Cast: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon

Director: Jim Sharman

Screenplay: Jim Sharman

Running time: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Musical/Horror/Sci-Fi



CRITIQUE:


At the vast catalogue of musicals in movie history, fancy strolling at the dark backstreets and you’ll end up in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, perhaps the zaniest, most subversive musicals ever made. A genuine head-scratching mishmash of sci-fi, B-movies, horror, exploitation with creatures in all shades of genders break out into a song and a bit of a boogie-woogie in straps-and-leather. One couldn’t but feel like stumbling into a drag show horror-house as though in a drunken stupor, asking ‘What the hell is going on?’ Exactly that.


Sure, it is vivacious, even flamboyant and unbelievably ridiculous – but this is precisely what the film aims to be; an unleashed, unalloyed cry for sexual liberation, a stark representation of the liberal decade of the 1970s. It seems to convey that it’s a-OK to slap-up rouge, wear fishnet stockings and skyscraper heels all in the name of freedom of self-expression. So it’s not all barmy, as Tim Curry delivers a sheer performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, ferociously bitchy at one moment, frightening the next and volatile at the most unexpected, encompassing and transcending all gender categories. His alien transvestite is a possibly a first. The songs are catchy, but often pointless and forgettable. Even Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon, playing Brad the Hero and Janet the Heroine respectively, merely stand like propsmen running around the set, both prey to Curry’s hedonistic gender-bender.


VERDICT:

Strange for a film that advocates let-live-and-let-loose of sexuality is actually suffering an identity crisis. This gender-bender showcase may be best remembered for its representation rather than for its bonkers, hyper-real razzle-dazzle.



RATING: B-