How's the Rocky Horror Picture Cult holding up these days?

[Interrobang!?]

Twenty years ago, when I was in high school in Milwaukee, the Oriental Theatre showed the RHPS every weekend. I went a few times -- I was never really sucked into the cult, but I had friends who enjoyed it, and it was kind of fun.

When I was back in town recently, I was revisiting some familiar places. I noticed that the Oriental only shows RHPS once a month. It's been playing for 30 years, it's peak popularity has passed.

Is this true everywhere? I really haven't thought much about RHPS since high school -- if it screens at all in Seattle, it's not a big deal, and it's certainly not a regular thing. Does it play many places anymore? Have people stopped doing the Time Warp again?

[Don Draper]

Like you, I was never a die-hard fanatic, but I did go at least a dozen times over the course of several years. And I have noticed that screenings of it has scaled back, even in downtown Manhattan, which used to be the epicenter of the "Rocky" worshipping world. I only know of two theaters still showing it, but neither does it every Saturday.

Sadly, it is kind of a faded cultural dinosaur, much like the whole goth/punk crowd that was the film's target audience. Being gay or lesbian (or otherwise alt-sexual) just doesn't equate with being a 'creature of the night' anymore.

While it's been 15 years since I've seen it, I imagine it still gets the usual crowd of curious freshmen college students, but very few ardent fans.

[Don Draper]

I wanted to add these, but I missed the edit window.

Fav. bits:

Frank (to Janet): I trust that you are feeling better after being trapped in the rain.

Audience: "Are you a SLUT Janet??"

Janet (cheerily): "Why, yes I am."

****************

Frank has just used his petrifier machine, transforming everyone into statues.

Frank: "It isn't easy having a good time."

Audience: "When you're friends are all STONED!!"

[hajario]

I haven't seen it since 1982. It used to play every Saturday night at the Tiffany on Sunset in Hollywood. The Tiffany is long gone. Does it even still play in Hollywood?

[DrFidelius]

I believe the DVD killed the midnight movie.

My high-school aged daughters both like RHPS, have exposed friends to it, and know as many (if different) shout-outs as I did in the early 80s.

However, neither of them have ever gone to a theatre to see the film. They have watched and shown it in home party situations. Their connection to other fans is mostly on-line and not in person.

It's a different world now than when we were young...

[Interrobang!?]

Interesting to hear the cult has mutated but survived in the DVD era. The AV Club mentioned today (http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_old_cult_canon_16_cult) that "the only point of watching it at home alone—or even with a couple of game friends—is to become familiar enough with the songs and dialogue that you can follow along at the public screenings." But if people are actually bringing the performances home ...

[bienville]

L.A. still does it every Saturday. (http://www.landmarktheaters.com/Market/LosAngeles/NuartTheatre.htm) I haven't been since highschool- at which point I lived in Philadelphia- so I don't know anything about the L.A. screenings, but just based on the fact that the screenings are still supported on a weekly basis must mean that the L.A. chapter of the cult is undead and healthy.

Count me in as another who always thought the midnight screenings to be fun, but never became a fanatic.

[Troy McClure SF]

It's been running in Oakland for years now at the Parkway (http://www.parkway-speakeasy.com/index.php?v=barely_legal.html), and recently started up again in San Francisco at the Clay.

Also, my roommate happens to be in rehearsals for the Rock Horror Show (the stage production) starting next month. Info (http://www.rockysf.com).

[Don Draper]

Interesting to hear the cult has mutated but survived in the DVD era. The AV Club mentioned today (http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_old_cult_canon_16_cult) that "the only point of watching it at home alone—or even with a couple of game friends—is to become familiar enough with the songs and dialogue that you can follow along at the public screenings." But if people are actually bringing the performances home ...

I think it was Roger Ebert who commented about the neutering effect of watching "Rocky Horror" on DVD at your own home (sorry, no cite). What you do in your own home behind closed doors isn't all that special. It's having the nerve to get decked up like a goth-style drag queen and parading about in a public space was something unique.

Also, as time goes by, it becomes less and less a rebellious act. Doing it in 1978 must have seem weird, and shocking and novel. Nowadays, it's just par the course.

[Hampshire]

Twenty years ago, when I was in high school in Milwaukee, the Oriental Theatre showed the RHPS every weekend. I went a few times -- I was never really sucked into the cult, but I had friends who enjoyed it, and it was kind of fun.


Twenty years ago I was a high school student in Milwaukee. Never got to see it at the Oriental but did get dragged to it a few times at the old Southridge mall theatres.

[pinkfreud]

In somewhat-stodgy Tulsa, Oklahoma the Rocky Horror cult is still alive and kicking (in platform shoes, yet). Our "art cinema" theater has midnight showings, and a fullblown stage production is presented nearly every year, with a very talented amateur cast. The local Mensa chapter had a well-attended Rocky Horror party not long ago (in the back row-ho-ho).

