"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" returned to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater for the movie's 50th anniversary Saturday night. With two screenings, the show drew a large crowd to the theater, filling up the seats with old and new fans.
Although the movie was originally a flop when it premiered in 1975 with a somewhat confusing storyline, it has grown a cult following of fans who come back year after year to watch and interact with the movie. The interactive tradition still popular today began at a midnight screening in 1976 at the Waverly Theater in New York.
“Yeah, my parents actually used to go to ‘Rocky Horror’ when I was a kid, so I grew up seeing them like, dress up and have fun and these kinds of things,” longtime fan and Bloomington resident Kieran Alumbaugh said.
Alumbaugh has attended the interactive showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for a couple of years now and enjoys seeing the crowd’s reactions and the culture created with the movie. This showing was one of the most interactive ones she’s participated in, she said, including many different callouts for fans to shout at the screen.
Fans were encouraged to throw items and shout at the screen during Saturday’s event. For an extra $5, attendees could purchase prop bags, which included items like rice, rubber gloves, noisemakers and toilet paper to use or throw during specific scenes. A participation guide was included to help attendees know when to use each item.
“I thought it was really cool,” longtime fan and Nashville Indiana resident, Christy Crandall said. “I mean it’s amazing how there’s people that, like, know every line and they know everything to say back to the movie which is really amazing.”
The audience interacted with the movie by throwing rice and toilet paper, shooting water out of a water pistol to simulate rain or even shouting different things when specific characters appeared onscreen. Fans interacted in their own ways by reacting to different scenes aloud or singing along to the songs; many even wore costumes and dressed up as characters from the movie.
The cult classic film drew fans new and old to the theater. Crandall, a devoted fan, recalls seeing the movie for the first time in 1979 at a theater in Bloomington off 17th Street.
“I went with friends, you know we were hanging out at Bullwinkle’s and they were like ‘you need to go to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” so we went and it was just so much fun,” Crandall said. “It was a little bit (interactive), but this was like the biggest interactive show I’ve ever seen.”
Dr. Frank-N-Furter, one of the main characters, is a popular icon in the queer community for his representation of sexuality and gender expression. Showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” often draw a large crowd from all groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.
Many other characters and aspects of the movie represented queer communities as well, with even the most boring of characters, like Brad and Janet, exploring their sexualities throughout the movie. The aesthetics of the movie also offer representation, with the Transylvanian castle being decked out in color and rainbow in contrast with Brad and Janets life before. Through this representation, the movie has brought safe spaces for the queer community to freely express themselves.
Crandall’s spouse, Marion Banzhaf, who saw the show for the first time two years ago in Nashville, Indiana, has grown to be a fan and appreciate the film as well.
“We love ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ and it’s just such an amazing look at transgression and being yourself and demanding self-determination,” Banzhaf said. “It’s just a celebration of being different.”
