The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Submission 16,153

About

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical comedy film which follows a young engaged couple as they encounter a group of eccentric aliens after their car breaks down. The movie gained a large cult following at regular midnight screenings, where attendees often cosplay as various characters from the film.

Plot

After attending their friend's wedding, Janet Weiss (played by Susan Sarandon) and Brad Majors (played by Barry Bostwick) decide to get married and plan a trip to visit their old college professor. After their car breaks down on the way to meet him, they decide to go to a neighboring castle to call for assistance. At the castle they are introduced to an eccentric cast of characters, including the scientist, his "creation" Rocky, and various attendees of a "Transylvania Convention." Eventually, the couple discover that the inhabitants of the castle are from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.

History

On August 14th, 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show^[1] premiered at the Rialto Theater in London, England. On September 26th, the film was shown at the UA Westwood theater in Los Angeles, California. In 1976, midnight screenings of the film began showing at the Waverly Theater in New York City, which subsequently developed an enthusiastic cult following with attendees costumed as characters from the film (shown below). Following the success of the New York City screenings, additional theaters across the United States began showing the film.

Glee Episode

On October 26th, 2010, Glee aired an episode titled "The Rocky Horror Glee Show," which features several songs from the film.

Reception

In 1980, the film entered into the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Hall of Fame. In 2005, it was entered into the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry. As of October 2015, the film has a score of 7.4 on IMDB and a rating of 58 on Metacritic.^[4]

Online Presence

On January 20th, 2011, the /r/rhps^[10] subreedit was launched for discussions about the film. On October 15th, 2013, a Facebook^[9] page for the film was launched, which gained over 1.25 million views in the next two years. On Tumblr, several blogs dedicated to the film have been launched, including rhpspix,^[12] fuckyeahrhpsgifs,^[13] fuckyeahrockyhorror^[3] and rockyhorrorpictureshowpics.^[8] As of October 2015, there are over 16,600 submissions under the keyword "rocky horror" on Deviant Art.]

Antici…..pation

On May 8th, 2009, the DrFNFurter^[6] novelty Twitter account was launched, which tweeted an incomplete quote uttered by the Rocky Horror character Frank N. Furter (shown below).

"So, come up to the lab, and see what's on the slab! I see you shiver with antici …"

Fours years later, he tweeted the rest of the word "pation," playing off the long pause in the film, as well as the meaning of the word. The stunt was covered by several websites including The Huffington Post^[5] and The Independent.^[7]