It’s that time of year again…the time my allergist calls “the witching season,” and not just because of all the black cat and cauldron decorations popping up everywhere.
It’s the perfect time to imagine yourself as something you’re not….say, a professor…or a leather-jacketed biker…or an alien… or a corset-and-fishnet-stockinged drag queen.
In short, this is the perfect time of year to take out your DVD of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” from your shelf of Ten Best Movies, and “Do The Time Warp” again.”
Clearly, Fox Television agrees with me, which may be why they scheduled their remake of the classic for air this week, with transgender actress Laverne Cox in the central role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Or perhaps, in an unprecedented burst of empathy, Fox scheduled this extravaganza for October 20th in recognition of the obvious need we will all have for something to scrub our brains with, after the final Presidential debate the night before.
But no matter how fabulous the remake turns out to be, it will never take the place of the version that taught me to yell back at the movie screen, in the late 1970s, in Greenwich Village!
At first, when friends took me to the bizarre movie that could only be seen in midnight showings, I was at a complete loss. “Why are you bringing newspapers?” I asked them. “And what’s with the uncooked rice? It’s not even edible!”
“You’ll see,” was all they said, with cryptic grins.
Before long, I, too was getting into the swing of the cheerful romp — throwing rice at the newlyweds on the screen, and ducking under the newspaper when folks with water-pistols in the theater created a rainstorm to match the one in the film. I learned to yell “Where’s your f***in’ neck?” and “No Sh*t, Sherlock!” at the Narrator, right on cue, along with the theater-full of new-found friends.
“Rocky Horror” was an experience beyond the screen — perhaps the first such phenomenon.
But when I went back to view it for this report, I found out that it holds up remarkably well as a film, all on its own.
It’s a completely wacky, vampy take on the Frankenstein story, with Tim Curry in a miles-over-the-top portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein. Now, there is a man who can really wear a corset, garter belt and fishnet stockings! Plus he’s one heck of a singer. Somewhat to my surprise, I found myself completely unable to watch anything or anyone else when he was on camera.
And the “Time Warp” is, well, timeless. Every New Year’s eve, my husband and I join friends in welcoming the new year with as nimble a version as we can manage of the Time Warp dance.
My favorite scene in the film, however, comes near the beginning, when newly-engaged Brad and Janet are stumbling through the dark and the rain, towards “the Frankenstein place.” It turns out that the imposing Gothic structure toward which they are stumbling is, in real life, an English manor house called Oakley Court, and a functioning hotel! My husband booked us in for a night there, during our honeymoon (mid-night visit from Tim Curry not included).
My new husband cheerfully showed me around all the rooms where various scenes had been filmed.
What he neglected to tell me was the completely unrelated legend that some ghosts were also believed to haunt the place.
At least, he neglected to tell me until we were driving away, en route to our next destination.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I asked him. “That way I could have seen if I felt anything!”
“You wouldn’t have slept a wink.”
“That’s absurd. You know I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“I know you always say that, but when it gets dark….”
“Anyway, it’s a big place. It’s not as if it was our exact room they haunted….right?”
He stayed silent.
Maybe it’s just as well he didn’t tell me.
But whether you believe in ghosts, witches, and evil spirits, or just the ones on TV — here’s wishing us all a Happy Halloween, and may we all do the Time Warp for many New Years to come!
A Look On The Lighter Side: Time for a ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’
By Judy Epstein
