Well, Fox's remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, has come and gone and Fox took the very safe route of pretty much, letter for letter, redoing the original 1975 film that is still filling movie theaters with midnight screenings and their huge cult following.
The remake itself pulled in just under 5 million viewers, which according to sources, was a huge disappointment as far as musicals on TV go. Then again, it aired against Thursday Night Football. Despite that, everything else in the same time slot outperformed this Rocky copy.
And just in case you were wondering if any lip-syncing was taking place, technically, there was. But it was the cast lip-syncing to their own pre-recorded songs.
On Amazon: The Rocky Horror Picture Show merchandise.
Then there was the addition of the pseudo live movie theater audience watching the show, much like cult fans do at the midnight screenings. So that was different, but a weak try at making it somehow or somewhat original, as far as remakes go.
But as I watched it, I thought I would compare today's remake against the original Rocky Horror, and see where it stood out or fell short.
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Brad Majors, played by Ryan McCartan, was on par with the original, played by Barry Bostwick.
Janet Weiss, played by Victoria Justice, was a nice change up, as she took the most initiative in how she delivered her songs, and was the sexiest part of the entire show. She did the part justice, shining above par from the role played originally by Susan Sarandon.
Riff Raff (Reeve Carney) was a good, honest recreation of the original, with a bit of a punk rocker twist.
DID YOU KNOW that the original actor who played Riff Raff, Richard O'Brien, wrote the original musical stage show that inspired the first movie. And he co-wrote the '75 film.
Magenta (Christina Milian) was a good recreation of the original.
The Criminologist, played by Tim Curry, was a wonderful thing to see, considering Curry has not done much since his stroke. But he was no replacement for Charles Gray's original representation.
Frank-n-Furter was played by Laverne Cox. She had one hell of a set of shoes to fill from the original that was played by Tim Curry. He belted out some fantastic pieces in the original that no one can replicate. But if you look at her performance by itself, she did belt out a great rendition of Furter. (And it was awesome to see a transgender woman play the role. Not to mention, setting all kinds of firsts in the acting industry.)
DID YOU KNOW that Frank-n-Furter was Tim Curry's first acting role? One hell of a role to land.
Rocky was played by Staz Nair. He pretty much played the part well enough for what it was but I think in the end musical piece, he played it up pretty good. The original was played by Peter Hinwood, a professional model at the time who really did not have an acting aspirations.
Eddy was played by Adam Lambert. I was expecting Lambert to belt out Eddy's piece, but he fell short in my expectations. No one can replace Meat Loaf's version. Don't get me wrong, I love Lambert's music. But it was just OK here.
Dr. Scott, played by Ben Vereen, but to be honest, he was no comparison to the original, played by Jonathan Adams.
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All in all, this repeat or remake was fairly true (or unoriginal) with a few scenes tamed down while others seemed more flagrant in what they were flaunting. This latest effort to capitalize on the loyalty of the cult fans of the original has come and gone and nothing will change.
DID YOU KNOW: What won't change is that 1975 Rocky Horror Picture Show movie is the longest-running release in film history, as it has never been pulled from theaters by 20th Century Fox while it continues to play at midnight screenings with cult audience participation.
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