Mr.Miniike
Since: Nov, 2014
02/13/2015 15:30:07
•••
Film Pretty Much the Greatest Thing Ever
Catchy songs, campy story, hammy performances, loads of sexually overt charm and terrible special effects?
Yeah, Rocky Horror is pretty awesome.
If you're reading this then you've either seen it a million times and you just want to see someone reaffirm that, or you've never seen it and your wondering if you should.
If the latter, then yes. A Million times, yes.
I will be accepting hugs later.
Film A mental mind-f**k CAN be nice!
Oh my God...I get it. Why did I not see this before?
If you're alive today, you've heard of this film. I knew "Time Warp" and I was well aware of "Sweet Transvestite", but my knowledge was otherwise zero.
I'm so glad I fixed that.
This film is a glorious WTF of entertainment. It's ostensibly a parody horror story, but it's also (objectively!) very gay and sexual besides, and revels in its own weirdness more than having a plot. Which is fine. It's hysterical, bizarre, and endlessly enjoyable, in an inexplicable organic way.
Tim Curry's Frank N. Furter is amazingly pulled off, feeling entirely geniune, mixing psychotic with sympathetic, all wrapped in delicious camp. Brad and Janet, the clueless innocents wrapped up in the liberated madness, are well-cast for their roles. Furter's servants, Riff-Raff and Magenta, and groupie Columbia are also enjoyable, and I adore the Criminologist, an ill-suited present-day narrator detailing the "case" we witness throughout the film.
The story of this film is buried a little, but it's there. Furter makes a monster to be a lover, and the poor reanimated hunk is confused when Janet also gets mixed up with him. A murder brings "rival scientist" Dr. Scott over to investigate. And there's a very B-movie twist at the end. This movie knows exactly what kind of company it's putting itself in, as evidenced by the opening and closing song "Science Fiction/Double Feature".
The issue of its bold LGBT portrayal is debated today, but I think it still lands on the side of "representation". While the Transylvanian people are portrayed as both pansexual and immoral, it's never clearly stated that the two are connected, and most of the film is about sexual freedom and discovery. We also wouldn't connote "transvestite" with "transsexual/transgender" today. Still, I think the film put a lot of bubbling cultural issues out there as loud and proudly as it could, and it should be considered a step forward for its time, which holds up reasonably well today. It's also remarkably insightful that the film subtly shows two opposing outcomes to the liberation through Brad and Janet, which effectively says "hey, it's not for everyone". That's cool and very fair-minded for such a bold showcase of sexuality.
The songs are catchy and justifiably iconic, but tend to be less relevant to the plot than most musicals'.
So I totally get why this is a cult phenomenon. It's patently ridiculous and knows it, and it's definitely an eye-opener due to its rampant sexuality, which adds to the manic fun of the film. It's not a musical you go to for a musical or a movie you watch for a movie. It's just a bizarre, wonderful experience.