By Lisa Nault
Staff Writer
Do you like bad cult movies? Do you like yelling funny comments at a giant movie theater screen? Do you like Tim Curry? Then you will love going to see the Full Body Cast at the AMC Lowes Theater at Boston Common. It is a tradition for many students to go with a group of friends and partake in this midnight activity.
For those who do not know, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a film that is strange yet very entertaining. The film focuses on a newly-engaged couple who stumbles upon a castle during a storm. The castle belongs to the sweet transvestite scientist, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, who has just created human life in the form of a very muscular man named Rocky. Why did he create a human? Sex.
The film is very sexual (but the audience never sees any intense sex scenes). The film involves aliens from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, an expert with no neck, and a pair of bright red floating lips. There is no real plot, which is why this movie is so fun to watch.
That is what the movie is about, though, not the Full Body Cast. Minutes before the film starts to play at AMC, a cast of actors perform random musical numbers from big shows, have an audience costume contest, and have the first time comers to the event (known as “virgins”) compete in strange ways against each other. The rest of the show consists of the actors in the theater acting out exactly what we are watching on the screen. There are scenes where they run through the audience and throw candy at them, which is why this is so great.
The rest of the cast are watching the film and shouting comments at it from the audience. For example, Dr. Frank-N-Furter raises his glass in one scene and a member screams, “What do you call burnt bread?” right before Dr. F. says, “a toast.”
I have been to the show multiple times now and am actually going again this upcoming Saturday. The show usually starts around 11:30 p.m. and goes until about 2 a.m. The T does still run at that time, so transportation after the show is available.
If you are a first-timer/virgin, you do not have to participate in the competition if you do not want to because you will probably have to do something embarrassing in front of the audience. It is not bad to get up and do it since it really is fun, but if you are uncomfortable with doing it, I wanted to let you know that you do not have to.
You can usually buy your interactive movie kits (props you can have during certain scenes of the movie), as well as T-shirts, at the theater. The cast is wonderful and they do a great job making the experience memorable. The show occurs on Saturday nights and there are still many performances left to see. If you go to this cult craze, you will be able to dance in the theater to the “Time Warp” song, which is enough a reason as any to go to the show.