Maybe Tulsa isn't so stodgy after all. Let it not be forgot that "TULSA" spelled backwards is "A SLUT."

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

The Chelsea cinema on 23rd St in Manhattan still shows it, with live accompanying cast, every Saturday night at Midnight. I've gone with friends several times. It's amusing, but can get kinda stale after awhile.

[Jophiel]

There's a theater in suburban Chicago (http://www.atriptothemovies.com/index.php?submenu=Movies_Events&src=gendocs&link=Movie_Details&x_mid=10) which shows it weekly but I've never actually been to see what kind of crowd it draws.

[Marley23]

I believe the DVD killed the midnight movie.
I'm not really old enough to know, but I think midnight movies are on the comeback. I'd never heard of midnight movies when I was younger, but now you see midnight releases for a lot of major movies and they're crazy fun. I saw Attack of the Clones (even though it sucked), one of the Harry Potter movies, Snakes on a Plane and The Simpsons Movie, among others, in opening night midnight screenings. Chilling at home with a movie is fun. Going out with your friends and being part of the crowd, or just watching the lunatics, is a great time.

Like you, I was never a die-hard fanatic, but I did go at least a dozen times over the course of several years. And I have noticed that screenings of it has scaled back, even in downtown Manhattan, which used to be the epicenter of the "Rocky" worshipping world. I only know of two theaters still showing it, but neither does it every Saturday.
No, that's wrong. It's at the Chelsea Clearview every Friday and Saturday. (http://www.nycrhps.org/) I've seen it three or four times there in the last few years. Previously it was at the Waverly, which I think is where the cult really got started.

Aside from the cast there's at least one guy who is at the Clearview every weekend, if not every show. I don't know what to make of it. I've seen the show and the movie about 15 times over the last decade, starting with watching the movie on VHS with friends back in high school, and including both movie viewings and onstage in Chicago and New York. I saw it on Broadway as a curiosity, but I think most people will tell you there is no point in seeing it as a stage show. On the other hand, only the Clearview on a good night is as much fun as seeing it in the basement.

The cult's alive to some degree, for sure, and it's become an institution. Outside the hardcore fans, there's a small but steady influx of high school kids. I have to admit I've probably seen it too many times and need to take a break. If you see it repeatedly at the same theater you find that people say the same things over and over and there isn't much variety. The 'every weekend' guy comes up with a few new lines every time, but it gets a little stifling when the audience is reciting rather than participating.

[TWDuke]

It used to be about audience participation. The idea of watching other people play along with the movie on screen behind them sounds odd, and somewhat annoying, but I haven't seen it myself.* I would love to see a good production of "The Rocky Horror Show," though.

Here's a list of theaters where RHPS is playing these days. It's nothing like it used to be, but better than most 30+-year-old movies.

I do think the cult has dwindled less because of DVDs than (a) time - 30+ years is a long time in pop culture terms and (b) as others have said, guys in lingerie aren't as shocking as they used to be.

http://www.rockyhorror.com/participation/showtimes_listings.php?type=r

ETA: *I haven't seen a live cast. I've seen the movie and done the Time Warp a few times.

[MerryMagdalen]

The Blue Mouse Theater in Tacoma shows it every second and fourth Saturday, with live cast.

Website. (http://www.bluemousetheatre.com/rocky.html)

[freekalette]

I've never been to a live version of RHPS (mainly because I don't know where to find one!)

But my kids and I watch it and do the Time Warp together. Does that count?? :cool:

[gaffa]

I was interested to find out that Hedwig and the Angry Inch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248845/) is being given the same treatment (http://www.midnightmadness.org/hedwig/index.html). There was an attempt to make it happen with Moulin Rouge (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203009/), but it never caught on (damn shame, I'd make a great Harold Zidler).

[bienville]

Also, as time goes by, it becomes less and less a rebellious act. Doing it in 1978 must have seem weird, and shocking and novel. Nowadays, it's just par the course.

I would suggest that there is much that would have been considered "just par the course" in 1978 that today would seem "weird, and shocking and novel". In many ways, we're reverting back to Squaresville.

[Telemark]

The guy in the office next to me is a long standing cast member in Cambridge MA. They get a pretty good crowd most Saturdays, but I haven't gone in years.

[maggenpye]

I've only been to a couple of midnight showings, so not a huge fan of the participation aspect.

But, meeting up with someone at a new job, whom I'd met at the show meant I got to say; "Oh, I didn't recognise you with your clothes on.":D

[Johnny Q]

The Blue Mouse Theater in Tacoma shows it every second and fourth Saturday, with live cast.

Website. (http://www.bluemousetheatre.com/rocky.html)


And we're going weekly starting in November.

[pepperlandgirl]

The Tower in Salt Lake City plays it every October, either on Halloween or the week before Halloween.

