It's 2025 And I Just Watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show For The First Time – These Are My Honest Thoughts

Hello, it's me again. The guy who somehow managed to develop a sense of humor despite never having seen the original "Naked Gun" movie. Now, after /Film higher-ups threatened to take me out into a field and shoot me with an anti-matter laser gun that looks surprisingly like a garden trowel, I've finally sat down to watch the fishnet-covered fever dream that is Jim Sharman's "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in time for its 50th anniversary. My first impressions? Well, it's pretty wild, isn't it? But then again, that's hardly surprising coming from the musical's co-creator and Riff Raff himself, Richard O'Brien, who to me will always be the flute-playing, leopard jacket-wearing U.K. game show host of "The Crystal Maze" (think "Legends of the Hidden Temple" for grown-ups).

Now, what I need to clarify from the start is that musicals have never been my thing, no matter how new or old they are. I still haven't held space with "Wicked," just as I've never been interested in finding out why Gene Kelly was so happy to start "Singin' in the Rain." While they might get watched someday, my respect for the genre isn't diminished because of the chest-heaving, tear-jerking moments they've given fans through songs that are forever embedded in the public mind. Regarding "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," however, there's a different kind of admiration — just for the fact that this film has exactly zero f***s to give over how bonkers it is, and for one star in particular, who's singing his scantily clad rear end off.

The biggest takeaway I had from my first time viewing of "The Rocky Horror Show" is that we must be eternally grateful that Sharman and Richard O'Brien brought back Tim Curry from the stage show in stockings and heels. Sure, everyone is giving their best in the lead-up to reaching the Frankenstein place, but when Curry reveals himself as the sweet transvestite, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, in what would be his big-screen debut, it's hard not to see other characters that would eventually come his way in the years ahead.

Some will forever see Curry as the transsexual from Transylvania, and understandably so. His performance is infectious, outshining everyone else in this film of gothic glitz and glamour. The first-time film star here creates what feels like the estranged cousin to Ziggy Stardust (whose look, along with Frank-N-Furter, was also designed by make-up artist Pierre La Roche), and it's remarkable. Even though he came to dislike the look itself, it's with that unmistakable toothy grin that shows hints of what's to come. Shades of Pennywise the Clown, Rooster Hannigan from "Annie," Wadsworth from "Clue," and even the grossly overlooked "Muppet Treasure Island" as Long John Silver are all lurking beneath the makeup and madness.

That being said, it can't be ignored that this castle-turned-spaceship is a full house, and it's understandable why every voice in it has spoken to so many over the last 50 years as one of the best-adapted Broadway musicals ever. It's also why it shouldn't just attract new audiences to do the timewarp again; it's essential that it does.

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has been practically sacred within the LGBTQ+ community, and finally seeing it makes it crystal clear as to why. This is a movie about self-expression, sexual freedom, and accepting oneself and those around you in whatever form. It's undoubtedly been said dozens of times before in more fan-obsessed analysis than this one, but seeing Frank-N-Furter drip feed colors into Rocky Horror's chamber to settle like the colors of the PRIDE flag (which wouldn't be created for another three years) just feels wonderfully fitting for a film that was ahead of its time before it even knew it was.

The plot might seem like an acid trip wrapped in a pearl necklace, but it's the striking imagery and other small yet shamelessly stupendous moments that have so much to say. Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as the square, by-the-book couple, Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, breaking from conventions still resonates 50 years later and rightfully so. It's a misfit of a musical. A jump to the left of "The Wizard of Oz" and a step to the right of "Tommy" (another wild musical I've actually seen), and between them both is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." I finally get why it will never lose its status as a beloved classic, mainly thanks to Tim Curry thrusting at the camera and loving every second. 

My final note is this — Bill Skarsgård might have made a good Pennywise, but there's only one Frank-N-Furter.