http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RHPS.jpg [[caption-width:200:It's hard to believe this is TimCurry...]]
-->''I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey...''

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is what you get if you aim for SoBadItsGood and pull it off. Based on TheMusical/Stageshow ''The Rocky Horror Show'' by Richard O'Brien (who played Riff Raff both in its original staging and this film), the movie tells the story of Brad and Janet. These two lovely naive virgins from Denton, Texas, get engaged and drive off to tell Dr. Scott, their former teacher. However, on the way there, they [[ClosedCircle get a flat tire]] and find themselves outside a spooky castle house ("It's probably a hunting lodge for rich weirdoes")... and that's where things get really, really, realllly weird.

They meet the servants, Riff Raff and Magenta, and groupie Columbia of the MadScientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter... a [[VillainousCrossdresser "Sweet" Transvestite]] MadScientist, to be specific (from Transsexual, Transylvania). After being stripped down to their underwear (their clothes were rainsoaked) they are invited up to Frank-N-Furter's lab where he unveils his creation -- TheBrainlessBeauty (almost literally) Rocky Horror.

They are interrupted by biker/delivery boy Eddie, Columbia's lover, who Frank-N-Furter had kept in the deep-freeze but Frank kills him. Brad and Janet are then shown to separate rooms, and Frank-N-Furter deceives the two into sleeping with him via PaperThinDisguise and the fact they're both horny enough when said disguise is unveiled to sleep with him anyway. Both victims are understandably horrified and Janet wanders the castle till she finds Rocky (cowering from Riff Raff, who's been tormenting him). Thinking she's been cheated on by Brad, she sleeps with Rocky.

It's at this point where Dr. Scott appears looking for his nephew, Eddie, and Janet and Rocky are found together. Frank-N-Furter invites them all to dinner... the main constituent of which turns out to be Eddie's remains. (This is funny because Eddie is played by MeatLoaf, [[StealthPun so they're eating Meatloaf for dinner]], haha.) Dr. Scott, Brad and Janet try to escape, but Frank-N-Furter has a machine that turns them into statues which he dressed up and then uses his machine to turn them back but under his command, he forces them to do a cabaret floor show.

However, Riff Raff and Magenta disturb the show and reveal that they and Frank-N-Furter are, in fact aliens (from the planet Transsexual, in the galaxy of Transsylvania). They kill Frank-N-Furter, Rocky and Columbia, and release the humans. They power up the castle (which is a spaceship) and then take off for home, leaving Brad, Janet, and Dr. Scott lying in the crater where it was, chewed-up-and-spat-out, both physically and mentally.

There is a (spiritual) sequel, ''ShockTreatment'' (1981), focusing on the bizarre turns Brad and Janet's lives take upon their return to Denton after their adventure in ''Rocky Horror'', but it was not as popularly received as its predecessor and is thus both obscure and hard to find. The fact that the makers weren't happy with how it turned out, due to many compromises made during its production such as character recastings and a drastically cut budget, doesn't help. (It's also harder to stage as an AudienceParticipation show due to a bigger cast of characters.) Although it was just recently released on DVD....

Note that if a real life [[WholesomeCrossdresser transvestite]] or {{Transsexual}} comes out to you, playing any of the soundtrack from this movie at them in response is [[KickTheDog considered insensitive]]. Also, it's [[DiscreditedTrope been done already]].

A remake was recently [[strike:announced]] [[http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/09/02/no-rocky-horror-remake-not-yet-anyway/ canceled]]. Richard O'Brien [[strike:is]] was not involved and not happy...

