'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' takes audience on a time warp

The cult classic aired Tuesday at The Blue Note.

By Emily Willroth

Published Oct. 30, 2009

Entering The Blue Note Tuesday night, it was clear the evening's film wasn't your ordinary popcorn flick. With just a jump to the left and a step to the right, fans of the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" were catapulted into a world of provocatively dressed women and even more scantily clad men donning feather boas and sequined corsets.

As the film's feature song "Time Warp" suggests, audience members entered into a time warp, celebrating a tradition of sexual blatancy and science fiction fantasy prevalent in the cult scene since the 1970s.

The film is a musical comedy parodying horror and science fiction, featuring a slew of unusual characters from the planet Transsexual, Transylvania. A critical and commercial flop upon its 1975 theatrical release, the film broke through as an audience participatory experience and made its name as a cult classic.

As show time approached, a man, who introduced himself as Mark "The Master" Chambers, stepped up to the microphone to lay down some ground rules. An average looking, albeit portly man, fans would later see Chambers in full "Rocky" regale, sporting 3-inch heels, torn fishnet leggings and a black corset several sizes too small.

"When we turn on this sign, yell 'slut,' " Chambers said. "When we turn on this sign, yell 'asshole.' "

The rest of his speech was drowned out by the playful catcalls from the audience as his assistant flashed the two signs intermittently.

"You become a part of the movie as soon as you learn those first two lines," Chambers said.

Those call-backs were an integral part of the "Rocky Horror" experience and have evolved over the years as organic entities, changing with time and location.

"It's interesting seeing it here because you get people from all over and everyone knows different lines," Living Canvas owner Eric Mezzanotte said.

In addition to the call-backs, audience interaction included showing up in costume, participating in the dance numbers and slinging handfuls of uncooked rice, toast and toilet paper during the respective scenes.

Goody bags filled with the appropriate props in hand, the crowd erupted as a pair of heavily rouged lips took over the screen and the show began.

The "virgins" of the night, those who had never been to a live screening of the film before, sat idly in their seats, branded with large, lipstick V's on their foreheads.

"Every time you put a 'V' on someone's forehead, they become a very special person in 'Rocky,' " Chambers said. "Some people react by stiffening up like trees, others just go absolutely haywire."

It's the immersion of these virgins into the world of live "Rocky Horror" mayhem that keeps the tradition alive. Once a coming of age ritual, celebrated weekly in most large cities, the practice of live screenings is dwindling, now rarely seen outside the Halloween season.

"It's kind of like a white dwarf star," Chambers said. "It got so big it imploded on itself, but it will never be completely gone."

Chambers celebrated his 30th year as a "Rocky Horror" emcee this past Tuesday, having purportedly viewed the film several thousand times.

"It will never get old for me," Chambers said. "It restarts in my head every time I see those lips on the screen."

As Halloween passes by, "Rocky Horror" fans will put away their corsets and stockings and resume their everyday lives until next year, when groups of fishnet clad veterans and lipstick branded virgins congregate and once again scream, "Let's do the time warp again!"