The Tower also has a weekly Midnight movie. It's awesome, I love it. I never even heard of midnight movies until I moved back to Utah---for future reference, the Inland Empire in So Cal is more of a Squaresville than SLC.

[hekk]

Twenty years ago I was a high school student in Milwaukee. Never got to see it at the Oriental but did get dragged to it a few times at the old Southridge mall theatres.

You better believe that it still runs at the Oriental, and has been for 30 years straight with live cast along with the movie.

I've gone a dozen times or so...

[SpazCat]

I think I'd get heartily sick of it if I went to a weekly screening. There used to be one in Charlotte when I was in high school, but I never went. The university I go to now holds a screening the weekend before Halloween which has become a tradition with me. There's a costume show beforehand that gets really rowdy. (Last year the three winners--Rocky, Columbia, and Eddie--performed a striptease and fake lap dance that was better than the actual movie.) Then during the movie a third of the people have actual scripts (printed out or memorized), a third of us are making it up as we go along (and keeping up with the traditional lines like "ASSHOLE-SLUT ASSHOLE-SLUT" during the wiper scene), and a third doesn't get it at all and provide great amusement to the rest of us. You don't know funny until someone's told you to shut up so they can hear the movie at RHPS.

That being said, I don't consider it a proper Halloween unless I've gone home with rice in my underwear and glitter in my hair. But only at Halloween. My MST DVDs tide me over for the other 364 days.

[FriarTed]

The Nuart in L.A. also occasionally plays it, perhaps monthly at most.

[Invisible Chimp]

I've never seen RHPS, but it still plays every Saturday night at the Clinton St. Theater in Portland. I don't think it's for me, but I could see it if I wanted.

[ctywkr]

the Inland Empire in So Cal is more of a Squaresville than SLC

Well, probably, but back in my high school days and a few years after RHPS was fairly active. The Tyler mall in Riverside and the Montclair plaza every weekend, even Victorville for a summer in 86, with trips to hollywood every so often.

My high school prom was at Griswolds in Clairmont, and six of us left early, drove to Montclair and saw RHPS in formal dress.

The IE for me was 760 not 909

How about a socal doper trip to a screening?

[Goblin Queen]

I'm a college student in the middle of the midwest. This Halloween I will be meeting with a few friends at Ball State University for a midnight screening. I have my fishnets already.

In high school I was the one who introduced my group of friends to the Rocky Horror Picture Show without even knowing what it was--I had heard of it only vaguely and suggested it for a Halloween party. We ended up watching it twice in one night, and then several times over the course of the following week. We quoted songs and lines all the time in class.

It's fun at home, but there's really nothing to compare to a movie at midnight (POTC 2 and 3, Dark Knight are the ones I've been to). I'm really excited about this year.

It was quite magical to have 25 high schoolers that had never seen anything like it before all have our jaws drop in unison as Frank stepped out of the elevator.

And I think that the movie is still plenty weird, even in this day and age.

[BigBertha]

During 1988-89, I lived a few blocks away from the Cedar Lee theatre in Cleveland hts. and just thinking of it takes me back.
I saw it every weekend.
I think it still shows there.
It reminds me of the happiest time of my life.
And the crush i had on the man (now a doctor) who played Frank.

[Silver Tyger]

I've seen the movie, but I've never gone to a midnight showing. Too shy I guess. Do they still haze virgins?

[Telemark]

Do they still haze virgins?
Yup.

[BigBertha]

I got away with that. My first time, no one noticed I was new.
toucha toucha toucha touch me
I wanna be dirty

[bienville]

The Nuart in L.A. also occasionally plays it, perhaps monthly at most.

Every Saturday at the Nuart. (http://www.landmarktheaters.com/Market/LosAngeles/NuartTheatre.htm)

[PapSett]

Back when I first graduated high school in '78 (yes, I'm old), I went to see RHPS evert weekend, it played Friday & Saturday nights at midnight... sometimes I went both nights if I was bored and had the money. LOVED IT. I have lost count of how many times I've seen it.

Sometime in the early 80's, it went down to once a month, and about a year later, stopped playing here entirely. (Evansville Indiana)

Now it plays just once a year at an outdoor ampitheatre in the fall. I've gone a couple of times, but something's just not the same now.

[Bootis]

It seems amazing that Rocky Horror has grossed less money in 30 years than Dark Knight did in 1 week :confused:

[Marley23]

It seems amazing that Rocky Horror has grossed less money in 30 years than Dark Knight did in 1 week :confused:
Adjust for inflation. Box Office Mojo says RHPS has made about $390 million over the years. That's less than Dark Knight, but when you consider the fact that RHPS has been playing in probably a few dozen theaters over that time and the differences in budgets, it looks different.

[zagloba]

Oddly enough, just the other day I saw a TV show where some of the characters go to an audience participation RHPS. I'd guess it was Swingtown, but I can't remember which episode.