Hollywood blockbusters come and go, but the low-budget gothic musical remains a fixture on the big screen, with midnight showings at theaters in Montclair, Aberdeen and Atlantic Highlands.
The three venues have "shadow casts" -- troupes of fans in costume who act out the story as the film plays behind them. The crowd chimes in, too, shouting droll responses to certain lines and tossing assorted items at the screen on cue.
The horror traditionally heightens in October. Halloween is peak season for the cult classic, which chronicles a young couple's strange encounter with a cross-dressing space traveler. Jersey's shadow casts are gearing up for special holiday presentations of the film.
"Halloween is like the Wrestlemania of 'Rocky Horror,' " said Ryan Wilson, producer of the Friday Nite Specials, a troupe based at the Strathmore Art Cinema in Aberdeen. The group is hosting back-to-back shows tomorrow and Saturday.
Wilson said first-timers, aka "virgins," are welcome.
"We're not going to kill and eat you," said Wilson, 28. "We don't worship the devil. This is a place of acceptance and good times. Maybe it's a little raunchy, but it's a good time and a safe time."
The Home of Happiness, a Montclair "Rocky Horror" troupe, will be at the House of Blues in Atlantic City on Saturday and Maxwell's in Hoboken on Oct. 31. The group returns to its regular venue, the Bellevue 4 in Montclair, on Nov. 2 for a belated Halloween performance.
"It's fun to get the people who like to come out for Halloween and let them see that we do Halloween every week of the year," said Larry Viezel, 38, Home of Happiness cast director.
Adapted from a British play on a shoestring $900,000 budget, "Rocky Horror" didn't get much love from audiences or critics when it was released in 1975. Months after it died at the box office, the film was revived to screen at midnight in New York and Austin, Texas. Moviegoers began turning up in costume, singing along with the sound track and embracing the picture as a celebration of nonconformity.
Shawn Stutler of Fair Lawn, a member of the Home of Happiness shadow cast, is planning to chronicle the fan phenomenon with a crowd-funded documentary, "Rocky Horror Saved My Life."
Stutler has raised $45,000 and counting through a Kickstarter campaign that ends at 8 p.m. on Halloween. His goal is $50,000.
" 'Rocky Horror' was the first place for a lot of young people, where it was okay to reveal who you are, who you want to be in a safe environment," said Stutler, 36, a reality television production coordinator. "The whole message of the movie is, 'Don't dream it, be it.' "
The audience participation component dates back to the 1970s. The first person to yell at the screen was a Staten Island teacher named Louis Farese. He shouted, "Buy an umbrella, you cheap b----," at a character during a midnight screening at the Waverly Theater in New York, according to Sal Piro, president of the Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club.
"I think the film would have been forgotten in the late 1970s if not for people like Sal Piro and Louis Farese getting up in front of that screen and making it more than just a movie," said Stutler. "In the 1970s, you had this rise of fan culture. People were becoming obsessed with 'Star Wars' and midnight movies."
The Home of Happiness, named after a billboard that appears in the film, was founded in 1998. The members of the shadow cast built their own stage at the Bellevue, along with a storage room for props. Viezel said he's always looking for new talent. Fans, 18 and older, are invited to audition for roles.
"Nowadays, people don't necessarily do stuff creatively for a living and this is a great opportunity to express yourself creatively outside of your work world," said Viezel. "We have people that come in from all walks of life: lawyers, psychologists. I'm director of product innovation at an advertising company."
There is an art to shadowing the movie scene by scene, Viezel said.
"We're really striving to capture the nuance of the characters, and hit that mark of looking really good and performing in competition with the screen," said Viezel. "You have a giant movie screen behind you, so you have to do things that are larger than life to actually get more attention than what's going on behind you."
The story unfolds over the course of one rainy night at a castle in the woods. Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) stop in for help after they get a flat tire. They meet a gender-bending mad scientist, Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), who unveils his latest creation, a reanimated weightlifter named Rocky (Peter Hinwood).
The horror comedy is powered by anthems such as "The Time Warp" and "Sweet Transvestite."The movie had very heavily gay influences," said Wilson. "That appeals to a lot of people, especially nowadays with the LGBT community. A lot of people come here and it's a safe haven. Plus, it's a rock 'n' roll musical. How can you not like a rock 'n' roll musical? It's like 'Tommy,' but a little gayer."
For all of its subversive underpinnings, "Rocky Horror" has crept into mainstream pop culture. The kids from "Glee" paid homage to the film three years ago during a special Halloween episode of the series.
"I think 'Glee' misrepresented the community (and) the experience, and made it seem like it's this very tame, quaint experience which it's totally not, at least not if you see a good show," said Stutler.
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