Review of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) by Larry W — 24 Jan 2013

As shown in their twisted table settings, the alien visitors in this film don't know how to blend in, but they do know what they like, and it includes sex, drugs, rock & roll and renaissance art. As they devour every possible means of pleasure seeking all at once, O'Brien pieces everything he loves together and, well, it turns out he has pretty good taste, in a bad taste sorta way. It amounts to a pastiche of (nearly) everything fun, wicked and otherwise cool human artists managed to muster from the 16th century to 1974.

Not that this film is necessarily a time capsule, though. The costume designers, for instance, were a little ahead of the curve when it came to fashion. They prefigured punk and glam with a bit of time to spare. (Contrast this with, say, Jesus Christ Superstar, whose hippies were an anachronism by the time of its release.).

And then there are the performances, most noteworthy those of Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, who sell the material with great abandon and more than respectable skill.

The music is also pretty damn good--one of the few rock musicals that work on that level.

So those who say it's all about the theater experience were probably too busy grabbing their newspapers and squirt guns to pay attention.