Let’s Do the Time Warp Again! 50 Years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Words by Charles Suor Originally published July 2025 in Phantasmag Issue 003
© 20th Century Studios
Undeniably the queer cult classic. An indie science fiction horror comedy musical—a mouthful, we know—The Rocky Horror Picture Show boasts a devoted following that has kept it running in theatres since its 1975 premiere. With this year marking half a century of Rocky Horror, Charles Suor looks back on its history, inspirations, and enduring impact on the LGBTQ+ community.
The thud of the bass resonates through the theatre as the audience begins to stomp in time with a platform heel. On-screen, Brad assures Janet that everything will be alright while the audience starts chanting, “Sex, sex, sex.” Janet sees a cloaked figure behind them, and her shrill scream joins with the excited shrieks of the crowd. Frank-N-Furter has arrived. Even if you’ve never seen the film before, you’re probably familiar with the self-proclaimed sweet transvestite. Frank-N-Furter’s gender-fucking drag look and the open sexuality of The Rocky Horror Picture Show have left their red lipstick stain on queer history.
The film follows a couple who, after a flat tyre in a storm, end up at the mansion of mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter the night that he’s unveiling his creation, a muscular man named Rocky “with blonde hair and a tan”. Screenings of Rocky Horror often include shadowcasts, costumed actors in front of the screen recreating, or shadowing, the film. I’m a cultural scholar and one such actor—and performing Rocky Horror is one of my favourite things to do. The family I’ve found in my cast and the safe space we’ve created for our audience is truly special. In the theatre, the LGBTQ+ community has a home for gender, sex, and body positivity. Even though the film is coming up on its 50th anniversary, its radical pleasure still has the power to build community.
© 20th Century Studios
Rocky Horror is the brainchild of British-New Zealand multi-hyphenate Richard O’Brien, one of many folks in 1970s London who existed in the queer overlap of sci-fi, horror, and rock youth culture. He wrote the story and songs as a tribute to—or parody of—many different works and tropes from the sci-fi and horror genres. With a mad scientist who builds a beautiful creature that takes on a life of its own, the film’s most obvious homage is to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, acting as a queer retelling where Frank-N-Furter embodies the titular doctor with a sleazy sexual twist (although maybe O’Brien was picking up on some overlooked themes in the original novel).
The film equally takes inspiration from mid-century sci-fi and horror B-movies beloved by both British and American youth subcultures. In the 60s, it was popular for theatres to host late-night double features of older genre films, drawing in viewers with shock value and cheesy, low-budget practical effects. The campy nature of these films was a key part of the audience’s enjoyment, and Rocky Horror immortalises the cultural moment of young people catching a schlocky flick with its opening number, “Science Fiction/Double Feature”. Meanwhile, the film’s theatrics and costumes have clear foundations in glam rock (think David Bowie), embracing the androgyny and queer sexuality of the subgenre.
In blending all these references, the charm of O’Brien’s creation is that it was written for freaks by freaks. When his story premiered in 1973 in London—not yet as a film but as The Rocky Horror Show stage musical—audiences responded and it was a success. The show so clearly took everything that B-film and glam rock fans loved and put it on stage for them to enjoy. Early in its run, the musical was picked up by 20th Century Fox for a film adaptation.
© 20th Century Studios
The movie’s production was rough: from bad weather and the set’s leaky roof resulting in poor conditions for cast and crew (Susan Sarandon had a bout of pneumonia) to studio concerns about appealing to both British and American markets. Returning from the stage musical was director Jim Sharman, O’Brien as both screenwriter and Riff Raff, Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter, Patricia Quinn as Magenta, and Nell “Little Nell” Campbell as Columbia. The most notable change was the casting of Brad and Janet, portrayed in the film by American actors Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon, to attract stateside audiences. However, with unenthusiastic distribution and the film’s campiness unappealing to the mainstream, the Picture Show was a flop. Instead of breaking the box office, the film fell into the midnight movie circuit.
Parralleling the stage musical, Rocky Horror’s emulation of B-movie aesthetics played a big part in the film developing its own cult following. What many don’t realise is that very shortly after its release, midnight screenings began popping up in the US, and the audiences followed. A 1979 study in New York led by Bruce A. Austin from the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Department of Communications found that the film was ripe for repeat viewings, where the overall average for viewers at a local Rochester theatre was seven screenings, with one viewer having attended two hundred. The film has only grown in popularity since then and, still playing in multiplexes today, has claimed the title of longest-running theatrical release in history.
Even with the countercultural sensibilities of other midnight movies, a Rocky Horror screening is unique. The film speaks directly to youth culture and releases its audience from the norms they’re usually held to, something that can be especially powerful for LGBTQ+ people. If you’ve never gone to a screening, you’re called a “virgin” because, even if you’ve seen the film before, you’re due for a new experience. The energy of a Rocky Horror audience is palpable—it feels like a community coming together to party.
© 20th Century Studios
Instead of polite silence, you’re expected to shout callbacks at the screen. Sometimes, it gets so loud that the actual dialogue is unintelligible. Like a game you play with everyone in the theatre, these callbacks often fall into two categories. The first is a response to dialogue or lyrics in the film, the most famous example being when Frank-N-Furter says, “I see you shiver with antici-” and, during the beat taken in the song, the audience begs him to say “-pation”. The second is a response to a character or object in the film, like when Brad introduces himself and everyone yells, “ASSHOLE!” The callbacks are a versatile language for the Rocky Horror fan, and can be continuously updated to reflect current events or localised to your neighbourhood theatre. It’s a game now 50 years in the making.
Audience participation in Rocky Horror crosses into physical immersion with the use of props and costumes. For example, during “Over at the Frankenstein Place”, Janet puts a newspaper over her head to protect herself from the rain—and the audience pulls out their own papers to do the same. Many theatres now sell prop bags at screenings due to their popularity, and, to further show their love for the film, audience members will dress as their favourite characters or wear their favourite lingerie. If you’re a virgin wondering what to wear to a Rocky Horror screening, the answer is always whatever you’re most comfortable in.
It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of callbacks and costumes, but they’re often credited to audiences at the Waverly Theater (now the IFC Center) in New York City. The theatre is located in Greenwich Village, a queer neighbourhood known for being home to alternative culture and LGBTQ+ establishments like the Stonewall Inn. Rocky Horror is an artefact of LGBTQ+ history not only for the film’s content but also because we are the ones who embraced it. Dressing up for a screening can be an empowering and even gender-affirming experience. The confidence of Frank-N-Furter’s glam rock drag is infectious—and to have a film from the 70s celebrate being a “sweet transvestite” is undeniably radical.
Since my shadowcast began our monthly shows in Florida, they’ve all sold out. With every performance, I find that the film still has the power to bring people together and act as a welcoming space, something that has been especially needed here in recent years. HB 1423 and HB 1557, or the drag ban and “Don’t Say Gay” bills, have limited the expression of gender and sexuality in the state. We have to consider how being in a shadowcast might impact our careers or safety, but, in the end, we love what we do and recognise its importance—so we continue to do it. I’m a transman, and, in my costume, my top surgery scars often peek out from my corset. Trans folks come up to me after shows to say that it’s inspiring to see how proudly those scars are on display. Rocky Horror began as a place for queer and trans freaks, and it remains our home 50 years later.