
Seeking a telephone to call for help, the couple walks to a nearby castle (" Over at the Frankenstein Place") where a party is being held. En route to Scott's house on a dark and rainy night, they get lost with a flat tire. Scott, who taught the class where they first met. In November 1974, following the wedding of their friends, a naïve young couple, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, get engaged (" Dammit Janet") and decide to celebrate with their high school science teacher Dr. Throughout the film, a criminologist from an unspecified point in the future narrates and provides commentary on the events.


The film begins with a pair of floating disembodied lips welcoming the audience to a science fiction double feature (" Science Fiction/Double Feature"). In 2005, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Today, the film has a large international cult following and has been considered by many as one of the greatest musical films of all time. The film is most often shown close to Halloween. In many cities, live amateur shadow-casts act out the film as it is being shown and heavily draw upon a tradition of audience participation. Still in limited release in 2023, some 48 years after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history. This "shadow cast" mimed the actions on screen above and behind them, while lip-synching their character's lines. At almost the same time, fans in costume at the King's Court Theater in Pittsburgh began performing alongside the film. Audience members returned to the cinemas frequently and talked back to the screen and began dressing as the characters, spawning similar performance groups across the United States. Initial reception was extremely negative, but it soon became a hit as a midnight movie, when audiences began participating with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976. Blane has claimed that her creations for the film directly affected the development of punk rock fashion trends, such as torn fishnet stockings and colourfully dyed hair. Although the film is both a parody of and tribute to many kitsch science fiction and horror films, costume designer Sue Blane conducted no research for her designs. A number of props and set pieces were reused from the Hammer horror films. The film was shot in the United Kingdom at Bray Studios and on location at an old country estate named Oakley Court, best known for its earlier use by Hammer Film Productions. Furter, an apparently mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, who creates a living muscle man named Rocky in his laboratory. They discover the head of the house is Dr.

The castle or country home is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. The story centres on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle, where they seek a telephone to call for help. Along with O'Brien, the film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray, with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions, including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn. The production is a tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s.

The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book, and lyrics by O'Brien. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also a member of the cast. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
