What is the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and why is it so popular? It’s a question many people ask whenever they hear or read about the cult classic film. In short, it was released in 1975 as a musical comedy horror. Though the film didn’t do well when it was originally released, over the years it has grown a large cult following. The movie follows Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, who shortly after getting engaged make a trip to see an old friend, Doctor Everette Von Scott. Their plans fall through after they get stuck and find their way to a mansion in the middle of nowhere. The mansion is owned by Frank N. Furter, who is a transvestite. The movie follows them as they stay the night at the mansion. The movie is important because it was one of the few in it’s time to have an abundance of homosexual characters, themes or innuendos. On Oct. 28-29 the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneer Players held a live reenactment of the film that many have grown to love.

Reenactments of the show come in three forms. First is an actual performance of the show. Second is  just simply watching the film in the theater. Last are re-enactments of the certain scenes of the film with it playing in the background, which is what the Players did. This is an event that every fan should experience. It is one of the few times you can interact with the movie by spraying squirt guns, throwing rice and using noisemakers while watching the film, just to name a few. This isn’t the best scenario to watch the film for the first time as you will miss parts of the movie because of people’s interaction and all the noise from the crowd.

UW-Platteville’s show was different than others. If it was your first time seeing the show live, you got to play a couple games. One was passing a pool noodle between your legs without using your hands. There is a ritual that almost all live showings do where first timers get a “V” drawn on their foreheads. Showing someone the Rocky Horror Picture Show is a big deal for all fans.

The performance was enjoyed by the crowd and the actors didn’t miss a beat during the film. They were on time with the songs and scenes and re-enacted the scenes perfectly. The fans seemed to be enjoying themselves, yelling at the screen and making good use of the props when they were supposed to. The Center for the Arts was almost completely filled with fans, most of them dressed up in Halloween costumes. Some were even dressed as characters from the show. With the fans making comments, some of the cast would even laugh on occasion but they mostly kept a straight face.

If you plan on seeing a live performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, please remember that it is a rated R film and some of what is shouted is vulgar and some scenes are for mature audiences.