Rocky Horror

[Anonymous]

Do kids still dress up and take toast to this movie? Is it still a thing? I spent many nights at Rocky Horror in high school and wonder if the kids still carry this tradition on.

[Anonymous]

I am old enough to remember when it started back in the late 70s, and I attended a few midnight showings at the old Key theater in Georgetown. I took my then teenage kids to a showing about ten years ago. It was not the same. The theater was full of kids who had memorized the entire script of the movie, and it was basically an absurd scream fest to show who could yell the loudest. A few fights broke out. I walked out and waited in the car.

[Anonymous]

I hate this movie and all the stupid showings

[Anonymous]

My brother used to work at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA. They did the RHPS. Looks like they still do!

https://bcptheater.org/skivvies/

[Anonymous]

I’ve still never seen it not the blues brothers

[Anonymous]

I used to go to the showings at the Key too! My kid is in college in North Jersey and there’s somewhere near her that still does it, she was planning on going.

[Anonymous]

I saw it at the 8th st playhouse in Greenwich Village in the early 80s. I believe it’s the original spot where they did the movie/act it out in front of the screen and people brought the rice and water guns and toast. It played on Friday or Saturday nights at midnight. We snuck out to see it. I was about 12…

[Anonymous]

I remember there was some hazing of newbies? Still a thing?

[Anonymous]

I haven’t seen a RHPS party in awhile. I went to grad school in Cleveland and while I didn’t love the city they did have a thriving RHPS scene every Saturday at midnight and we were even able to bring the Cleveland Plain Dealer as the newspaper for the rain scenes (authentic!).

Someone recently, my YouTube algorithm recommended and old 90s VH1 Behind the Music about Rocky Horror and I was delighted to see a very young Marc Shaiman being interviewed about going deep down the Rocky rabbit hole. If you’re not a Broadway fan you at least know his work as the guy who turned church hymns into Motown songs for Sister Act. Anyway I’ve sort of halfway looked for a showing now and then and haven’t seen one in awhile.

[Anonymous]

I remember going in the 80s and it was very cool because the audience participation was so well adapted to the moment and the geographic area. There were specific call-backs that referenced Reagan and specific issues of the moment (like Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign, as well as whatever international thing was going on at the moment, like Libya or Grenada). There were also specific call-outs to some local cultural issues -- e.g., I saw this in a college town, and there were some really cutting call-outs about the "cool kids" frats/sororities. In the 80's, it was shown at this particular art house theater every Saturday at midnight, and it had a cult following of people that were invested in developing the audience story.

I saw it again the 90s in a showing where it was just randomly being shown -- not part of the local counter-culture, and it was indescribably lame. It's a terrible movie, so without the counter-culture that developed around it many decades ago, it is just really pointless.

It was also an open space for queer and trans teens and young people to gather, back when there weren't a lot of those spaces in most towns. I don't think the cultural context would be the same now.

[Anonymous]

My sister loves rocky horror but I’ve never understood the obsession. I watched it a few years ago and was bothered by the scenes where Tim Roth’s character sexually assaults multiple people. I know it was a different time but that hasn’t aged well.

[Anonymous]

Tim Roth?

[Anonymous]

the creative alliance in Baltimore is showing it Oct. 28th and Oct. 29th.

[Anonymous]

All I know is because of the purchase of 20th Century Fox, Dr. Frankenfurter is my favorite Disney Princess.

[Anonymous]