THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

"THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW"
(1975) (Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Moderate	Mild	None	Moderate

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	None	None	Moderate	Mild

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Mild	None	Mild	Moderate

QUICK TAKE:: Musical Comedy: A young couple stumbles into a castle full of alien transvestites.

PLOT:: Janet Weiss (SUSAN SARANDON) and Brad Majors (BARRY BOSTWICK) are an engaged couple who get a flat while out driving at night. They remember passing an old castle and go there and meet its owner, Doctor Frank-N-Furter (TIM CURRY), a transvestite who's working on creating the perfect man. With his previous creation, Eddie (MEAT LOAF) on ice, Frank-N- Furter has created a new and improved, muscle-bound man, Rocky Horror (PETER HINWOOD). What Brad and Janet don't know is that the mad doctor and his staff, Riff Raff (RICHARD O'BRIEN) and Magenta (PATRICIA QUINN), are actually space aliens from transsexual Transylvania. As Frank-N-Furter shows and plays with his creation, Brad and Janet can't believe what they've stumbled into.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Younger kids won't, but teenagers probably will due to the film's cult status.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: The MPAA reason was not available, but we'd guess it was for sexuality and one murderous act of violence.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: None of the characters are developed enough to be considered as good role models.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 3 out of 10: While this film was a huge commercial flop and -- amazingly -- was intended to be a "serious" flick, it has gained a huge following as a cult movie. It's really just major camp that's actually fun for a while. The musical numbers, while not of Broadway caliber, are catchy and cute and the characterizations, especially by Curry, are outrageous. The film begins to lose steam, however, in the second half when the dialogue begins to outweigh the songs. And the songs in the latter half just aren't as good as those earlier in the film. It is a blast to see Sarandon in this early role, however, and it would be interesting to know what she thinks of having been in this film. Of course, nowadays the film isn't supposed to be viewed as a movie, but instead as an experience where audience members dress up like cast members and throws things at one another and at the screen. That's what made this film a cult favorite, and seen at home (hopefully without that response from your viewers) it gets the same reaction that film goers gave it during its initial release. It's fun to watch the campy material at first, but after a while it gets rather tedious. We give it a 3 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: As said above, the film gained its fame from the audience playing along with it. So if you're showing this to a group of teenagers, you may want to check on whether they're planning on "participating" (shooting water pistols on each other during the rain scenes, etc...) or just watching. As far as the content goes, there's a good amount of sexual material with a great deal of it revolving around transsexual behavior. There's implied sex between several characters, including two of the men. A brief glimpse of a woman's partial bare breasts constitutes the nudity, although many of the characters are dressed in leather lingerie. In addition, many songs deal with sex in one way or another, so you should check out that category. Beyond that, there's a murder committed with a pick ax (off screen) and a character gets whipped. As always, we suggest you read through all of the category listings to determine if this movie is appropriate for you and your family.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Riff Raff pours wine into a glass (for Frank-N-Furter) and then takes a swig from the bottle himself.
Wine is consumed with dinner.

BLOOD/GORE: There's a little bit of blood on a towel given to Janet to dry herself.
Eddie has a slightly bloody gash across his forehead.
Frank-N-Furter's gloves are bloody, as is a pick ax he's just used to kill Eddie and there's some blood on the floor.
Frank-N-Furter implies that the meat they're eating for dinner was Eddie and as he pulls away the table cloth, we see a partially gutted Eddie inside the table (body organs and exposed pieces of his skull).

