horror'' creator, Richard O'Brien (who appears as Magenta's brother Riff Raff). The lyrics refer to science fiction and horror films of the past and list several film titles from the 1930s to the 1960s, including ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (1951), ''Flash Gordon'' (1936), ''The Invisible Man'' (1933), ''King Kong'' (1933), ''It Came from Outer Space'' (1953), '' Doctor X'' (1932), ''Forbidden Planet'' (1956), ''Tarantula'' (1955), ''The Day of the Triffids'' (1962), ''Curse of the Demon'' (1957), and ''When Worlds Collide'' (1951).

Music

The soundtrack was released in 1975 by Ode Records and produced by English composer Richard Hartley. The album peaked at No. 49 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 in 1978. It reached No. 12 on the Australian albums chart and No. 11 on the New Zealand albums chart. The album is described as the "definitive version of the 'Rocky Horror''score".

# "Science Fiction/Double Feature" – The Lips (those of Patricia Quinn; voice of Richard O'Brien)
# "Dammit Janet" – Brad, Janet, and Chorus
# "Over at the Frankenstein Place" – Janet, Brad, Riff Raff, and Chorus
# " The Time Warp" – Riff Raff, Magenta, The Criminologist, Columbia, and Transylvanians
# " Sweet Transvestite" – Frank
# " The Sword of Damocles" – Rocky and Transylvanians
# "I Can Make You a Man" – Frank with Brad, Janet, Riff Raff, Magenta, and Columbia
# "Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul" – Eddie and Transylvanians
# "I Can Make You a Man (Reprise)" – Frank, Janet, and Transylvanians
# "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me" – Janet with Magenta, Columbia, Rocky, Brad, Frank, and Riff Raff
# "Once in a While" (''deleted scene'') – Brad
# "Eddie" – Dr. Scott, The Criminologist, Janet, Columbia, Frank, Rocky, Brad, Riff Raff, and Magenta
# "Planet Schmanet Janet (Wise Up Janet Weiss)" – Frank
# "Planet Hot Dog" – Janet, Brad, and Dr. Scott
# "Rose Tint My World" – Columbia, Rocky, Janet, and Brad
# " Fanfare/Don't Dream It, Be It" – Frank with Brad, Janet, Rocky, and Columbia
# "Wild and Untamed Thing" – Frank with Brad, Janet, Rocky, Columbia, and Riff Raff
# " I'm Going Home" – Frank and Chorus
# " The Time Warp (Reprise)" – Riff Raff and Magenta
# "Super Heroes" (''only present in the original UK release'') – Brad, Janet, and Chorus
# " Science Fiction/Double Feature (Reprise)" – The Lips

Release

The film opened in the United Kingdom at the Rialto Theatre in London on 14 August 1975 and in the United States on 26 September at the UA Westwood in Los Angeles. It did well at that location, but not elsewhere. Before the midnight screenings' success, the film was withdrawn from its eight opening cities due to very small audiences, and its planned New York City opening on Halloween night was cancelled. Samuels (1983), p. 11 Fox re-released the film around college campuses on a double-bill with another rock music film parody, Brian De Palma's ''Phantom of the Paradise'' (1974), but again it drew small audiences.

A second film poster was created using a set of red, lipstick painted lips with the tagline "A Different Set of Jaws", a spoof of the poster for the film ''Jaws'' (which was also released in 1975). The lips of former ''Playboy'' model Lorelei Shark are featured on the poster.

With ''Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and ''Reefer Madness'' (1936) making money in midnight showings nationwide, a Fox executive, Tim Deegan, was able to talk distributors into midnight screenings, starting in New York City on April Fools' Day of 1976. It was the "Secret" film, on 20 May, in the first Seattle International Film Festival. The cult following started shortly after the film began its midnight run at the Waverly Theater in New York City, then spread to other counties in New York, and to Uniondale, Long Island. ''Rocky Horror'' was not only found in the larger cities but throughout the United States, where many attendees would get in free if they arrived in costume. The western division of the film's release included the U.A. Cinemas in Fresno and Merced, the Cinema J. in Sacramento, the UC Theatre in Berkeley and the Covell in Modesto. In New Orleans, an early organised performance group was active with the release there, as well as in such cities as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chicago (at the Biograph Theater). Before long, nearly every screening of the film was accompanied by a live fan cast.

''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is considered to be the longest-running release in film history. It benefited from a 20th Century Fox policy that made archival films available to theatres at any time. Having never been pulled by 20th Century Fox from its original 1975 release, it continues to play in cinemas. After The Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019 and began withdrawing archival Fox movies from theatres to be placed into the Disney Vault, the company made an exception in the case of ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' to allow the traditional midnight screenings to continue.

Home media

A Super 8 version of selected scenes of the film was made available. In 1983, Ode Records released ''"The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Audience Par-Tic-I-Pation Album"'', recorded at the 8th Street Playhouse. The recording consisted of the film's audio and the standardized call-backs from the audience.

A home video release was made available in 1987 in the UK. In the US, the film (including documentary footage and extras) was released on VHS on 8 November 1990, retailing for $89.95.

The film was released on DVD in 2000 for the film's 25th anniversary. A 35th anniversary edition Blu-ray was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the US on 19 October 2010. The disc includes a newly created 7.1 surround sound mix, the original theatrical mono sound mix, and a 4K/2K image transfer from the original camera negative. In addition, new content featuring karaoke and a fan performance were included. A 45th anniversary edition Blu-ray was released in September 2020 by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

In October 2021, the film was added to Disney+ on the Star hub for users in locations such as the UK, Ireland and Canada.

Reception

''Chicago Sun-Times'' critic Roger Ebert noted that when first released, ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' was "ignored by pretty much everyone, including the future fanatics who would eventually count the hundreds of times they'd seen it". He considered it more a "long-running social phenomenon" than a movie, rating it 2.5 out of 4 stars and describing Curry as "the best thing in the movie, maybe because he seems to be having the most fun" but thinking the story would work better performed on stage for a live audience. Bill Henkin noted that ''Variety'' thought that the "campy hijinks" of the film seemed labored, and also mentioned that the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' John Wasserman, who had liked the stage play in London, found the film "lacking both charm and dramatic impact". ''Newsweek'', in 1978, called the film "tasteless, plotless and pointless".

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 79% based on 47 reviews, and an average grade of 6.9/10, with the critical consensus reading "''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' brings its quirky characters in tight, but it's the narrative thrust that really drives audiences insane and keeps 'em doing the time warp again". A number of contemporary critics find it compelling and enjoyable because of its offbeat and bizarre qualities; the BBC
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