I was in early high school the first time I saw it... on TV.
I had heard about the film being a cult classic but also controversial so of course I was curious. I remember VH1 premiered it on TV for the 25th anniversary and played it multiple times over a weekend so I caught the movie in pieces. The songs were catchy, even though the story was a bit strange and I didn't quite understand the ending the first time I caught it. I really loved the Time Warp number though and Columbia was my favorite character. To this day though, the scene/number near the end when they're all dressed like Dr. Frankenfurter kinda bores me... not sure why, but that's the part of the movie I always seem to tune out of!I hadn't seen the movie again until I was in college.
A friend had found out that the Hollywood Boulevard movie theater about 20 minutes from my boyfriend at the time's hometown (which was about an hour away from campus) was doing a midnight showing of Rocky Horror so we decided to double date it and go. I had heard about the midnight shows and was excited, as it seemed people get really into.
We got there at about 1030pm but they weren't seating yet so we went to get some fast food and came back. The troop that was shadowboxing the show and providing the props were running late and so the midnight show didn't actually get seated in the theater until about 1am.
Now Hollywood Boulevard is one of those theaters where you can dine/snack and drink in chairs around tables in the theater so it's a bit of a different movie going experience from the norm. Me and my boyfriend at the time were of legal drinking age and my friend's boyfriend was driving, so we decided to get a pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea to drink with our popcorn. It was about 115am when they finally gave us our pitcher and popcorn, and they quickly announced that due to the state liquor laws, they were going to have to collect our drinks - finished or not - at 130am.
That's right, we had 15 minutes for the 2 of us to drink an entire pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea before it went to waste. Somehow I ended drinking the majority of it, cuz hey - you can't let that go to waste!
I was feeling good by the time they started the film, and was really getting into throwing the toast and whatever else was in our prop bags that they had us throw and use throughout the movie, but come about halfway through (I forget if there was a brief intermission or not), I had to go to the bathroom and my friend has to escort me as the pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea had gotten into my system and I was stumbling around drunk the whole way to the bathroom and back!
I had a really fun time though and enjoyed myself at the midnight showing of Rocky Horror - it's definitely something I recommend everyone experience at least once (although maybe without the pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea). And if you haven't seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show - go do it! While it is a cult classic musical, it's one you'll either love or hate but you won't know until you see it.
Sounds like quite a night! I'd love to see the show at some point--I've heard so much about it that I'm really curious. Even if it's just the movie itself, and not in a theater or anything, I'd like to know what the show's about and what all the songs are (beyond the snippets I gathered from the Glee episode). Though it would be fun to see it in a theater with all the props and audience participation, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the Glee episode made me reflect on a small part Rocky Horror Picture Show played in my life. My best friend from high school was a year ahead of me, and when she graduated she went to NYU. With her college friends, she went to see the show and loved it, though she described to me how they made all the first-time attendees--the "virgins"--come up onstage and fake an orgasm. She said it was really embarrassing, but the show was really fun. The next year when I went to college, my friend told me that I should come visit her in NYC, and we'd do fun things like see Rocky Horror Picture Show. But the thought of faking an orgasm in front of an audience seemed absolutely horrible to me (I am a bit more reserved than my friend). It seems silly now--I could have just told her I didn't want to see the show, but I didn't. I never visited her in New York, and now we've mostly lost touch with one another, in part because of that. There are a number of reasons why I didn't go to NYC to see her (none of them particularly good reasons), but that was definitely one of them, lurking in the back of my mind: my fear of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Kind of strange to think about.
Oh wow!
ReplyDeleteI recall the show I went to they had something where the Rocky Horror "virgins" had to do something up front on the stage, but only if you volunteered for it (which I didn't).
I just learned last night that it's on Netflix's Instant Watch - that's one easy way to catch it if you have Netflix =)