History YMMV / TheRockyHorrorPictureShow

** Creator/TimCurry and Creator/SusanSarandon both make their film debuts here, a decade or so before they'd become two of the most in-demand actors of the '80s and '90s.

* TheWoobie: Poor Rocky, who appears to be only slightly smarter than your average house pet, goes through a lot of grief in one night without having any idea why. The fact that he was only created to be Frank's personal SexSlave doesn't help.

** Alternatively, one could argue that ''Rocky Horror'' is a significant reason that Society ''has'' marched on. Since 1976, untold millions of (mostly) young people have taken part in, not just a movie, but an audience experience in which the most charming, intelligent, confident, dynamic and (see above) sexy character is a bi-if-not-omnisexual transvestite, and along with him have sung "Don't dream it, be it" countless times. And while not everyone loves it, it's still helping young queer people come to terms with their sexualities and genders, even if it's not exactly up-to-date with modern values.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Susan Sarandon's sexually repressed (and straight) character Janet Weiss fantasizing about being with everyone in the castle and later making out with Columbia under Dr. Frank-N-Furter's influence becomes this following the actress's coming out as bisexual in 2022.

** The film's already [[FairForItsDay somewhat tenuous depiction of queer people]] has soured further in light of Richard O'Brien expressing transphobia, [[BoomerangBigot despite being non-binary himself.]]

** It was a celebration of the then-recent sexual revolution and what modicum of visibility queer people had within 1970s counterculture before the conservative revolution of the 1980s. As mentioned on Website/ThisVeryWiki, the increased awareness of gay and trans rights since 1975 has brought into question the film's decision to depict gay people and cross-dressers as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything literal aliens]] (an appropriate metaphor at the time, now it feels somewhat backhanded) with some even calling it outright transphobic, not helped by the characters' immoral behavior. The connotation between "transsexual" and "transvestite" would also be discouraged today, as they are two different issues.

** Alternatively, one could argue that ''Rocky Horror'' is a significant reason that Society ''has'' marched on. Since 1976, untold millions of (mostly) young people have taken part in, not just a movie, but an audience experience in which the most charming, intelligent, dynamic and (see above) sexy character is a bi-if-not-omnisexual transvestite, and along with him have sung "Don't dream it, be it" countless times. And while not everyone loves it, it's still helping young queer people come to terms with their sexualities and genders, even if it's not exactly up-to-date with modern values.

** As mentioned above, this movie is very much a product of the far more heteronormative 1970s, which may be why it was a flop when it first came out. It an age where the LGBT community has significantly more visibility and (arguably) respect, more people take umbrage with the fact that [[{{Crossdresser}} Frank]] is portrayed as a perverted nutjob, something that is viewed today as a very negative stereotype of homo[=/=]transsexuals. [[FairForItsDay On the other hand]], the film's BeYourself moral is played straight, and creator Richard O'Brien identifies as nonbinary in real life.

* AdaptationDisplacement: ''The Rocky Horror Show'' stage production is pretty popular in its native UK, but good luck finding an American viewer who has any knowledge of it.

** [[ForWantOfANail Always have a spare tire]].

* EpilepticTrees: A common fan guess is that Janet's pregnant at the end, thanks to Frank's line "I've laid the seed/It should be all you need" in "Planet Schmanet Janet". This supposedly would've been confirmed outright in the never-made sequel, ''Revenge of the Old Queen''.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Frank is sexy. This can be attested to by every fan of this movie.
** It's not just the movie version either- Rob Morton Fowler's portrayal of Frank in the recent European tour starts at sexy and goes straight into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv5uQ22mrqw&feature=related bishonen-beautiful]].
** Riff-Raff and Magenta both have large fan bases, and not without reason.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** The only thing that could keep "Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul" from being a BLAM is the fact that the dinner scene calls back to it. With little or no warning, Music/MeatLoaf rides out of a walk-in freezer on a motorcycle, sings a song, and [[spoiler:gets murdered]]. That's about as BLAM-tastic as it can get.
** In the original play, Eddie is mentioned by Columbia before Riff & Magenta (and the Phantoms) else tells them to keep quiet... Which foreshadows Eddie's inevitable appearance, musical number, [[spoiler:and death]]. However, this foreshadowing (for some reason) was cut from the film causing Eddie's appearance and musical number to be totally out-of-nowhere. It's a bizarre case of the character's scene being a BLAM, yet having the character being important to the plot. The 2016 film remake, however, shows Eddie riding a motorcycle in the way of Brad and Janet driving their car in the pouring rain in the night.
*** The modern stage shows still keep the Eddie Namedrop - and shushing at every mention of Eddie is still a frequent audience callback. It also explains some things about Eddie - he was a delivery boy whose delivery "wasn't good enough".
** The Zen Room Dr. Scott speeds by. Why's it there? Who cares?!
** Not to mention Frank dressing most of the characters like him and proceeding to have an elaborate floor show with them. It makes sense from a character standpoint that Frank would treat all of them as his personal play things, dressing them up and making them put on a show for his own entertainment, but [[note]][[AudienceParticipation WHERE DO YOU MASTURBATE??]][[/note]]in an empty house?[[note]]''[[AudienceParticipation WHEN]]'' [[AudienceParticipation DO YOU MASTURBATE??]][[/note]] In the middle of the night?

