Why is MTV remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

[Strangler Lewis]

Query: I first saw Rocky Horror in 1978 (after Boss Radio's confirmation), and I remember the ads in the paper from when it was first released. (I thought they were scary.) Now, much as I love To Kill A Mockingbird, The Music Man, King Kong v. Godzilla and many other fine movies released in 1962, the year I was born, I have a hard time viewing these movies and their characters as part of "my time" the way I did Rocky Horror.

So, for you young people, what's the lure? Cultural relevance? Cultural curio? Or is Rocky Horror one of those transcendant creations, like The Beatles that every generation discovers?

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

Or is Rocky Horror one of those transcendant creations, like The Beatles that every generation discovers?

I think the answer to this is turning out to be yes.

[Boss Radio]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

Query: I first saw Rocky Horror in 1978 (after Boss Radio's confirmation), and I remember the ads in the paper from when it was first released. (I thought they were scary.) Now, much as I love To Kill A Mockingbird, The Music Man, King Kong v. Godzilla and many other fine movies released in 1962, the year I was born, I have a hard time viewing these movies and their characters as part of "my time" the way I did Rocky Horror.

So, for you young people, what's the lure? Cultural relevance? Cultural curio? Or is Rocky Horror one of those transcendant creations, like The Beatles that every generation discovers?

In the 1970s, the midnight movie was a new concept. Underground indie films like Eraserhead, Pink Flamingos, El Topo and rediscovered gems like Reefer Madness were all the rage at second run and revival house midnight screenings. It literally was a second revenue stream for the theater, and would only work via word of mouth. Rocky Horror, which I saw first with a "dead" audience as the first half of a double feature with Ken Russell's unfortunate Liztomania, had the cultural resonance of a cross-dressing musical Star Wars...once it started screening at midnight. It became a must-see, and grew into an organized cult - a rite of passage as immortalized in Fame, and eventually an evergreen phenomenon.

But I digress. It is one of those transcendant works that each generation discovers...and SL - 1978 was thirty years ago? Seems like only twenty.