Thursday, March 28, 2024
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show

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I lost my virginity on Oct. 31, around 12:15 a.m. at the Nuart Theater in Santa Monica. My “Rocky Horror Picture Show” virginity, that is. It was an experience that I will never forget. The show included a play of how Tim Burton would have made the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” a striptease, a costume contest and a man in a Princess Leia bikini similar to the one in “Star Wars Episode VI.”

My memorable night started with me waiting in line outside of the Nuart Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in very cold temperatures. I knew some people must have been feeling the cold worse than I was, as some people were wearing next to nothing at all dressed in traditional “Rocky Horror Picture Show” garb. One man wore nothing but golden sparkling underwear, a la Rocky Horror. As I waited on the street for about 30 minutes, cars would pass by, waving and honking every few minutes. I remember one vehicle in particular though. The actual “Pussy Wagon” from “Kill Bill: Volume 1” drove by the theater and the driver of the vehicle was Quentin Taratino.

Once inside the theater, all hell broke loose. The “Master of Ceremonies,” laid down certain ground rules to the audience and got some very spirited responses back. There were some previews before the actual show began that ranged from music videos, short films and Samwell’s classic “What What” song.

The Tim Burton version of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” was one of the bigger highlights of the night. Actors and actresses, dressed as characters from Tim Burton films, gave a short, but riveting performance. This collage of Burton films included characters such as Batman, Catwoman, Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorshands, Jack Skellington, Pee-wee Herman and aliens from “Mars Attacks!” The transvestite Beetlejuice was icing on the cake.

The part that came next was quite difficult for me. The de-flowering of the people who had never witnessed a Rocky Horror Show was traumatic and fun for all involved. Some people actually wanted to be selected for a humiliating game of “How does your mother say your father’s name while in bed with him?” The winners then played an “up and down” game with the aid of the cast. Keep in mind that the main show hasn’t even begun yet and it was almost 1 a.m.

If you have never been to a Rocky Horror Show, it is, simply stated, a showing of the film at midnight with people dressed like the actors in the film acting out the movie live. This is the reason why “Rocky Horror Picture Show” has achieved such a cult status over the years. The audience is encouraged to be a part of the show by yelling and throwing things in the air. The “Sins O’ The Flesh” theater group provided the cast for the floor show of the movie.

I have never been to a movie in my life where the audience quotes the characters in the movie and also responds to the moving image. People were not just responding with random dialogue. There is a whole script of “call backs” (responses by the audience) for the entire film. In a scene where the protagonists, Brad and Janet, are in a car on a rainy night with the windshield wipers alternating between them, the audience is supposed to yell “slut” when the wipers point to Janet and “asshole” for Brad. Another scene has Janet say, “Oh! What was that bang?” The crowd responded: “A Gang-bang!”

I was completely taken up by the floorshow of the film since there was no way you could pay attention to the actual film. There were props and sets and specialty lighting. The actors and actresses acted out the entire film and did not lip-sync or let the movie sound drown them out. They even interacted with the audience. Dr. Frank-N-Furter asked me where his love slave, Rocky, went and I gladly pointed the way. It was like seeing two shows in one.

The whole ordeal became pretty overwhelming. I was in the very core of a midnight cult movie show phenomenon with people who loved being part of the alternative audience. The movie actually came to life before my eyes. You could basically say and do whatever you wanted, because the patients were running the asylum.

I will forever be happy that I experienced a Rocky Horror Show. It did not matter that I got out of there at 3:30 a.m. and got back to Irvine at 4:20 on Halloween morning. I got to sing and dance the “Time Warp” in an actual theater with people who the general population might consider to be “different.” I say, long live the midnight movie and the insane culture that embraces it!