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Both Brad and Janet have sex with Frank-N-Furter, although they are engaged to each other.
Some may see Frank-N-Furter's "playing God" by creating beings as having a bad attitude.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: None.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Pick ax: Used by Frank-N-Furter to kill Eddie.
Laser gun: Used to kill several people.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: In the song, "Time Warp," there's the line, "And then there's the pelvic thrust, that will drive them insane" and everyone then thrusts their pelvises back and forth.
Cross dressing.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): The following lyrics are heard in the songs: "I really got hot, when I saw Janet Scott..." "I'm just a sweat transvestite from transsexual Transylvania." "I thought there's no use getting into heavy petting, it only leads to trouble, and to seat wetting . . . I'll put up no resistance, I want to stay the distance . . . I've got an itch to scratch, I need assistance . . . Toucha, toucha, toucha touch me, I want to be dirty . . . Then if anything grows (Janet looks at Rocky's crotch), while you pose, I'll oil you up and rub you down . . . " "An orgasmic rush of lust . . . " "Swim in the warm waters of the sins of the flesh . . . "
Several damns and a hell are heard in some of the songs.

PROFANITY: 6 damns, 1 hell and 2 uses each of "My God" and "Good God" and 1 use each of "For God's sake" and "God damn" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: Several songs contain sexually related lyrics. See "Music (Inappropriate)" for details.
The phrase, "Wait till tonight. She got hers, now he'll get his" is written on the side of a newly wedded couple's car.
Frank-N-Furter is a transvestite and wears skimpy leather women's lingerie, and Brad, Janet and others are similarly dressed at the end of the movie.
They strip Janet and Brad of their wet clothes, she down to her bra and slip, he down to his underwear.
Rocky is seen in skimpy gold underwear.
Frank-N-Furter created Rocky for himself and is seen kissing his legs, and runs his finger down Rocky's chest toward his crotch. Later they're seen going into the "bridal suite" (implying that they have sex).
Eddie climbs on top of a woman on the floor during a song, but nothing else happens.
Brad comes into Janet's bedroom and climbs on top of her in bed, but it turns out to Frank-N-Furter posing as Janet. She fights him for a moment, but then gives in when he kisses down her chest and then gets between her legs. She tells him she was saving herself, but he tells her he won't tell Brad. It's implied that they then have sex and she's heard moaning a bit.
Frank-N-Furter then gets on top of Brad in his bed, posing as Janet and the same occurs as in the above scene. Later, Janet sees Brad smoking a cigarette while Frank-N-Furter lies in the bed. Thus, it's implied that they had sex.
Janet and Rocky have sex after a musical number that includes her singing, "I thought there's no use getting into heavy petting, it only leads to trouble, and to seat wetting . . . I'll put up no resistance, I want to stay the distance . . . I've got an itch to scratch, I need assistance . . . Toucha, toucha, toucha touch me, I want to be dirty . . . Then if anything grows (she looks at his crotch), while you pose, I'll oil you up and rub you down . . . " As he touches her breasts, two women watching this on TV momentarily touch each other.
Frank-N-Furter turns Janet, Brad and others into marble-like, nude statues where bare breasts and a penis are seen on the statues.
Part of a woman's bare breasts (and her nipples) are seen as she dances during a musical number.
Janet grabs her crotch during a musical number.
Everyone gets into a pool (dressed in their leather lingerie), and the women kiss Frank-N-Furter and appear briefly to kiss each other.

SMOKING: A photographer smokes.
The narrator smokes a cigarette in nearly every time he's seen.
Brad smokes a cigarette after having sex with Frank-N-Furter.
Frank-N-Furter smokes, as does a chamber maid.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The original Frankenstein story from which this is loosely based.
Transvestites and cross dressing.

VIOLENCE: Frank-N-Furter pushes Riff Raff to the floor as he's cranking Rocky toward the ceiling.
Frank-N-Furter chases after Eddie with a pick ax and hits him several times with it, killing him (heard, but not seen).
Riff Raff throws a lit candle at Rocky as he climbs down an elevator shaft.
Frank-N-Furter whips Riff Raff for allowing Rocky to escape.
A large magnet pulls a professor through a cinder block wall.
Frank-N-Furter implies that the meat they're eating for dinner was Eddie.
Frank-N-Furter pushes Rocky across the room.
Janet hits Frank-N-Furter in the crotch.
Several people are shot and killed with a laser gun as the aliens prepare to leave Earth.

Reviewed January 3, 1997

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