There is now a [[Characters/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow character sheet]] for this film.
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!!This film contains examples of:
* AdaptationDisplacement (In America at least, hardly anyone has heard of the Musical/Stageshow. However it's pretty popular in the UK.)
* AffectionateParody (Twice over: the film itself spoofs horror/sci-fi, and the audience participation grew from the initial fans being familiar enough with it -- especially all the dramatic pauses -- that they saw opportunities for verbal callbacks to tease the characters)
* ALightInTheDistance ([[EarWorm "There's a light....over at the Frankenstein place."]])
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation (Depending on which fanfic you read, Dr. Frank N Furter is either A.) An abusive, psychotic, heartless jerk who only manipulates and hurts (both physically and emotionally) other people for his own personal amusement or B.) A misunderstood person who only acts the way he does due to some mysterious past tragedy.)
** Likewise, are Riff Raff & Magenta an evil brother/sister duo plotting Frank's downfall, or are they merely the victims of Frank's abuse and their actions are completely justified? Fanfics will vary greatly on the answer.
* AllTakeAndNoGive (Frank's very selfish as Columbia so blatantly points out.)
* AnythingThatMoves (Frank-N-Furter.)
* ArtificialHuman (Rocky)
* AudienceParticipation (The gold standard. The audience at a showing of ''Rocky Horror'' will have some sort of response (mostly yelled comments, sometimes actions to match) to virtually every line or action in the film; at this point the cult phenomenon of ''Rocky Horror'' is far more about the audience participation than the film itself.)
** This can have... interesting results when the audience gives the same responses to the stage show as the movie. This troper was in a production where a whole pre-show was advised to confiscate throwable items from audience members after the entire cast spent the first two performance slipping and/or choking on rice.
** This troper went to a stage production where the theater handed out paper bags of things to throw at the stage.
** The stage show can also have... inverted audience participation? Where the cast will make callbacks to the audience's callbacks.
** The best performance, of course, is when the cast involves the audience in the show and they play off of each other.
* AxeCrazy (Frank.)
* BedTrick
* BerserkButton (Though slightly more subtle than most other examples, it is a very, ''very'', ''VERY'' bad idea to make Frank jealous.)
** Heck, just seeing Rocky with Janet was enough to drive Frank into a blind fury and chase Janet around the castle.
* [[BLAMEpisode BLAM Movie]]
* BrainlessBeauty (Rocky's only got half of a brain.)
* BSODSong: Frank gets ''going home'', although most of the floorshow seems to count.
* ChaoticNeutral (Good ol' psychotic, sex crazed, murderous, loving, generous Frank.)
* CheshireCatGrin (Considering that "Cheshire Cat" is one of TimCurry's nicknames, take a wild guess ''who'' uses this.)
* [[ClingyJealousGirl Clingy Jealous Boy]] (Frank-N-Furter. Sure, he flirts with nearly everyone. But, if he sees anyone with his beloved Rocky, he unleashes his jealousy-induced rage upon them. Janet Weiss had to find this out the hard way.)
* ClosedCircle (Heroes driving, flat tire, flat spare tire, rain coming down, thundering, spooky castle, MadScientist, critical phase of scientific breakthrough, heroes can't get away and then don't want to get away and then can't get away again, and everything goes horribly wrong. Yup, textbook case . . . naturally, since it's a parody of exactly those kind of stories.)
* CreatorBacklash (Susan Sarandon refuses to talk about the movie, but not because she didn't like it. (She does, she just doesn't see why it's such a huge cult hit), but rather because she hates the fact that ''none'' of the cast members get royalties from the DVD sales.)
**TimCurry was ''very'' reluctant to talk about the film for years and even told {{VH-1}} that he grew "chubby and plain" in order to try and escape the role. These days, he's more open to talk about the film and even sees it as a "Rite of passage" for teenagers.
**Peter Hinwood (Rocky) is only slightly embarrassed by being in the film. Contrary to popular rumor, he's ''never'' thrown anyone out of his shop for talking about the film. He only sees the film as a "part of the past" and rarely talks about it.
* CreatingLife (Duh.)
