I am uninitiated, but curious.
--Patty Harper
pha...@berkeley.arpa
Oh no, a *virgin* :-)!
Near as I can remember, it is a retelling of the Frankenstein
legend, but with a cast of transvestites, homosexuals, punks
(I think this movie may have contributed to the start of the
"punk" thing), and other such pre-verts. It was set to some
rather uninspired rock music, and I think that "Meat Loaf" played
one of the principal characters. The depravity is good-natured,
though, and this is the source of the movie's appeal.
This film is shown at midnight movies in many places. The audience
tends to be made up of people trying very hard to imitate the cast
in manner of dress, speech, and action; it has thus been transformed
into a kind of "Living Theatre," where audience participation is
the point. I've never been to a screening, but my girl friend has
(before I met her -- fortunately), and I guess that it is entertaining
in a kinky sort of way:not the movie, the audience.
It used to play at Yorktown in the DuPage County area, but I don't
know if it does any more.
--
Bob Fishell
ihnp4!ihu1g!fish
RHPS a popular cult film released in 1972. It is a nostalgic parody of
science fiction films of the 50's done as a rock musical.
The main characters are Brad and Janet, the boy and girl next store,
who stumble into the house of Dr. Frankenfurter, a transvestite
bisexual mad scientist, who is making a man (Rocky Horror) for
"relieving his ... tension." Trouble ensues.
Dr. Frankenfurter is the hero of this movie. Another popular character
is his, uh, butler, Riff-Raff (played by the writer/composer of RHPS).
Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon play Brad and Janet.
Frequently this film is shown at midnight on Friday or Saturday, and
some of the attendees will dress up as their favorite RHPS character.
During the film the audience shouts back at the screen certain
standardized rejoinders and throws or plays with various props
they've brought with them at appropriate points in the film. It
isn't dangerous, just extremely bizarre.
This film is a lot of fun, quite funny, but will probably offend
people who strongly disapprove of transvestitism or bisexuality.
The only unfortunate thing about the movie is that it is very
difficult to find it playing to a quiescent audience. I was lucky
enough to see it for the first time at Sonoma State University's
Film Series with an audience, like myself, who had never seen it
before. We were all stunned and laughing to tears.
I will be posting a summary of theatres and times where RHPS
is being played in the SF Bay Area to ba.general later this
month.
--
Gordon A. Moffett
{ hplabs!nsc, decvax!sun!amd, ihnp4!dual } !proper!gam
-Ron
Castles don't have phones, asshole.
Sorry to pick nits, but the character played by Tim Curry
in Rocky Horror Picture Show is called "Dr. Frank N. Furter",
not "Dr. Frankenfurter".
-Glenn
/***** uokvax:net.movies / uiucdcsb!nowicki / 9:56 pm Jun 25, 1984 */
[--]
RHPS is a UNIQUE movie. I'd be careful to call it trash if you haven't
seen the widescreen version. Half (maybe more) the fun of the movie is
being there (with newspaper, toast, squirt bottle, rice) and observing
the other folk. I've seen it at a number of locations (many times at
each) and found the best show to be at the BIOGRAPH on the north side
of Chicago. The show has changed its tone a bit, it was more (excuse
the pun) virgin a number of year ago. Some of the classic lines have
been changed by the new RHPS goers but its still entertaining and
worth at least one crazy friday or saturday night.
-Tony Nowicki
{decvax|inuxc}!pur-ee!uiucdcs!nowicki
/* ---------- */
Finally, somebody who isn't a virgin commenting on the movie. Thanks, Tony.
I believe that the best place to see @u(Rocky Horror Picture Show) is near
a college campus, best time being around Halloween. I never understood the
people who would get up in front and act out the scenes in sync with the movie,
but I remember buying a BIC butane lighter just for this movie.
You can tell if somebody's seen @u(Rocky Horror) by watching their reaction
to the phrases
i) "Creature of the night"
ii) "Let's go up to the lab, and see what's on the slab"
and, of course,
iii) "Not meat loaf again!"
Jeff Bowles
Lisle, IL
/**** uiucdcs:net.movies / jab@uokvax / 10:03 pm Jun 27, 1984 ****/
I believe that the best place to see @u(Rocky Horror Picture Show) is near
a college campus, best time being around Halloween. I never understood the
people who would get up in front and act out the scenes in sync with the movie,
but I remember buying a BIC butane lighter just for this movie.
/* ---------- */
From my understanding, the best place to see RHPS is in a big city environment,
where a large group of regulars can be assembled. I think in campus situations
people tend to go in groups once in a long while to experience it, rather than
making it a weekly ritual. Besides, often, the weekend campus activities are
too extensive to keep people from making it a regular habit. The best
audiences I've seen have been in (sub)urban environments (special mention to
Hollywood, Fla.) while on-campus showings have been among the worst.
Ken Kaufman (uiucdcs!kaufman)
"God bless Lily St. Cyr"
"How do you; I see you've met my--faithful haaandyman..."
Alex
From: fi...@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell)
My only experience with this movie fortunately came from seeing
it on cable TV in the privacy of my own home many years ago.
====================================================================
Watching Rocky Horror in the privacy of your own home is like
listening to Jimi Hendrix on a Close-n-Play phonograph.
--
Chip Rosenthal, Intel/Santa Clara
{idi|intelca|icalqa|imcgpe|kremvax|qubix|ucscc}!t4test!{chip|news}