News
August 21, 2025
The Fate of the Midnight Movie Still Hangs in the Tragedy of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’
'70s Week: The divisive glam rock classic turns 50 at a critical time for complexity and camp in repertory cinema.
**The Fate of the Midnight Movie Still Hangs in the Tragedy of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’**
As '70s Week rolls on, one film looms large, casting a long shadow over the landscape of repertory cinema: ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ This glam rock spectacle, a cinematic lightning rod from its initial release, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. But the milestone arrives at a precarious moment, a time when the very future of the midnight movie tradition, so closely intertwined with ‘Rocky Horror’s’ enduring legacy, faces an uncertain fate.
‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ wasn't an instant hit. In fact, it was initially deemed a critical and commercial failure. However, something extraordinary happened. The film found a second life, and an incredibly devoted audience, in the realm of late-night screenings. These weren't just passive viewings; they were participatory events. Armed with props, memorized lines, and a fervent desire to engage with the outlandish narrative, audiences transformed the film into a living, breathing phenomenon.
This interactive experience, the call-and-response, the costumed revelry, became the template for the modern midnight movie. ‘Rocky Horror’ demonstrated the power of community and the potential for cinema to transcend the screen and become a shared, almost ritualistic, experience. It provided a safe haven, a place where outsiders and those who felt different could come together and celebrate the bizarre and the beautiful.
But the landscape is changing. Streaming services offer instant access to a vast library of films, challenging the need to physically gather in a theater. The economic realities of running repertory cinemas, already struggling before, have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The question now is whether the unique magic of the midnight movie, so powerfully embodied by ‘Rocky Horror,’ can survive in this new era.
The film's 50th anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on its impact and consider the future of the cultural spaces it helped to create. Will new generations discover the joy of throwing toast at the screen and shouting back at Dr. Frank-N-Furter? Or will the participatory cinema experience, so vital to ‘Rocky Horror’s’ success, fade away, leaving only a memory of sequined corsets and transgressive glee? The answer, like the fate of the midnight movie itself, remains to be seen.
As '70s Week rolls on, one film looms large, casting a long shadow over the landscape of repertory cinema: ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ This glam rock spectacle, a cinematic lightning rod from its initial release, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. But the milestone arrives at a precarious moment, a time when the very future of the midnight movie tradition, so closely intertwined with ‘Rocky Horror’s’ enduring legacy, faces an uncertain fate.
‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ wasn't an instant hit. In fact, it was initially deemed a critical and commercial failure. However, something extraordinary happened. The film found a second life, and an incredibly devoted audience, in the realm of late-night screenings. These weren't just passive viewings; they were participatory events. Armed with props, memorized lines, and a fervent desire to engage with the outlandish narrative, audiences transformed the film into a living, breathing phenomenon.
This interactive experience, the call-and-response, the costumed revelry, became the template for the modern midnight movie. ‘Rocky Horror’ demonstrated the power of community and the potential for cinema to transcend the screen and become a shared, almost ritualistic, experience. It provided a safe haven, a place where outsiders and those who felt different could come together and celebrate the bizarre and the beautiful.
But the landscape is changing. Streaming services offer instant access to a vast library of films, challenging the need to physically gather in a theater. The economic realities of running repertory cinemas, already struggling before, have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The question now is whether the unique magic of the midnight movie, so powerfully embodied by ‘Rocky Horror,’ can survive in this new era.
The film's 50th anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on its impact and consider the future of the cultural spaces it helped to create. Will new generations discover the joy of throwing toast at the screen and shouting back at Dr. Frank-N-Furter? Or will the participatory cinema experience, so vital to ‘Rocky Horror’s’ success, fade away, leaving only a memory of sequined corsets and transgressive glee? The answer, like the fate of the midnight movie itself, remains to be seen.
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Entertainment