The Last Supper
DIRECTOR: Jim Sharman
WRITTEN BY: Jim Sharman, Richard O'Brien (who wrote the play this movie was based on--yup, it was a play)
STARRING: Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors), Susan Sarandon (Janet Weiss), Tim Curry (Dr. Frank-N-Furter), Peter Hinwood (Rocky Horror), Charles Gray (the Criminologist), Johnathan Adams (Dr. Everett Von Scott), Meatloaf (Eddie)
RELEASED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX
SYNOPSIS: Innocent, all-American lovebirds Brad and Janet break down in the woods on the way to visit their mentor, Dr. Scott, so they decide to visit the castle they passed awhile ago to use the phone...
"We shall invade your planet and make everyone comply
with our ridiculous dress code! Mwa, ha ha ha!"
REVIEW: With campy songs, bizzaro costumes and a story as insubstantial as Rocky's golden speedos, this wacky movie's climb to cult status is difficult to explain and even harder to understand for the uninitiated. I suspect the reason may be similar to why Star Trek and the Evil Dead films have forged dedicated followings--beneath the corny dialogue and cheesy effects is some kind of universal truth that calls to us (or maybe it's just because Tim Curry looks disturbingly good in a corset and fishnets). In Rocky Horror's case, though, there is so much fluff burying the message that the narrator has to tell it to you at the end or you'd probably miss it completely. Perhaps a better way to think of it is that the filmmakers tacked the message on to give this piece of absurdity some kind of cohesion, but for those looking for meaning, it is there, amidst some (now) famously quirky songs and Tim Curry strutting around in the aforementioned fishnets and corset.
The biggest problem I had with the film was the profusion of sexual content, which, while important to the story and occassionally funny, could be distractingly graphic, particularly when the viewer comes from a conservative background. The whole thing is so visually rich and over-the-top that even people who utterly despise musicals for their unreality can find Rocky Horror Picture Show entertaining. But if you're looking for real social commentary couched in a campy story about transvestite transexuals, see Pricilla, Queen of the Desert.
