Let's Talk: RHPS Remake
Hello, all!
If you've been around since last years Halloween posts, you'll know that I love The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember seeing it at a Halloween party when I was younger (way younger than I should've been) and loving every second of it. From the songs to the costumes to the characters themselves, I was just drawn in. It was a bunch of weirdos, and that's what I loved most.
As I got older, I used to go see my friends perform as Brad and Frank-N-Furter at midnight in little playhouses. It's really a movie that I grew up with, so I was pretty excited to hear that Fox was putting out a remake, which aired yesterday, and after all the antici..............pation, it left me pretty meh.
It seemed like they tried to stay true to the original film while also trying to make it fresh for a new audience, but it just felt too polished, too overproduced, and just didn't have the same grit. The cast definitely were talented and Laverne Cox brought sass and was like if Tina Turner and Frank-N-Furter had a baby, and I really dug the Cyndi Lauper vibe that Columbia was giving off. While those were cool, there were iconic moments that you just didn't get-- the show didn't kick off with a close up of those red lips singing "Science Fiction/Double Feature"; Rocky wasn't wearing his famous gold Speedo; Eddie driving around the lab seemed too careful and not with the same wild abandon that Meatloaf had; and even the cut aways to the crowd doing the call outs seemed forced rather than a nice homage to the live shows. The reason the call outs work so well during those live shows is because the people that go to the live shows usually have been doing it for years and are familiar with it, if you were seeing Rocky Horror for the first time last night, it probably wouldn't have made sense to you.
I understand since it was broadcasted on a family(-ish) network that a lot of the overt innuendos had to be tamed, but even so, the entire thing just felt so stiff and boring to me. I feel like a lot of the choices that were made were very safe, and that's not what Rocky Horror is about. It's about pushing boundaries, it's about making people question things and making people uncomfortable. Even Tim Curry's cameo felt a bit sad and not in the nostalgic sort of way. If you went in thinking this was going to be just like the original, you'd be disappointed. It definitely didn't live up to the cult like phenomenon, and I feel like it had the potential to be really great, but they just jumped a little bit too far to the left.
Did anyone else watch? What'd you think?
If you've been around since last years Halloween posts, you'll know that I love The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember seeing it at a Halloween party when I was younger (way younger than I should've been) and loving every second of it. From the songs to the costumes to the characters themselves, I was just drawn in. It was a bunch of weirdos, and that's what I loved most.
As I got older, I used to go see my friends perform as Brad and Frank-N-Furter at midnight in little playhouses. It's really a movie that I grew up with, so I was pretty excited to hear that Fox was putting out a remake, which aired yesterday, and after all the antici..............pation, it left me pretty meh.
It seemed like they tried to stay true to the original film while also trying to make it fresh for a new audience, but it just felt too polished, too overproduced, and just didn't have the same grit. The cast definitely were talented and Laverne Cox brought sass and was like if Tina Turner and Frank-N-Furter had a baby, and I really dug the Cyndi Lauper vibe that Columbia was giving off. While those were cool, there were iconic moments that you just didn't get-- the show didn't kick off with a close up of those red lips singing "Science Fiction/Double Feature"; Rocky wasn't wearing his famous gold Speedo; Eddie driving around the lab seemed too careful and not with the same wild abandon that Meatloaf had; and even the cut aways to the crowd doing the call outs seemed forced rather than a nice homage to the live shows. The reason the call outs work so well during those live shows is because the people that go to the live shows usually have been doing it for years and are familiar with it, if you were seeing Rocky Horror for the first time last night, it probably wouldn't have made sense to you.
I understand since it was broadcasted on a family(-ish) network that a lot of the overt innuendos had to be tamed, but even so, the entire thing just felt so stiff and boring to me. I feel like a lot of the choices that were made were very safe, and that's not what Rocky Horror is about. It's about pushing boundaries, it's about making people question things and making people uncomfortable. Even Tim Curry's cameo felt a bit sad and not in the nostalgic sort of way. If you went in thinking this was going to be just like the original, you'd be disappointed. It definitely didn't live up to the cult like phenomenon, and I feel like it had the potential to be really great, but they just jumped a little bit too far to the left.
Did anyone else watch? What'd you think?
I haven't watched it yet! I know this sounds bad but I haven't actually seen the original either!
ReplyDeleteNo way! You should definitely check out the original whenever you get a chance, it's so good!
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