Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do The Time Warp Again Review

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a cult classic originally released in 1975, follows the story of Brad Majors and his fiancee, Janet Weiss. After their car breaks down, the couple seeks shelter at the castle of Dr. Frank N. Furter, a bisexual transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy Transylvania. They quickly become involved in Dr. Frank N. Furter’s plan to create a man with blonde hair and a tan, who is good for relieving his tensions. This mastermind scheme requires the help of his butler, Riff-Raff, his maid, Magenta, and his loyal servant, Columbia - who begins to question her dedication after Frank N. Furter harms Eddie, her one true love.

A remake of the renowned film was recently released under Fox studios, the same company to produce the original movie. This was created to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Rocky Horror, which struggled to gain popularity until midnight showings of the film began, which included including audience participation such as throwing toilet paper at the theater screen and yelling out lines with the characters. The remake followed the exact script and songs of the original, and incorporated clips of the audience as a nod to the midnight showings that defined the 1975 film as a cult classic.

Cinematography:

We’ll be taking several factors into consideration when discussing the overall cinematography throughout this review. This includes components such as the scenery, the editing and graphics of the film, and overall aesthetic - and how much we enjoyed it. The only real complaint to be found from the original was the poor graphics throughout the film (those laser special effects were...interesting?) - but of course we can’t judge considering the movie was produced in the 1970’s. There were also several transitions between scenes that gave both of us flashbacks to the Windows Movie Maker we used back in the fourth grade.

The remake was most definitely an improvement in terms of graphics and editing, but there were quite a few times where we preferred the simplicity of the original. The scenery was often cluttered -such as in Frank N. Furter’s laboratory- and therefore caused the movie to lack the suspense and mysteriousness that the classic held. There were a large amount of cuts between characters speaking within scenes which caused some confusion, along with a desire for an editing style that wasn’t as busy. One of the frequent cuts that were made during scenes was to an audience watching the movie within the movie. A large group of outcasts in the classic theater would partake in traditions from the midnight screenings of the film such as throwing toilet paper and yelling out lines. Although a valiant effort at a nod to the effects the classic had, the bit got tiring and somewhat distracting after the first couple of times. Overall, the cinematography of the remake outdid that of the original, scoring 1 point higher on our scale of Fishnet Stockings.

ORIGINAL: 2.5/5 Fishnet Stockings REMAKE: 3/5 Fishnet Stockings

Costumes:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is known for the iconic costumes and looks that characters put on display throughout the film. Rocky’s golden speedo, Frank’s fishnets, and Eddie’s leather jacket are all clothes that become a symbolic and representative piece of their personalities. We loved the costuming shown in the original, but somehow loved the costuming in the remake even more. Aside from one or two small complaints on individual costumes - we’re looking at you, Frank N. Furter’s entrance look! That was not okay! - the simple clothes that everyone wore did a perfect job at communicating who their character was supposed to be, even if they couldn’t live up to it through their performance. The remake managed to incorporate several outfits for each character to magically change into between scenes, and we’re not complaining at all. We loved being able to marvel in Laverne Cox’s beauty as she strutted her stuff in 6 different costumes, all weirdly satisfying.

During one of the commercial breaks they cut to behind the scenes of the costumes and makeup, in which the fashion designers explained a concept called “victim blue.” This was the color that Brad and Janet displayed throughout the film to characterize and identify themselves as the victims of the plot, and definitely made an impact on how we saw them. On the other end of the color spectrum, the director explained that he made sure to use various shades of red to differentiate the Transylvanians from the people of Earth. Magenta, Frank N. Furter, and their outer space friends and family all pop off the screen wearing crimson, cherry, and, well, Magenta!

ORIGINAL: 4/5 High Heels REMAKE: 4.5/5 High Heels

Portrayal of Characters:

Of course we had to give the original a perfect score when it came to the portrayal of characters, nobody can play the people better than those who originally played them! Unfortunately, this allowed for a large margin of error when we came to scoring the remake. From the classic our favorite characters were Brad and Rocky, both for their cluelessness that made them that much more adorable. However, these traits were not found in the remake. For us the majority of the cast failed to capture the essence of the people (or things) they were supposed to be playing, and at times this ended up ruining the mood of the film. The only person that managed to maintain their personality throughout the movie was Columbia, which was why she was chosen as our favorite character! Everyone else seemed to falter at times and transform from being almost spot on to not at all close to what their character was supposed to be (but we won’t name any names, there’s enough blame to go around). This ultimately caused the remake to score 2.5 points lower than the original on portrayal of characters. Don’t worry, Laverne, we still love you.

ORIGINAL: 5/5 Golden Speedos REMAKE: 2.5/5 Golden Speedos

Music:

One of the most memorable pieces of this classic film is the music. Even if you don’t remember the movie or its plot, you probably know how to do the Time Warp. We loved the music of both the original and the remake, and are probably listening to a playlist from both movies right now. However, we rated the music of the remake 0.5 points better than that of the original. The original didn’t seem to focus on the music and certainly did not cast their characters for their singing abilities, with the exception of Eddie, who was played by Meat Loaf- a popular musician at the time - we hate to break it to you, Brad, but Damnit Janet was most definitely out of your range. Other than a few cringes, the lack of singers in the original cast didn’t seem to affect how much we enjoyed the overall movie, seeing as they made up for it with their acting abilities.

The remake featured several modern singers in its arsenal, such as Victoria Justice, Ryan McCartan, Adam Lambert, Christina Milian, and Reeve Carney. Seemingly the opposite of the remake, we ended up preferring the music to the acting. Some of the songs were revised and updated to better suit the ears of us millennials, rather than seeming like a piece of script that somebody randomly decided to sing. Because of this, we feel that the producers of the remake may have spent too much time working on the music, and allowed the actors to falter several times throughout the film. It probably doesn’t matter too much, seeing as we’ll still be rocking out to both versions of Hot Patootie.

Bacon Courier

Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do The Time Warp Again Review

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