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome (TimCurry briefly reprised his role as Frank N Furter for a short theater skit. Needless to say, the crowd went wild when he did the famous "Antici........(SAY IT!)....pation" line.)
** An in-movie example would be Columbia's truly epic verbally berating Frank for being such a heartless jerk. It doesn't end well for her but...damn!
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming (''Dammit, Janet''. Brad's devotion towards Janet is quite sweet...Too bad things take a downhill turn from there.)
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome
* DanceSensation ("Let's do the Time Warp again!")
* DeadMansChest
* DepravedBisexual (Frank.)
* DevelopmentHell (Richard O'Brien has been mulling over making a direct sequel to the original stage show for years. However, so far, all that's been produced are a few scrapped scripts and a vague concept that involves Frank coming back to life.)
* DownerEnding
* DracoInLeatherPants (Frank-N-Furter and Riff Raff in particular tend to fall victim to this within the fandom.)
** This troper gets the impression that the refrain from "Eddie" tries to paint the titular character in this light.
-->''"When Eddie said he didn't like his Teddie you knew he was a no good kid / but when he threatened your life with a switchblade knife!"
-->'''Frank''': What a guy!
-->'''Janet''': Makes you cry!
-->'''Dr. Scott''': Und I did!''
* DumbBlonde (Rocky, thanks to only having half a brain.)
* DyeingForYourArt (In the original stage show, TimCurry dyed his hair peroxide blonde.)
* EarWorm (Pretty much half of the songs featured fall under this trope. Seriously, try reciting the moves to the ''[[DanceSensation Time Warp]]''.)
* EndingFatigue (The Floor Show is fun, but it doesn't advance the story.)
* EvenEvilHasStandards (This is ostensibly the reason Riff Raff and Magenta turn on Frank -- "Your mission is a failure/Your lifestyle's too extreme...")
** It's also indicated that the reason why Riff Raff killed Frank was because --
--->'''Riff Raff''': They didn't like me. '''HE''' ''NEVER LIKED ME!''
** GET PARANOID RIFF! GET ''REAL'' PARANOID, RIFF!
***Either Riff Raff was sick of Frank's abuse or he was jealous....Make of it what you will.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim
* EveryoneIsBi (Except for Riff, Dr. Scott, and the Criminologist, ''every'' major character has at least one heterosexual and one homosexual encounter in the film or in the {{Backstory}}, though in some cases this is indicated only briefly. And Riff would be bi if you count a deleted scene. Google "Brad/Riff Buttfuck Scene" if you dare.)
* EvilIsSexy (Frank is sexy. This can be attested to by pretty much every [[strike:female]] fan of this movie.)
* FanNickname (Say it with me now....ASSHOLE! (Brad) SLUT! (Janet).)
* FetishFuel (There's plenty to go around for everyone.)
* FoeYay (Riff Raff/Frank-N-Furter slash fanfics, anyone?)
* FridgeLogic (Why did Eddie, Rocky and Columbia die, exactly?) Re: because they were shot with a laser, duh! who says only villains die?)
** Eddie was killed by Frank with an ax.
** Why is it that Rocky can't talk (unlike in the original stage show), yet he's able to sing?
*** I think the question was, why did Eddie, Columbia, and Rocky ''have'' to die?
**** Well, Columbia died because she screamed and it startled Riff Raff causing him to shoot her (In the original stage show, she dives in front of Frank to save him), Eddie dies because he was stealing Frank's spotlight (Frank's easily made jealous, remember?) and Rocky dies because he was mourning Frank's death while fleeing from Riff Raff. It's that simple.
* FridgeHorror (The Floorshow. Sure, it sounds like fun...until you realize that Brad, Janet, Rocky, Columbia, and Dr. Scott are being forced to perform against their own will by a psychotic alien (IE: Frank).)
* GauzeGauzeKiss (Janet bandages Rocky's wounds with her own night gown. Afterward, they do more than just kiss.)
* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave (''Several'' cast members still look very good after all these years including Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, TimCurry, Nell Campbell, Meat Loaf, Patricia Quinn, and Richard O'Brien.)
* HairOfGold (Rocky.)
* TheHedonist
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Frank-N-Furter is sexy and somewhat creepy. Frank-N-Furter with a crazed smile on his face as hacks some poor guy to death is downright terrifying.
**A slightly more subtle example involving Frank is that he's more than willing to turn two innocent humans (IE: [[strike:Brad & Janet]] [[FanNickname Asshole and Slut]]), his own creation (IE: Rocky), and his groupie (IE: Columbia) into mindless sex-slaves and forces them to perform a stage show against their own will.
***Even more subtle yet creepier is during Frank's final song I'm Going Home, we see the sudden appearance of a crowded audience cheering him on and he tearfully absorbs all the attention as if craving the "love" (for lack of a better term) they're giving him. Cue after the song....and it's implied that the audience is nothing more than a figment of Frank's imagination. It helps to show just how crazy Frank really is and is quite eerie to that effect.
* HypeBacklash (This movie is one acquired taste.)
* HumanAliens (Frank, Magenta, Riff Raff, and all the other Transylvanians look like [[strike:normal]] human beings.)
* ICanExplain (Frank says this right before singing his final song. Too bad Riff Raff and Magenta aren't convinced of his story. They shoot him anyway.)
* TheIgor (Riff Raff.)
* ImAHumanitarian (MeatLoaf ''again?'')
* IAmNotSpock (Go watch any movie/show with TimCurry in it. Chances are, ''[[EarWorm Sweet Transvestite]]'' will start playing in your head.)
** TheNostalgiaCritic actually plays "Sweet Transvestite" whenever Tim Curry makes an appearance in one of the films he covers.
* IAmSong / IWantSong (SweetTransvestite can count for both. Frank's describing himself as a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin sweet transvestite]], yet he's also asking (or demanding because he never gave them the option) Brad and Janet to "stay for the night."
* ItsNotRapeIfYouEnjoyedIt (Frank, sleeping with [[spoiler: Brad and Janet]].)
* LargeHam (Several, but above all Tim Curry as Frank.)
* MadLove (Columbia is hopelessly devoted to Frank despite the fact that he considers her to be nothing more than his "groupie".)
** Of course, this is later [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Columbia ([[spoiler:After witnessing Frank brutally murder Eddie, another man she loved deeply]]) realizes that Frank doesn't love her back at all and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome berates him for being such a heartless jerk.]]
* MadScientist
* MagnificentBastard (Brad! Just kidding. It's Frank.)
* ManipulativeBastard (Frank's ''very'' good at convincing people to sleep with him...)
* MysteriousMiddleInitial (The "N" in Frank N Furter. "Frank" is his first name and "Furter" is his last name. "N" is his middle initial and it's never revealed what it stands for, or even if it stands for anything at all.)
**Are you serious? It's a play on the word, Frankfurter, which is a hot dog. It's sometimes pronounced Frankenfurter depending on region.
*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint (Sigh)]] Yes, I'm '''well''' aware of that. However, that '''doesn't''' change the fact that it's NEVER revealed in the movie or (as far as I can tell) by [[WordOfGod Richard O'Brien]] what the "N" stands for in Frank's name (if it even stands for anything at all)...PunnyName or not. And, yes, I am serious. It's still a MysteriousMiddleInitial since we '''never''' find out what his full middle name is...or even if he has a middle-name at all.
***Isn't it splendid that the troper [[CompletelyMissingThePoint so kindly explained that Frank Furter is a pun on Frank Furter]] completely missed the fact that Frank '''N.''' Furter is a ShoutOut to {{Frankenstein}}. (Which still doesn't explain what N. stands for!).
* {{Nightmare Fuel}} While the Floor Show is fun, when it's Brad's turn to sing his share of "Rose Tint My World," he trips and falls all the way to the bottom of {{Uncanny Valley}} with his incredibly robotic movements, especially his disturbing facial expressions when he says/sings "...WHOA! Here it comes ''again!''"
* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine (Let's just say who's coming to dinner is more than expected.}
* ThePaidForHarem
* PietaPlagiarism / TouchOfTheMonster (Rocky and Frank-N-Furter.)
* PsychoForHire (Let's just say that Frank isn't exactly completely sane.)
* PunyEarthlings (Frank views himself as superior to the human protagonists.)
* PunnyName (Dr. Frank-N-Furter.)
* RapeAsComedy
* RelationshipSue (There are, believe it or not ([[ though, seriously, it's true]]) several ''Rocky Horror Picture Show'' {{fanfic}}s that involve Dr. Frank N Furter finding his true love...often a female MarySue. Yes, ''that'' [[AxeCrazy Dr. Frank N Furter.]])
** What's worse is that a lot of these fanfics end up having the MarySue "love interest" causing Frank to change his "evil ways" almost immediately due to The PowerOfLove. Yes, the RelationshipSue is able to make Frank [[WallBanger give up his lustful ways and settle down with one person.]]
*** Perhaps it's a naive attempt to reconcile EvilIsSexy with a concept of [[PuritySue chaste purity and Love At First Sight]]. What the hell? [[MisaimedFandom Isn't anyone else fond of Frank ''because'' he's AxeCrazy?]]
* SayMyName ("Janet!" "Dr. Scott!" "Janet!" "Brad!" "Rocky!")
* SeeminglyWholesomeFiftiesGirl(Janet, oh, poor Janet. Columbia may have been this before she met Frank and Eddie.)
* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains
* ShoutOut (To various Hammer Horror films as well as film companies and 1930s-50s sci-fi/horror efforts; in fact the opening song "Science Fiction Double Feature" is built around this.)
* SlasherSmile (Again, Frank. Been nice knowing ya, Eddie.)
* SlouchOfVillainy (Dr. Frank-N-Furter is in this pose in the movie's poster.)
* SmokingHotSex (Brad and Frank.)
* SoundOnlyDeath (We don't see what happens to Eddie...but we sure do hear his screams and Frank's pick-axe hacking him to pieces.)
* SympatheticSue (Seriously, at least 73% of all Rocky Horror {{fanfic}}s try to make Riff Raff and Magenta far more pitiful than they are in the film. Yes, the ''same'' Riff Raff and Magenta who kill Rocky, Frank, and Columbia out of pure spite.)
** Likewise, there are quite a few fanfics that portray Frank in the same way. Um, since when are we supposed to feel sorry for the guy who 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 [[AxeCrazy batshit insane.]]
*** It's likely due to the fact that Frank's 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.
* TakenForGranite
* TheDogBitesBack (Riff Raff and Magenta betray Frank after realizing that he has no plans to go back to Transsexual anytime soon.)
* TheMusical
* ThoseWackyNazis (Dr. Scott is implied to be one by Frank.)
-->'''Frank''': Go on, Dr. Scott. Or should I say... Doctor ''Von'' Scott!
** How exactly does a middle name thing usually associated with the upper class make one a Nazi? "Von" is merely German for "of".
*** Because in the films that ''Rocky Horror'' is homaging/parodying, a German scientist of the right age is ''always'' a former Nazi; TruthInTelevision, that, to some degree. Note that Scott has a German accent.
*** ThisTroper actually had to explain the HistoricalInJoke to the actors in a local production (not a shadow play, an actual show). Almost immediately after Goebbels surrendered to the Russian Army, the US and Soviet governments began smuggling Nazi scientists out of the country. Werner von Braun is one of the most famous examples. In exchange for a pardon, they would work for them now. It was called '''Operation Paperclip'''.
** Oddly enough, in the original stage show, Frank himself had a stereotypical German accent (Most likely to go with the classic MadScientist genre). However, this was quickly dropped and Frank ended up with the smooth British accent we all know and love today.
* TearJerker (For some it's [[spoiler:Frank's death.]])
* TimCurry (Frank-N-Furter -- it was this role, which he also played on stage, that made him famous.)
* TooDumbToLive (Brad and Janet make some ''really'' stupid mistakes throughout the film.)
* WordOfGod (According to Richard O'Brien, it was actually Riff Raff who did most of the work on Rocky.)
* VillainousCrossdresser
* VillainousLament (Frank during his final moments.)
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