Cross-dressers, flying toast, fishnet stockings and toilet paper filled Morse Auditorium on Friday night as 150 Boston University students and “virgins” sang along to a more than 30-year-old rock musical.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Sing Along, hosted by Programming Council, brought the 1975 cult film to BU and introduced some Rocky Horror first-timers to what attendees said was a unique experience.
One “virgin,” College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Johnny Stivers, bore the letter “V” on his forehead in bright red lipstick.
“I had heard rumors, and friends had warned me about what it’s like, but I don’t think they did it very much justice,” he said. “I wish there were more people. If this place would have been packed, it would have been crazy. It was already pretty crazy.”
Rocky Horror fans have attended midnight showings of the movie since its 1975 release, according to the official Rocky Horror Picture Show fan website. Film-goers dress in costume, use props and shout specific lines throughout the movie. The fan website includes an online etiquette section for Rocky Horror virgins.
“One of our committee members loves Rocky Horror Picture Show,” said Programming Council Concerts Co-Manager Jackie Baydar. “We decided it would be a good idea, since a lot of students go to Cambridge to see it.”
Rocky Horror fans screamed in approval when PC provided new props, including rice to throw during the wedding scene and playing cards to throw during the song “I’m Going Home.” PC members threw toilet paper and toast from the second floor balcony during the movie’s more popular scenes.
“I’ve never been to the performance of it, so I’d never seen how people reacted to it,” said College of Communication sophomore Sarah Steinberg, a PC member. “It was cool to see how it actually works.”
Fans are drawn to the film because the phenomenon is unconsciously attractive, said COM screenwriting program director John Bernstein.
“I think that there is always an audience,” he said before the event. “[It is] something primordial or even unconscious that you are leaning toward.”
Attendees commented on other students’ costume choices and posed for pictures before the movie began.
“I am wearing a lovely . . . what would you call this? Sundress! My Sunday best along with some beautiful fishnet stockings and some white heels,” said College of Engineering freshman Jon Vail during the event. “I love Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Vail and his two friends, also cross-dressers for the night, arrived at the auditorium nearly 20 minutes early, clacking down the street in borrowed high heels.
“We were singing on the way here,” said CAS freshman Genaro Silva.
Vail sang “I’m Just a Sweet Transvestite,” a song from the movie, as Silva, one of the film’s main characters, appeared on the screen.
“Ultimately, ‘cult’ in itself is [the] ability to embrace certain ideology or certain philosophy, that gives you a certain identity,” Bernstein, an associate film professor, said. “[Rocky Horror] was an event. I wouldn’t say it’s the Woodstock of films, but it [feels] like that.”