Talk about a “Time Warp”: The Rocky Horror Picture Show celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with a 4K restored release of the film in theaters, digital and Blu-ray Disney home viewing releases, a variety of LA events, a new vinyl release of the soundtrack and a tour featuring original cast members Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn and Nell Campbell aka Brad, Magenta and Columbia. Quite an accomplishment for a movie that was a massive flop when it was released.
“They couldn’t give it away,” says Quinn of Fox, the studio that released the bizarre and transgressive sci-fi musical. “For two years it sat doing nothing. And then a wonderful boy at Fox decided that the only way to market this film is it should go on every campus in America and play [at] midnight in cinemas.”
From there, it became an interactive extravaganza, as audiences — first at New York’s Waverly Theater and then worldwide — began talking back to and throwing things at the screen and, eventually, acting out the entire movie in full costume.
“They told us, ‘They’re talking to your film, they’re dressing up as you,'” Quinn recalls. “And they invited us and brought us over to New York. And we saw what was happening. … It was extraordinary.”
Fifty years later, Bostwick says the film still appeals to people because, as he puts it, “It’s sex and rock ‘n’ roll. And it’s every kind of sex you would want to partake in. It’s a naughty film. … Naughty but nice.”
“Also, all the songs are good,” Campbell adds. “It’s a witty script. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. And it’s a celebration of all types of sexuality.”
And that’s another reason for the film’s appeal. Over the years, its message of “don’t dream it, be it” has deeply impacted both misfits and the LGBTQ+ community alike.
“It’s absolutely wonderful that it’s helped so many people in that way and that is the magic of Rocky Horror,” Campbell notes, adding that creator Richard O’Brien “had no idea it was going to have that profound effect and it’s just a magical, wonderful thing that it has.”
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