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs:
** Creator/RichardOBrien and Creator/PatriciaQuinn admitted during the commentary that they were stoned whilst filming the wedding scenes.
** Christopher Biggins said there were a lot of drugs on set and that he and the other Transylvanians were stoned every day.

** Assuming that Transylvanians are meant to represent LGBTQ+ people, Riff Raff telling [[AllGaysArePromiscuous Frank]] that his lifestyle is "too extreme" could be read as certain queer people telling others to StopBeingStereotypical.

* LesYay: Magenta and Columbia can't keep their hands off each other in private. [[note]] [[AudienceParticipation Ring around the lesbians!]] [[/note]]

** "I got pneumonia."[[note]] In an interview for the 40th anniversary on the Today Show, Susan Sarandon says this, and ever since the interview was broadcast, this has become a meme in the Rocky Horror community. For example, some people guessed it was the reason she didn't show up to the Royal Albert Hall 40th Anniversary screening.[[/note]]
** "I see you shiver with antici... pation. [[note]] Dr. Frank N Furter's line made famous by an awkwardly placed pause, usually prompting the audience to shout "SAY IT!" while they wait for him to finish. [[/note]]
** "LEEEEEET'S DO THE TIME WAAAAARP AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!" [[note]] "Time Warp" is tied with "Sweet Transvestite" as the movie's SignatureSong, being a fun and infectious DanceSensation. It's also not uncommon to refer to the song when discussing TimeTravel in other works of fiction. [[/note]]

* {{Misblamed}}: Despite some contingencies among LGBTQ+ activists as to whether or not this movie's representation of them holds up, it's important to remember that Frank is the only Transylvanian who commits any seriously monstrous crimes like murder and rape, not to mention is repeatedly called out for it, first by Columbia's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and later when Riff Raff tells him his "lifestyle's too extreme." Riff Raff and Magenta's relationship is [[BrotherSisterIncest questionable]] at best and the worst thing they do is [[spoiler:kill Rocky and Columbia]] out of spite (let's be fair, [[spoiler:Frank]] had it coming).

* HarsherInHindsight: During ''Dammit Janet'', the audience often shouts [[note]]As Janet singing to Brad[[/note]] "That you fuck Mom and you blow Dad". ''Film/ShockTreatment'' reveals Harry Weiss to be a HeteronormativeCrusader who thinks "Faggots are Maggots" and gets so uncomfortable when gay people are mentioned that he has to leave the room.

** Betty Munroe was portrayed by Hilary Farr (credited as Hilary Labow), who became well known as the co-host of Series/LoveItOrListIt

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The video game is generally hated by gamers and ''Rocky Horror'' fans alike.

** Crim for the Criminologist.

* SoBadItsGood: This movie is a textbook deliberate case of this. The plot (such as it is) is very like ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'' (probably unintentional, given ''"Manos"'''s cliched plot and utter obscurity until ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' found it) with vast galloping amounts of homoerotica thrown in. The characters were, for the most part, based on those of the Bulgakov novel ''Literature/TheMasterAndMargarita'' - itself a modern masterpiece, partly because all of its failed drama is [[LogicBomb deliberate.]] Richard O'Brien intentionally made it this way, as a tribute to the campy sci-fi films of the 50s & 60s (as evidenced by the opening number ''Science Fiction/Double Feature.'')

* DesignatedHero: Brad and Janet - seemingly wholesome couple that turn out to have short tempers dismissive of anyone not "normal", airs of being wholesome, and, finally, trying to keep each others' infidelities a secret. There's a reason that they're respectively called "Asshole" and "Slut" by riffers. In point of fact, Brad is called "a hero" in the opening [[InformedAttribute but he doesn't really do anything heroic at all]].

** Thus, it's not "[=LGBTQ=], Crosdressers, Transgender people and Kinksters are evil freaks" but rather "Cruel selfish raping psychopaths are freaks". Riff Raff simply saw Frank as an evil jerk who treated him like garbage so he got revenge and Frank's lifestyle being too extreme is a case of TakeOurWordForIt [[note]]Meaning that Frank was considered too extreme even for the standards of the Free-Loving to the point of Incestuous Transylvanians[[/note]].

** Likewise, Frank gets the same treatment the same way. Um, since when are we supposed to feel sorry for the guy who [[spoiler:tricked two innocent people into having sex with him, brutally murdered a guy from whom he removed half a brain]] (said half-of-brain was used to make Rocky, BTW) and then tricked said people he had sex with into eating the remains of the guy he murdered? The only aspect of Frank that anyone should feel sympathy towards is the fact that he's [[AxCrazy batshit insane.]] His final song, "I'm Going Home", is a ''very'' desperate attempt to get people to feel sorry for him. The fact that it doesn't work and he gets killed anyway speaks volumes about the character.

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** It was a celebration of the then-recent sexual revolution and what modicum of visibility queer people had within 1970s counterculture before the conservative revolution of the 1980s. As mentioned on Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, the increased awareness of gay and trans rights since 1975 has brought into question the film's decision to depict gay people and cross-dressers as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything literal aliens]] (an appropriate metaphor at the time, now it feels somewhat backhanded) with some even calling it outright transphobic, not helped by the characters' immoral behavior. The connotation between "transsexual" and "transvestite" would also be discouraged today, as they are two different issues.