Reading Rocky Horror

The first scholarly collection devoted to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, dissecting the film from diverse perspectives including gender and queer studies, disability studies, cultural studies, genre studies, and film studies.

People Like Us is a photographic documentation of the tight-knit community of dedicated fans who perform in and produce weekly shows of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in theaters around the country, and who in doing so, have kept the film on screens in the pop-culture collective consciousness for forty years. These "shadow cast" performers spend countless hours on painstakingly accurate reproductions of their characters' costumes, special theme nights, set fabrication, and promotions. The film becomes an anchor for their world, with its gently satirical silver screen archetypes and saucy one-liners lending themselves to an abundance of internet memes and fan fiction.

SHAW ON SHAKESPEARE

Rock Musical Characters: 7 males, 3 females Scenery: Interior That sweet transvestite and his motley crew did the time warp on Broadway in a 25th anniversary revival. Complete with sass from the audience, cascading toilet paper and an array of other audience participation props, this deliberately kitschy rock 'n' roll sci fi gothic is more fun than ever. "A socko wacko weirdo rock concert."-WNBC TV. "A musical that deals with mutating identity and time warps becomes one of the most mutated, time warped phenomena in show business."-N.Y. Times. "Campy trash."-Time.

New Updated Collector's Guide Rocky Horror Picture Show remains one of the great cult phenomenas of the last 25 years. Late night showings with audiences interacting with the film have made it the most successful midnight showing film of all time. This book serves as a guide to audience participation for viewers and is provided by the President of the Rocky Horror Fan Club. Includes the audience call backs, props, and much of the script and lyrics in addition to fan contributions.

"An invaluable collection for anyone researching or teaching cult cinema ... The Cult Film Reader is an authoritative text that should be of value to any student or researcher interested in challenging and transgressive cinema that pushes the boundaries of conventional cinema and film studies." Science Fiction Film and Television "A really impressive and comprehensive collection of the key writings in the field. The editors have done a terrific job in drawing together the various traditions and providing a clear sense of this rich and rewarding scholarly terrain. This collection is as wild and diverse as the films that it covers. Fascinating." Mark Jancovich, Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of East Anglia, UK "It's about time the lunatic fans and loyal theorists of cult movies were treated to a book they can call their own. The effort and knowledge contained in The Cult Film Reader will satisfy even the most ravenous zombie's desire for detail and insight. This book will gnaw, scratch and infect you just like the cult films themselves." Brett Sullivan, Director of Ginger Snaps Unleashed and The Chair "The Cult Film Reader is a great film text book and a fun read." John Landis, Director of The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson's Thriller "Excellent overview of the subject, and a comprehensive collection of significant scholarship in the field of cult film. Very impressive and long overdue." Steven Rawle, York St John University, UK Whether defined by horror, kung-fu, sci-fi, sexploitation, kitsch musical or ‘weird world cinema’, cult movies and their global followings are emerging as a distinct subject of film and media theory, dedicated to dissecting the world’s unruliest images. This book is the world’s first reader on cult film. It brings together key works in the field on the structure, form, status, and reception of cult cinema traditions. Including work from key established scholars in the field such as Umberto Eco, Janet Staiger, Jeffrey Sconce, Henry Jenkins, and Barry Keith Grant, as well as new perspectives on the gradually developing canon of cult cinema, the book not only presents an overview of ways in which cult cinema can be approached, it also re-assesses the methods used to study the cult text and its audiences. With editors’ introductions to the volume and to each section, the book is divided into four clear thematic areas of study – The Conceptions of Cult; Cult Case Studies; National and International Cults; and Cult Consumption – to provide an accessible overview of the topic. It also contains an extensive bibliography for further related readings. Written in a lively and accessible style, The Cult Film Reader dissects some of biggest trends, icons, auteurs and periods of global cult film production. Films discussed include Casablanca, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Eraserhead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Showgirls and Ginger Snaps. Essays by: Jinsoo An; Jane Arthurs; Bruce Austin; Martin Barker; Walter Benjamin; Harry Benshoff; Pierre Bourdieu; Noel Carroll; Steve Chibnall; Umberto Eco; Nezih Erdogan; Welch Everman; John Fiske; Barry Keith Grant ; Joan Hawkins; Gary Hentzi; Matt Hills; Ramaswami Harindranath; J.Hoberman; Leon Hunt; I.Q. Hunter; Mark Jancovich; Henry Jenkins; Anne Jerslev; Siegfried Kracauer; Gina Marchetti; Tom Mes; Gary Needham; Sheila J. Nayar; Annalee Newitz; Lawrence O’Toole; Harry Allan Potamkin; Jonathan Rosenbaum; Andrew Ross; David Sanjek; Eric Schaefer; Steven Jay Schneider; Jeffrey Sconce; Janet Staiger; J.P. Telotte; Parker Tyler; Jean Vigo; Harmony Wu

When 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' was released in 1975, it initially received an indifferent reception in movie theaters, but began to gain notoriety after it was embraced by audiences at midnight screenings in New York City and elsewhere. The movies tells the misadventures of newly engaged Brad and Janet whose car breaks down in a rainstorm forcing them to seek refuge in the castle of the bizarre and flamboyant Dr. Frank-N-Furter. An homage to campy B-movies, sci-fi, and horror films, the movie was - and still is - more than the sum of its parts. Participatory and party-like, midnight showings attract moviegoers who dress as film characters, sing along with the catchy show tunes, and interact with the action on screen. In the four decades since its release, it has become a cultural phenomenon, not to mention one of the most commercially successful films of all time. 0In 'Fan phenomena: "The Rocky Horror Picture Show, "' editor Marisa C. Hayes brings together a diverse group of writers who explore the film's influence on the development of the pastiche tribute film, emerging queer activism of the 1970s, glam rock style, and the creative use of audience dialogue in recreating and interacting with the spoken and sung language of the film. Spotlighting a cult phenomenon and its fans, who count the number of times they've seen the movie in the hundreds, this contribution to the 'Fan phenomena' series covers never before explored topics related to 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. For anyone who has ever done the "Time Warp," this will be an essential reading.

Sal Piro, President of the International Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club looks at the first 15 years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show fandom and how the quirky film became an international phenomena. This edition presents in its entirety, the original book from 1990 (Stabur) with all the pictures and narratives from the beginning to the celebration of the 15th Anniversary. Time was...and is...fleeting...come, join in....