Half a century has passed since ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ first did the “Time Warp”, yet somehow as alive and as ever. ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ turns fifty this year, and somehow, it hasn’t aged a day. If anything, it’s gotten younger, feeding off generations of students, theatre kids, and nostalgia. When Rocky Horror first hit cinemas in 1975, hardly anyone cared. It was too strange, too sexual, too hard to define. Yet that strangeness became its superpower. What other film could flop so spectacularly and then live forever through midnight screenings and shouted dialogue?
By the late ’70s, it had found its people the night owls, the misfits, the theatre lovers, the drag queens, and everyone in between. Those late-night showings turned into rituals. You didn’t just watch Rocky Horror; you performed it. Audience members became part of the film, and the film became a part of them.
At its glittery, fishnet-covered heart, Rocky Horror has always been about liberation. Dr. Frank-N-Furter, played with confidence by Tim Curry, isn’t just the film’s star he’s its manifesto. “Don’t dream it, be it,” he tells the audience, and fifty years later, that line still hits.
The film’s embrace of queerness, camp, and chaos gave people permission to be themselves long before the mainstream caught up. It’s messy, imperfect, and occasionally problematic, but it remains a milestone of self-expression.
If Rocky Horror had only been a film, maybe it wouldn’t have lasted. But the music that’s what made it immortal. From the hypnotic dance track of “Time Warp” to the sultry tone of “Sweet Transvestite,” these songs encourage watchers to participate and embrace the weird and wonderful.
There’s something joyful about hearing those familiar notes at Halloween a time when everyone’s already halfway into costume. It’s not just nostalgia; it’s community. For a few minutes, you get to step into a world that celebrates being completely, unapologetically weird.
In an age of remakes, reboots, and endless streaming options, The Rocky Horror Picture Show still feels different.
Every October, new audiences discover it, and old fans return, ready to throw toast and rice like it’s 1975 again. Maybe that’s the real reason it’s survived for fifty years: it belongs to everyone who refuses to grow out of it.
So, this Halloween, dust off the fishnets, grab some friends, and find a screening. Whether it’s your first time or your fiftieth, Rocky Horror is waiting still strange, still sexy, and still doing the Time Warp again.
Featured image credit: Robin Adams via Wikimedia
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