The Rocky Horror Picture Show
A stranded young couple enters a flamboyant mad scientist's mansion and is swept into a gleefully transgressive glam-rock fantasy.
Overview
A wild night of unexpected pleasures and outrageous encounters awaits in a mysterious mansion.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- campy
- witty
- irreverent
- midnight movie screening
- halloween party
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an uneven but highly enjoyable cult classic whose catchy songs, eccentric performances, and bizarre camp have sustained an extraordinary cultural afterlife.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Frank-N-Furter's mansion, costumes, musical numbers, and knowingly exaggerated performances make camp the film's defining register.
Its long-running late-night screenings, audience call-backs, costumes, and shadow casts transformed the film into a participatory cult phenomenon.
Brad and Janet's encounter with Frank-N-Furter's household disrupts their prudish assumptions through seduction, cross-dressing, and fluid desire.
The Time Warp, Frank-N-Furter's performance persona, and the laboratory's creation sequence merge rock performance with pulp science-fiction fantasy.
Films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and why
The Little Shop of Horrors
camp horror-comedy, musical spectacle, sexual transgression, and cult midnight-movie energy
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
theatrical camp, queer-coded excess, outrageous costumes, and irreverent horror-comedy
The Apple
glam rock musicality, gender-fluid performance, science-fiction fantasy, and flamboyant visual design
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
cult musical form, outsider identity, stylized performance, and provocative celebration of difference
Movie Details
- Director
- Jim Sharman
- Release Date
- 1975-08-14
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (3255)
Cast
- Tim Curry
- Susan Sarandon
- Barry Bostwick
- Richard O'Brien
- Patricia Quinn
- Nell Campbell
- Jonathan Adams
- Peter Hinwood
- Meat Loaf
- Charles Gray
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- BroadwayHD, Broadway HD Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Rocky Horror Picture Show about?
- A stranded young couple enters a flamboyant mad scientist's mansion and is swept into a gleefully transgressive glam-rock fantasy.
- What is The Rocky Horror Picture Show like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Rocky Horror Picture Show violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Rocky Horror Picture Show as mild.
- What did critics think of The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an uneven but highly enjoyable cult classic whose catchy songs, eccentric performances, and bizarre camp have sustained an extraordinary cultural afterlife.
- Which films are like The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
- Films with a similar feel include The Little Shop of Horrors, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, The Apple, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
- How long is The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show runs 100 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
- In United States, The Rocky Horror Picture Show streams on BroadwayHD, Broadway HD Amazon Channel.
