The screening of the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” started with an audience member costume contest. The emcee selected the final three, and then the audience voted by shouting its appreciation.
Jeremy Bryan, a local artist, dressed as Dr. Frank-N-Furter complete with fishnet tights, black pumps, corset and curly black wig. Bryan was the costume contest winner.
“This was my first time coming to a live show, so I went all out,” Bryan said. “I’ve been trying to go for years.”
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” premiered in 1975 and has since attained status as a cult classic.
Attendees could purchase prop bags, which included all the materials to interact with the movie. When there was a wedding on screen, rice was thrown throughout the theater. When it was raining in the film, audience members put newspapers over their heads to protect themselves from their fellow moviegoers who were armed with squirt guns to simulate a storm.
“I know it has a huge cult following, and it surpassed all of my expectations in terms of crowd participation,” IU student Lilly Griffin-Duncan said.
The film contains a progressive undercurrent for the time period in which it was created, with Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his henchmen hailing from the planet Transexual in the galaxy Transylvania and Rocky Horror himself climbing out of a tank of rainbow colored water to celebrate his “first day out.”
Every person in the theater took the Rocky Horror pledge before the screening, pledging allegiance to the lips of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, with sins of flesh for all.
The entire audience got to its feet to dance along to musical numbers, and almost every line in the film was repeated by members of the audience, famous lines shouted at the top of their lungs.
“I thought the crowd participation was really great,” IU student Dakota Langdon said. “I had some trouble following along, and I lost some of my props, but overall it was super fun.”
Even with the enthusiastic crowd participation, Langdon said the film itself is enough to draw fans back.
“I’ve been a fan of ‘Rocky Horror’ since high school,” Langdon said. “At the very least, I knew I was going to get to see a movie that I’ve seen a million times and love to death.”
