Among the vast ocean of film works from 1895 to the present, there is a film whose bizarre image style is mixed with a strong visual impact, and the ridiculous bloody and violent plot severely cuts the human nature and the back of the world. It is exaggerated. The niche, it subverts; it deviates from the classics, it criticizes and reflects; it deconstructs traditional values in the black, and releases wild imagination in the erotic. It is a cult movie.
Cult films are what we usually call "cult films". "Watching Movies" magazine has selected one hundred classic cult movies, among which the well-known "Fight Club", "Pulp Fiction" and "Natural Murderer" are among them. In addition, from the film master Pasolini's "One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom", Zodulowski's "Holy Blood", to the "Pastoral Ceremony of the Dead" by the famous Japanese master Terayama, the garden Wen's "Why Hell Is Bad" and other high-powered and unpopular masterpieces are all cult masterpieces full of alienation and grotesqueness.
And what we are going to talk about today is the "Rocky Horror Show", which has been enthusiastically respected by niche fans for more than 40 years and is known as the originator of "cult movies"
This film from 1975 is called the "first" cult film. In fact, there are many classics full of cult atmosphere before "Rocky Horror Show", such as master Hitchcock's classic "Scary", German Mornau expressionist work "Nosferatu", surrealist horror film history The story "The Bride of Frankenstein" and so on.
As mentioned above, these are movies with cult temperament or cult elements , and "Rocky Horror Show" is a true and complete "cult" movie, which is why it was named the "originator". .
In 1975, the insightful Jim Sharman adapted the weird and wild stage play "Rocky Horror Show" into a movie of the same name. The story tells two stories that are not fuel-efficient young lovers Brad and Jenny. , Entered Dr. Frank’s Gothic castle on a stormy night. They witnessed everything weird in the castle, such as cross-dressing, transgender, locomotive, gorgeous rock, sex and violence, artificial people, individualistic carnival... Various counter-trend cultures impacted the young soul. After experiencing a series of absurd and bizarre events refreshing the three views, Brad and Jenny completed the liberation of humanity, and Dr. Frank, who changed them, was also in an elegy midnight. I left this world after the performance...
When it was first released, "Rocky Horror Show" was left out of the cold due to the sensitive topics involved in too many moral ranges and the avant-garde thinking. However, the re-screening at night has brought it back to life. More and more audiences are fascinated by its grotesque, crowding into the cinema at midnight, shouting "jerk" when the male protagonist appears, and shouting "to the heroine". "Bitch", and with the crazy dancing, singing, and laughing of the characters in the film, the unidentified passion and personality of the younger generation are released here, and they find their sustenance in this anti-traditional value film.
At the beginning of the film, gorgeous and weird red lips occupy the center of the black screen, and a song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" is sung by the charming voice of red lips. The strong black and red contrast has a visual impact, and what is even more impressive is , This song is full of tribute to B-level films of the old era. From Flying Gordon to Dr. X, from Anne Francis to Raiden Hua Film Company, all are the cultural symbols of B-level films.
The movies mentioned in the song are crude because of their age, but they can't conceal their "anti-genre" edge. No matter horror, science fiction, eroticism, or action, they will subvert your perception of this type of movie. Here is a compilation for everyone, if you are interested, you can find it:
The Day the Earth Stopped (1951), Pan Gordon (1936), Invisible Man (1933), King Kong (1933), Space Visitor (1953), Dr. X (1932), Taboo Planet (1956), Tarantula (1955) ), the Age of the Three-Pointed Tree (1962), The Night of the Devil (1957), When the World Was Destroyed (1951)
Starting with the opening song "Science Fiction/Double Feature", the sixteen gorgeous rock and roll songs of the whole movie are still sung, which is also the charm of this movie. Characters with exaggerated appearance sing these songs and dance frantically, showing an artistic sense derived from stage musicals and higher than musicals.
The metaphor and playfulness of "Rocky Horror Show" is not only in the song, but also in the details. Take Dr. Frank's surgical gown, for example, the red inverted triangle symbol on it is actually a symbol of the Nazis' opposition to gay men during World War II.
In the second half of the film, Dr. Frank dressed in women’s clothing, singing freely into the pool, the painting on the bottom of the pool is "Genesis", which also metaphors Frank created Rocky, and even pays tribute to the "creation" in "Frankenstein" metaphor.
In this hodgepodge of grotesque, sci-fi, song and dance, the most absurd and lovely portraits in movie history are portrayed. Their deep impression is not only in their exaggerated and fascinating shapes, but almost every character has an extremely strong image. Their personalities, their very different souls each symbolize different ideological values and groups.
Tim Kerry is a rock star himself. Needless to say, his singing skills are of course the most eye-catching outfit that refreshes the aesthetics of ordinary people. The gorgeous rock and roll style has elevated monsters and romance to the extreme, a complete transcendence. The beauty of gender boundaries was revealed by him. Dr. Frank, the soul character he plays, has an anti-traditional atmosphere in every move. To a certain extent, his cross-dressing is a metaphor for the alienation of the post-modern patriarchal society, but his creation of Loki and nakedly expressing his fanatical pursuit of muscle and strength is also a manifestation of his adoration of men. Dr. Frank is such a contradictory, diverse and fickle person, perhaps this is his greatest charm.
Janet is played by the well-known aunt Susan. When mentioning Susan Sarandon, I believe that everyone will be familiar with her. She is the one who won the Oscars of "The Doomsday Flower", "Death Row" and the recent popular American drama "The Enemy". Well-known works. The performance of the "American Sweetheart" of the year is easily reminiscent of the young people of that generation, naive, fanatical, vulnerable to infection and incitement, and blessed the natural curiosity and goodwill of new things against the trend . Her most exciting scene is the episode where she turned her head to seduce the robot Rocky after learning of the betrayal of her fiance. She concentrated innocence and desire, rules and rebellion, shyness and desire in just a few minutes, thus completing the release of freedom. And evolution is really amazing.
In addition to that, there is a small character that appears for no more than five minutes and is eye-catching, that is Eddie the motorcycle rider.
The short-lived Eddie was dazzling as soon as he appeared on the stage, removing the attention of all the characters and the audience from Frank and Rocky. In a short song, Eddie dedicated all his romance, fearlessness, and freedom. He is an idealized youth image and pure romanticism . With the "love" and "hate" of "Hunter's Night" tattooed in his hand, he is a pure soul without social norms and moral disciplines. It is because he is too wild and ideal that he will quickly die out. Dr. Frank ridiculed him as "innocent inferior product" and "unfortunately without muscles", implying the realism power he lacks.
Today, more than forty years have passed, but the classics are always new. The boldness and avant-garde of "Rocky Horror Show" can also shock the soul when viewed now. This is a libertarian carnival, a spiritual declaration from the underground, a victory for a minority, wild and romantic, rebellious and Personality, rock and roll and carnival are all condensed in this eternal night scene . And those creatures called "people" will eventually "disappear in each other's time and space" in an elegy-like carnival. After all, there is no immortal life, only an immortal spirit.
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