The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Dir: Jim Sharman
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I am not a big musical person, but there is one that I love watching every year, and, as you will have guessed, it's this 1975 cult classic from Jim Sharman. It's an iconic piece of queer cinema, and has rightly become exponentially more popular in the decades following its release.
It has some of my favourite musical numbers ever. They're so absurd and fun, and are perfectly in-keeping with the spooky season. Mirroring this, the costumes are so fruity, so vibrant and so showy. The film has a very theatrical, ostentatious and uniquely queer aesthetic, which makes it an extremely joyous and entertaining film to watch.
The story is over-the-top, silly and straight up bizarre, but it works. It leans into the kookiness and then some. Be it the songs, the characters, or indeed the narrative itself, everything is outlandish, goofy and rather fantastic. The film pays tribute to, and parodies, the campy sci-fi, horror and B-movies of the thirties and beyond quite wonderfully.
Tim Curry's performance is legendarily flamboyant, charismatic, aluuring, and intoxicating. He encapsulates everything about the film; it's raunchiness, it's cheekiness and it's unashamedly in your face style. This is my favourite Curry performance ever - no doubt.
Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick make for a charming couple of sweethearts, who truly feel their parts in every way. They both nail their characters, and evidently have fun doing so. Sarandon's comedic timing is particularly good, while both do some really solid singing.
Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn both do magnificent jobs at being the strangely alluring, mysterious and campy secondary characters that fans absolutely love to dress up as. Also, I have to say, the more I've watched this film, the more I've appreciated O'Brien's performance.
There are also some other very enjoyable performances from members of the supporting cast; Nell Campbell, Peter Hinwood, Jonathon Adams, Meatloaf, and Charles Gray. I really love how everyone in the film looks like they're having the time of their lives making it.
Overall, there's an easy way to sum this film up, and it's to say that if bisexuality was ever a film, then this would be it. I love it. It's so camp, so goofy, so uplifting, and it parodies some of classic pop cultures best genres. There's not much more one could ask for, except more Frank-N-Furter.
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