The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Ordinarily, a good screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is all about not being judged for doing pretty much anything, but when we’re talking about a costume contest with the winner selected by Barry “Brad” Bostwick, we’ll allow it. Released in 1975 and remade to very little acclaim last year, Rocky Horror is the legendary glam-rock musical celebration of basically everything uptight people have been clutching their butt muscles about since David Bowie sang “Starman” on Top of the Pops. Plagued by the nonspecific car trouble that seems to always haunt horror protagonists, lovebirds Brad and Janet look for help in the only place available in such films, a creepy-ass Victorian castle, where Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the “Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania” (Tim Curry in the role he was born, or possibly genetically engineered, to play) and his henchmen are performing all sorts of erotic experiments and de-thawing Meatloaf amongst repurposed Hammer Films sets. Throw in an alien takeover plan, a King Kong-referencing cabaret show, and a convention of assorted other freaks and weirdos and … you know the story. Unless you’re a virgin, in which case, better catch up quick ’cause not only are you gonna be surrounded by cosplaying fans (hence the contest portion of the evening), they’re gonna be yelling obscenities at the characters, dancing in the aisles while chanting “group sex” and throwing stuff at the screen — though because of the venue’s electric floor, ticket holders are asked not to bring rice, water guns, hot dogs or prunes. When they feel the need to prohibit prunes, you know it’s a party.