As the clock struck midnight and the witching hour began Friday and Saturday night, moviegoers gathered at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater to participate in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
First timers watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show need to know it is more than just a movie. Its necessary to have good friends, a goodie bag and a wild costume.
Audience members started showing up well before midnight, arriving early to claim the best seats and take pictures with friends. Some like Quinndalyn Laird, an IU grad, were posing with the movie poster.
“I have been wanting to come for like three years since I moved here,” Laird said. “I am finally doing it. We bought the prop bags and everything we are ready to go.”
Laird had seen the movie before but had never gone to get the full experience.
Laird and her friends met the requirements. Arrayed in a fishnet body suit, an embellished bathing suit and a jacket, Laird chose to dress in the bizarre burlesque style of the movie, as is encouraged of all attendees.
Daniel Huffman, an IU faculty member, dressed as a character from the kids show, "Bananas in Pajamas," and wore a banana suit with pajama pants.
Accompanying them was yoga instructor Sarah Peters, who was creating a Fox News pun with her fox costume constructed out of fake fur made of newspaper.
As the audience filed into the theater, they passed booths selling goodie bags for the movie. Lauren Gendron, an employee of Cardinal Stage Company, was responsible for bag sales.
In the bags were latex gloves, a newspaper, a party hat, a noisemaker, toast, a bell, a playing card, a water gun and a roll of toilet paper.
“We put instructions in the bags so that if you are a newbie to the movie you know when to throw the items or when to use them,” said Gendron. “When you go to see Rocky Horror it is not just like a movie, it is an experience that you are taking part in. There is a certain point at which everyone takes out the newspaper and acts like they are reading it.”
Rocky Horror picture show is considered a cult classic, and the reason viewers watch it every year is for the theater experience, costumes, props and all. Robert Montano has been attending showings since he was eight years old and has no intention of stopping.
“I love the camp, I do drag and seeing Rocky Horror in my formative years probably had something to do with me becoming a drag queen,” said Montano. “The camp, the fun, the audience interaction.”
Montano and other stragglers hurried into the show as cheering rang from the theater. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was starting.
