Rocky Horror Picture Show : Mostly Harmless

Cafe Society
#1

Saw the fabled RHPS this weekend. It amused me but - where was the outrageousness? The shock? I was almost offended by the lack of offense.

Grant you, I expect it was a lot more avant-garde in its day, but it seems to have lost its bite.

The prop corpse of Eddie, partially eaten, though - that was mildly shocking.

Some of the songs were catchy - a couple weren’t. (Dammit, Janet - I’m looking at you here, though I did chuckle at the emotion-free back-up singers.)

I also have a couple of friends who are big fans of the movie, and they both just adore Magenta - and I can’t figure out why. She’s almost a non-entity. Columbia, on the other hand, has a decent little bit of development for a supporting character.

I like the Medusa Ray.

#2

From a “movie” standpoint, RHPS has always been a ball of crap (except for the songs). The main question here is, where did you see it? If it was at home, watching a DVD, then you may have seen RHPS, but you didn’t experience it. Get thee to a midnight theater showing.

#3

…You know this movie is like 30 years old now?

Think about back in the day… A trannie seduces a young virgin couple separately… they eat human flesh… everyone becomes a tannie…(well I guess Columbia and Janet just get slutty)… have a pool orgy… All set to music.

I would bang Magenta (she’s officially a Lady, she married a Lord) three ways from sunday… but Columbia… ahhhh sweet sweet Little Nell.
“You’re apple pie… don’t taste to niiiice.”

#4

So who said it was shocking and outrageous even in 1975? This was three years after Pink Flamingos, for Og’s sake. It’s really just a fun little bit of mildly transgressive naughtiness, with witty songs and a commanding, bravura performance by Tim Curry (in other words, he goes ridiculously over the top–intentionally–and gets away with it through sheer charisma).

#5

“Hell” and “no.”

With regards to the shocking bit - I suppose I had a distorted view of the content based on secondhand accounts. Honestly, Forbidden Zone’s got it all over RHPS, I think.

#6

It was never considered particularly shocking. As a matter of fact, it was considered a piece of crap when first released. It’s pretty incoherent (though there are some good songs).

The reason it became a hit was because of midnight showings where people, bored of the film, began to act out bits. These eventually became standardized. (Think of it as a group MST3K.)

It was the experience in a theater that mattered, not the film.

#7

I enjoy the film, the music mostly. I would not enjoy the theater “experience” at all. Not even one little bit. But I happily shelled out for the DVD and watch it once in a while.

#8

There is no point in viewing RHPS unless you are in theater full of real fans. The entertainment is not the movie, it is the goings on of the fans during the movie. Go to a midnight show somewhere. Wear a raincoat.

#9

Here’s my problem with the midnight shows : Groupthink and overt evidence of Groupthink really, really bugs me on an irrational level. A bunch of folks trained with Pavlovian precision to toss toast upon the utterence of a keyword is not gonna entertain me.

#10

See, not every cast is like that though. Some are a lot more free-form. Although you have pegged the major reason I don’t go see the movie at my local midnight show. I detest the cast because it is overly robotic and hugely intolerant of any variance.

As for the movie being shocking back in the day, it wasn’t intended, despite the name, to be a horror movie. Despite that, the subject matter of gay sex, transvestism, cannibalism, etc. was pretty heady fare for mainstream 1975, or it would have been if anyone in the mainstream had bothered to see it.

#11

Oh, I wasn’t expecting a horror movie, just something more daring.

It’s good to hear that they’re not all automatons, and I could probably get into a freeform MSTing of the film - but I also have the sneaking suspicion (backed up by some of the preprogrammed callbacks typically done for the movie) that the fans are a bit cliquish.

#12

Well, the whole gay/transvestite theme combined with '50s-inflected rock ‘n’ roll music was just a spinoff from the glitter rock movement, which was already pretty much played out by 1975.

#13

She’s hot.

I was fortunate enough to lose my RHPS virginity at UC Santa Cruz, with a few of my friends in the cast (and wearing way less than anyone should ever see a platonic friend wear), and the next weekend, I saw UC Riverside’s theatrical production of The Rocky Horror Show, which was absolutley fantastic. The movie is hopelessly cheesy (though I love it), but put that script in the hands of able folks, who are able and willing to push the envelope, and you’ll see a simply amazing show.

#14

How. Dare. You. combine the piece of utter crap known as Rocky Horror Picture Show with the theme from the best book of all time?

I no longer love you. :mad: :stuck_out_tongue:

#15

The movie with an audience has live chicks in their underware!
Of course, till you actually don a costume and do a show at a theatre, you have not expierenced Rocky Horror.

#16

It needs to be seen in the theatre for proper appreciation.
This is definitely not any indication you’ll like it but it is simply a bad movie if seen for the first time at home.
I haven’t seen it since pre-kids, so over 8 years ago probably more like 11. Some theatres have fresh blood, enthusiastic performers and some have seemingly been going to the same place for 20 years and if you’re not in lock step with there variants of shout outs they are actually hostile.
I really enjoyed the show way back when, especially in the early 80’s. I would look for a show near a college, if you had hopes of a good audience.

#17

I still have 14 continuous years of X-Men comics. You’ll be back. :smiley: