I didn’t know it when I woke up the morning of October 31st, but Halloween 2019 was about to become my favorite Halloween yet. That night I was going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time with a few friends, and I had no idea how much I would love the experience.
I had literally no idea what Rocky Horror was about. I listened to the soundtrack a few days before to familiarize myself with the songs, but without having seen the movie, they gave away nothing about the plot (the soundtrack is so fun though, it’s definitely worth a listen). All I knew going in was that it was a bad movie with a shadow cast. But there was so much more to the experience than that.
We got to the movie theater and encountered a long line of people waiting to enter. As we waited, a member of the shadow cast walked up and down the line, asking people if they were virgins— meaning people who hadn’t seen the movie in a theater with a shadow cast before. If you were, she would draw a “V” somewhere on your face with bright red lipstick. They also sold prop bags full of items you could use that would make the show interactive.
Before the show began, the cast had everyone in the theater stand up. They asked for people who had seen Rocky Horror however many number of times to sit down, decreasing the number until only the virgins were left standing. There are different traditions every time, but at our showing they made us sing and act out the “I’m a little teapot” song to lose our virginity. It was ridiculous and ridiculously fun. They also taught us the Time Warp dance so we could perform it along with the rest of the audience during that scene in the movie.
When the movie began, we quickly noticed a particular guy in the audience who knew every joke to shout. It seemed as though he knew the entire script by heart, and everything that he said was hilarious. It was truly wild to watch a movie where talking was not only allowed, but encouraged.
I was also very impressed by how well the shadow cast knew what they were doing. They couldn’t see the screen, but their mannerisms lined up perfectly with the characters they were imitating. The synchronization was basically perfect, and it was definitely an essential part of the experience.
My favorite part was being able to participate with the props. When Janet wore a newspaper on her head to protect herself from the rain, so did we. My favorite prop was when we threw entire rolls of toilet paper around the theater. You’d toss yours behind you until a new one fell in your lap, and eventually, there was just toilet paper everywhere. It was ridiculously fun, and we couldn’t stop laughing.
The movie itself was absolutely terrible, but that’s kind of the point. Making fun of it was so fun, and I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing the entire time. I know I’ll be going back to see the show again and again, and it’s most likely going to become a Halloween tradition. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s performed every Saturday night at the AMC at Boston Commons. Go lose your Rocky Horror virginity— it’s definitely worth it.
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