_The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ is a cult classic. Even though the original film premiered in 1975, fans still pile into theaters dressed as their favorite characters to sing along to the musical numbers and play parts from the audience. _Rocky Horror_ is not a show; it’s an experience.
With its lasting popularity, of course a major network picked it to attempt a remake. The new version featured fresh actors and updated technology to give the film some flair, so you’d think that the show would have been good.
You’d be wrong.
The story in the new film, _The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do The Time Warp Again_, is exactly that of the original: Brad and Janet, who are newly engaged, get caught in a storm when their car breaks down, and they are forced to seek help at a nearby castle. The castle belongs to Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist who also happens to be transsexual. Brad and Janet arrive right as Dr. Furter is revealing their creation: a “perfect” man created in their own image, named Rocky Horror. It is just what the title proudly exclaims, the same movie “again.”
When _Rocky Horror_ originally premiered, it worked because the concept was so unusual and fascinating. It featured raunchy songs, quirky characters and fabulous costumes.
The remake, however, is a soulless corporate retread. _Rocky Horror_ innovated, while the remake simply shrinks in the shadow of the original. It premiered at 8 p.m. on a Thursday and pretty much got rid of all the swear words — turning a late-night, sex-filled fiasco into a white-bread high school production.
This may have been due to director Kenny Ortega, who coincidentally directed _High School Musical._ Although _High School Musical_ is a great film standing alone, it is night and day from the grimy, smutty glamour of _Rocky Horror._
Following the Emmy-winning success of Fox’s _Grease: Live_, critics thought that _Rocky Horror_ would be just as big of a success. In reality, _Rocky Horror_ only garnered about 5 million viewers, not even half of the 12 million Fox got from _Grease: Live_ earlier this year.
The problem, though, was that instead of filming live on an expensive soundstage with an audience, this _Rocky Horror_ was filmed ahead of time in Toronto with the actors semi-excitedly lip-syncing the songs. The allure of _Grease: Live_ (and all live productions) is that there the live audience is there to react to everything that’s happening in the show.
The charm of _Rocky Horror_ is its interactive qualities and its gritty feeling, and this remake ironed it out too much. It was certainly not quite as bad as it could have been: It had a sizeable budget, decent production quality, bearable singing and average acting. Everything was fine, but there was nothing spectacular to distinguish it from the original.
It is this adherence to the source material that kills any artistic integrity that the remake might have been able to conjure up. _Rocky Horror_ is all about shocking the audience, showing them something they have never seen before, and being so absolutely insane to the point that it is impossible not to get caught up in the whirlwind of sex, monsters and rock ‘n’ roll. Just straight up remaking it throws away all of the spontaneity and individuality that makes this a lasting cult hit. And the watered-down “TV-14” rating does not help a single bit.
This _Rocky Horror_ is too calculated and clean to even come close to the original. _Rocky Horror_ is meant to be a fun and communal experience — not just something to nod your head along to in between commercial breaks. This 2016 remake is nothing more than a high school drama rendition that focuses more on being cool and modern than saying anything of value.
_Edited by Nancy Coleman | ncoleman@themaneater.com_
