OH, THE HORROR
NOTICE
by Bart Vandever
An inside look at the college cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show
ROCKY HORROR FACTS
Upon its original release, the movie was a box office disappointment and was panned by critics.
The film was based on a long-running stage production of Rocky Horror across England.
Susan Sarandon and Meat Loaf are in the film.
In 2005, The United States National Film Preservation Board added The Rocky Horror Picture to the National Film Registry.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show cost $1 million to make and has taken in more than $135 million in box office receipts since its release.
The film was shot in an English castle, that is now a hotel.
The Museum Lichtspiele in Munich, Germany has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for screening the movie without interruption since Sept. 19,1975.
Source: www.rockyhorror.com
Bad movies are released all the time. Most of them have been relegated to the bargain bins in Walt Disney and rental stores across the globe. However, every so often, there is a bad film that comes along, destined to be a cult classic. One of these films is a little sci-fi musical about transvestites — The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
A large amount of Rocky Horror's appeal lies in the unique interactive dimension of the film. The picture show takes on a whole new life with its audience, and fans annually undergo the Rocky Horror rituals.
On Oct. 30, Student Union Activities screened The Rocky Horror Picture Show to a crowded ballroom in the Kansas Union. At the door, participants were handed plastic bags filled with noisemakers.
old bread, rice, newspaper and rubber gloves — all to be used or thrown at the screen during certain scenes.
A dance party ensued with people wriggling in lingerie, wigs and makeup — even the males.
Evil Dead II
Re-Animator
The Warriors
Death Race 2000
Swangers
OTHER GREAT CULT CLASSICS
Plus-sized women in pumps and miniskirts cavorted about and shirtless muscle men in panty hose humped the air in a room that also contained an array of horse whips, surgical masks and sexy maid uniforms. People recited strange dialogue during the film and threw items from their goody bags at the screen during certain parts.
Although the film is now 31 years old most fans are, and have always been, college-aged says William A. Henkin, a sex therapist and author of the 1979 The Rocky
rebel nature, and it's a rebellious age in college. There just aren't that many new 50-year-old radicals."
Chelsea Johnson, Hutchinson senior, has seen the film 20 times. She agrees that there is no real meaning in the film, but instead
Horror Picture Show Book. Even through vast scholarly study, Henkin found no real"messages" within the film. Instead he found that the movie fascinates our basic instincts, which are most evident in young adults. "It appeals to people"
Rocky Horror works on another level for college students."We have to be so straight-laced in everyday life, and so the Rocky Horror theater experience is a great outlet for the perseverance in all of us." Johnson has dressed up for the Halloween screening every year since her first viewing in 2003. For this year's show, she donned a corset and thong.
For those "virgins" to the Rocky Horror plot, the movie follows young, all-American newlyweds Brad and Janet. After their wedding, the duo is stranded in the middle of nowhere and is forced to enter a spooky old castle for help. There, they meet an array of Transylvanian transvestites, including the perverted master of the house, Dr. Frank N. Furter. Soon, the couple encounters Furter's muscle-bound, blond-haired sex slave, Rocky. Sexual mayhem ensues for all parties.
SUA has shown the film annually since its release in 1975. Adam Collins, director public relations for SUA, has yet to see the film, but he understands its popularity. "It's become more than just a movie," the Paola junior says. "It's become part of American culture."
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been a cult classic since 1975. SUA has screened the film every year since its release.
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