40
Most of the jokes that might have seemed jolly fun on stage now appear obvious and even flat. The sparkle's gone.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The powerhouse of the film is Tim Curry's cross-dressing alien, Frank N. Furter, who would never reach these kinds of gloriously demented heights again.
30
The wit is too weak to sustain a film, and the songs all sound the same.
67
The plot is only semi-comprehensible, but the nearly non-stop musical numbers-brilliant conflations of glam-rock and showtunes-and transgressive sexual energy keep things moving.
63
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Dr. Furter is played by a British actor named Tim Curry, who bears a certain resemblance to Loretta Young in drag. He's the best thing in the movie, maybe because he seems to be having the most fun.
80
Time Out London by Trevor Johnston
The material inspires affection, given its knowing pastiche of everything from Universal horrors to '50s grade-Z sci-fi, and a shamelessly hedonistic, fiercely independent sensibility that must have seemed a welcome relief from the mainstream bombast of other '70s musicals.
83
Entertainment Weekly by Ty Burr
For a movie that's mostly a plotless mix of old sci-fi flicks and Bowie-esque gender-bending, Rocky Horror continues to charm. That's due in part to the honest delight we take in the freedoms this movie so cheerfully flaunts.
This is one of my favorite movies and one of the few that I can happily rewatch again and again. I’ve never been a huge fan of musicals, but what keeps me (and probably many fans out there) coming back to “Rocky Horror” is its delightfully campy, glam-rock stylings and how fun and uninhibited the whole production feels. In a lot of ways it's like a bizarre, debaucherous fairy tale for weirdos, outcasts and folks whose very existence is subversive, and because of that I think it will continue to experience a cult following for a long time to come.