The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
 Ah,
The Timewarp - A wonderfully tacky dance step from Richard
O'Brien's Rocky Horror Picture Show, the travelling horror
musical which managed to combine sex, horror and retro rock 'n'
roll all in one.
An unbridled fantasy about an androgynous intergalactic
emissary passing the time making creatures for his/her sexual
gratification.
Into the Gothic castle-den of Dr Frank N Furter stumble the
hapless middle-class suburbanites Brad and Janet, (pictured at
right) to become entrapped in the nightmare hobbies of Mr Curry.
Rocky Horror was made into a film in 1975 after selling
out as a stage musical at fringe theatres for two years. The film
soon attracted a rabid following who copied the kitsch
transvestite dress and Alice Cooper eye makeup.
Audiences learned the dialogue by heart and shouted replies at
the screen, threw water, rice and flour over themselves (and each
other) in time to screen action, and performed The Timewarp
in step with the stars.
This imitation began in New York City, but its documentation in
Alan Parker's 1980 musical Fame caused imitations in many
other countries.
 Originally
designed as a tribute to the RKO musicals of the 1930s, the camp
over-dressing of the cast, combined with the sexually liberated
theme.
Tim Curry, the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania
- singing to his beautiful male creation "I can make you a
ma-a-a-annn!" - perfectly reflected the spirit of the 70s.
A 1981 semi-sequel (Shock Treatment) found Brad and
Janet embroiled in a bungled satire on American TV values, with
Tim Curry's Frank N Furter much missed - and Barry Humphries
totally excruciating as the new villain.
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