“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) is one of those movies that I’ve always known about but, for one reason or another, I never watched. In 2016, Fox Network premiered “The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again,” a tribute to and remake of the 1975 cult classic. I was in my sophomore year when this show aired. The show sparked my interest in the original film.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) is a musical comedy horror film that follows a young engaged couple who finds themselves seeking refuge from a storm in the home of Dr. Frank N. Furter, a seemingly mad scientist who turns out to be an alien. Originally a stage musical with tons of following, a movie version only made sense to spread the love of “Rocky.”

The film opened in the United Kingdom at the Rialto Theatre in London in 1975 and came to the United States the same year. The response was pretty disappointing. In eight locations outside of Los Angeles, the film was withdrawn from showings due to low audience attendance, including cancellation in New York City on Halloween night.

In its initial release, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times critic, noted “Rocky Horror” was “ignored by pretty much everyone.” But just a year after it hit theaters a new kind of ritual was created at Waverly Theatre in New York City where audiences would shout lines back at the film. The audience participation fueled its new cult-like following.

The show has created wonderful opportunities for so many people to come together and reimagine it through a news lens. “Rocky” causes people to collaborate on costumes, makeup and stage direction, giving more life to this production. It has become more of an experience than just a film, fostering a community excited to continue doing the “Time Warp.”

“Rocky” even began coming to university stages. I have now seen “Rocky Horror” countless times and nothing beats seeing it in person.

When opening night comes around, the audience fills with people dressed up and excited to not only see the performances by fellow students but to participate in the show.

No matter the production put on, everyone who joins, becomes a part of the movie and a part of the story that has created this cult following. After getting to experience how people react and come alive during this production, it’s no surprise that audiences at midnight showings in the seventies and eighties could find “Rocky.”

After “Rocky” started its midnight showings, its newfound audience created not only a new life for the film but a community fostering conversations on sexuality. “Rocky” let people live their life proudly through dressing up as characters, singing along and creating a safe space for people who didn’t feel like they fit in.

At the end of the day, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is still seen as a joke due to its vulgarity and silliness by a lot of people, but it’s hard to deny the community cultivated from the audience became a real place for people to belong.