Tricks or Treats: “Science Fiction/Double Feature”
When I think Halloween, I think The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ve probably seen it a hundred times. When I was thirteen and fourteen (and fifteen and 
sixteen and seventeen), you only had to be eighteen to get in, and being that this was before September 11th, at thirteen I was eighteen (or at least felt that way). And by this time, RHPS was already a 25 year tradition.
Rocky is the furthest thing from a horror movie, ever, unless you’re afraid of men in corsets and heavy makeup, singing and dancing. It also has great music, with or without the visuals. For our Tricks or Treats feature, I’d like to start at the beginning, and introduce an intro: the intro to RHPS, “Science Fiction/Double Feature.”
It’s really a very sweet, soft song, but it has that peculiar twist: Richard O’Brien’s unmistakable, high and nasally voice. He really does sound the part of the creepy little valet he plays in the show, a frail and hollow-eyed man singing a bizarre serenade.
Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Ann Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
At the late night, double feature, picture show.
I wanna go, to the late night double feature picture show.
Check Out:
Thanks, guys. Showdown will be in the parking lot after third period tomorrow, Mister Stickler.
Ummm…for Steve and Saci, if you want to read Roger Ebert and film reviews regarding The Rocky Horror Picture Show, go here at http://www.chicagosuntimes.com. We don’t do film reviews here and god forbid we share personal stories on here without anyone throwing their worthless two cents in.
Listen to the music, enjoy the tune and move on with your life.
Our readers always impress me with their wit and originality.
Well, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was originally The Rocky Horror Show, a stage musical written by Richard O’Brien.
In 1973 The Rocky Horror Show previewed in London at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, and came stateside, to LA in 1974, then to Broadway in 1975. By the end of ‘74, it had been adapted for the screen, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show premiered in London and LA in 1975. (View the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF32_bNZikg)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the tale of Brad Majors (a hero) and Janet Weiss (a heroine) (played by the gorgeous Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick). Two squares, newly engaged, end up at the old mansion of a “sweet transvestite (from transexual Transylvania)”, the corseted and well-heeled Dr. Frank-N-Furter (the inimitable Tim Curry), on the night their car breaks down in a rainstorm.
They come to use the phone, but are forced to stay by Frank-N-Furter and his group of extrovert friends. Stripped down to nothing but their tightie–whities, they must submit to Frank-N-Furter’s eccentric brand of sexually liberating tyranny. They will also witness the unveiling of his latest scientific creation: a dopey, abs-of-steel, boy toy named Rocky–”born” full-grown and oiled-smeared in gold lamé hot pants. All the while, Frank-N-Furter is aided and irritated by his house staff: Riff Raff, his valet, played by Richard O’Brien himself (in the stage production I believe O’Brien once played Frankenfurter, but you’ll correct me if I’m wrong), domestic Magenta (Patricia Quinn), spurned lover, Columbia (Little Nell), and Meat Loaf (Meat Loaf!)
I shan’t give away the ending.
The Waverly Theatre in New York hosted the first midnight showing of Rocky in 1976. It was there and at subsequent late-night screenings that Rocky’s cult following blossomed into the full-on weekly and bi-weekly happening it is today.
Shadowcast performances and audience participation–coming in costume, throwing rice, yelling punchlines at the screen a la Mystery Science Theatre 3000–are now part and parcel of the true Rocky experience.
Browse your local listings and go get Rocky-ed. And if anyone asks if you’re a Rocky Virgin, raise your hand.
He’s right. 2/3’s of this post is about your age and Sept. 11th? As if you’re trying to prove that you somehow know the film inside out - yet you give barely any info/description of it. They need a better writer for this…
This post falls far below what I would expect to read about Rocky Horror. You didn’t mention Eddie (Meatloaf), nor Riff-Raff, Magenta, Columbia, Brad and Janet - you didn’t even mention FRANKY! (Tim Curry, people!) From what you wrote, one could divine that this was some sort of cabaret of men - NO! It’s way more than that. I would recommend people to Wikipedia over this.
You didn’t even put up a clip!
It’s clear, you’re not worthy to write about Rocky.
Bosta, merda!