The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie is a national phenomenon, a cult class, movie milestone – call it what you will. Every Halloween, many theaters throughout the county host a wild, wild party along with a late-night screening of the movie as Halloween and horror extravaganza. Bright colors are everywhere at the party – yellow, flame red, passionate pink. Lots of loud noise, too – shouting and cheering. One of the most successful is at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, which holds its party/movie on this Saturday, October 22. The party starts at 9:00pm and the film goes on at 11:00pm. The Rocky Horror extravaganza is incredibly popular, with as many as 1,200 people attending one of the shows at the State Theatre.
What is all the uproar all about? I mean, really, this is a low-key horror movie, not Ben Hur or Citizen Kane.
Kelly Blithe, the director of communications and Community Engagement at the theater, who been to all the Rocky Horror shows since 2013 (2019 was the last – ended by Covid, and this year marks the return of the movie and party, shakes her head.
“It isn’t just one thing, it’s a number of things,” she said.
“First and foremost, this is a Halloween screening. That connection to the holiday makes it something special to its fans. The combination of the party to the movie makes it very special. People come again and again, every year. It’s a calendar event for them and, likewise, it’s on the ‘bucket list’ for many people. They want to try it once in their lifetime.
And then she said. “And, er, Rocky Horror is, well, different.”
Oh boy, is it ever.
Way back in 1975 the story opened as a musical play. Within a year it was turned into a movie, starring Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry and Barry Bostwick. Theaters started showing it late at night and its fans loved that. It was shown twice a year at over 230 theaters that year and the number kept growing.
The screening itself is the center of a very unusual night. People get all dressed up in Halloween costumes for the show, many dress as characters in the film. People yell back at the screen, which they certainly do not do at other movies. The theater gives out “goody bags” filled with things to put on, yell out and show off. People routinely throw things from the bags at the screen (and each other). A thousand or more people will sing along with the songs in the movie. Others will dance to dances in the film. Groups of people, big groups, will re-stage the movie while standing in front of the screen.
Everybody will yank a newspaper out of their “goody” bag and put it over their head when told to do so or sing a particular song when commanded to do so.
OK, but what attracts so many millions of fans around the world? Why is the film such a cult classic? I get FIOS-TV and the film is on somewhere, sometimes, all year long. The TV screenings, too, have loyal fans. So a cult favorite?? It can’t be just throwing things at people. You can do that at home.
“It’s a horror movie but not really a scary one, so it does not frighten people. It’s attached to a party and that atmosphere pervades the theater. Mostly it’s way out there. You have over the top characters in an over-the-top story. Different, different, different,” said Blithe, who admits to dressing up each year for the party and show. “The characters are not typical horror movie people at all. They are wacky and they are lovable. It’s an experience and not just a movie. It is far out there, way far out,” she said.
There is a segment of the movie called “time warp” but this is not a time warp movie.
“In the beginning, back in the ‘70s, a group of people fell in love with the movie. I thought, everybody thought, that same group would come to it each year, sort of kike a memory souvenir. No. That is not true. The fact is that different generations have fallen in love with it and these people come every year Whole families come. I met a family with a ten-year-old boy last year, He’s now a big fan. He’ll grow up and bring his kids. This is very, very unusual, but that’s the way the movie is,” said Blithe, who says she herself is now a fan. “It’s one of my favorite films,” she added.
So, it you’re walking around downtown New Brunswick this Saturday night and hear all these strange sounds and see people in crazy costumes running through the streets, don’t alarmed. It’s just the Ricky Horror Picture Show – in all its glory.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE STATE THEATRE
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