Newly engaged Brad and Janet find themselves stranded with a flat tire in a ferocious storm. They walk through the rain to a nearby castle, hoping to use the manor’s phone to get help. Instead, house servant Riff Raff escorts them to a dance hall where they’re introduced to Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania”. Frank leads the couple to his lab where he brings his creation, a fit young man named Rocky, to life (á la Frankenstein’s monster). When the ensuing celebration is interrupted by Frank’s ex-lover Eddie, Frank kills Eddie and Brad and Janet are whisked away to separate bedrooms. From here, the film spirals into a funny, sexual romp with sex, cannibalism, aliens, cabaret, and a fatal laser-trident. Oh, and this is all carried through song!
It’s sort of hard to craft a review for a story so intentionally derivative and yet strangely original, especially with the subjectivity-caveat of needing to be pretty pro-sex to appreciate this one. That said, I loved the flick. I found the comedy to be hilarious, the songs to be catchy, and the design—somewhere between Frankenstein and the Hunger Games—to be alluring. The film is sexy and sexual, chock-full of innuendo, sexual iconography, partial nudity, and fully steeped in themes of sexual vulnerability, conquest, loss of virginity, voyeurism, and any-port-in-a-literal-storm undiscriminating bisexuality. All of this madness is anchored perfectly by Tim Curry’s enthralling, high-energy performance. I admit that on this first pass, I got a bit lost in plot details wrapped up in lyrics (as I tend to do with most musicals), leading to a post-watch google. I also feel like, by the end, the film kind of gives up on story and simply embraces its musical hilarity and excitement, without much meaningful resolve. But then again, both as parody and as a statement on human kind’s indulgence in unrestrained pleasure amidst its otherwise crippling insignificance, maybe that makes sense.