Hallowe'en week 2016

Spudguns! It is I, your heroine, and heroin, Ardeth Blood, aka Nosferatu, aka ...I'm too lazy to type out the whole gimmick. And this would be day one of the Hallowe'en week.  Please don't be too mad with me, but this week sort of turned into an epic fail.  The amount of  "what that movie inspired me to do" posts I had originally in mind, just didn't come together.  I can say there will be at lest two recipes this week, and a handful of movie reviews. And of course, next week we've got Night Bleeds so...Anyways, on with the show...

Day One

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again (2016)

By now, everyone and their dog's grandmother has seen the remake that aired on tv few days ago. And if you've read any of my stuff over the years, you know how much of a fan I am of the original. So of course, I was glued to the tv set the other night when it came on. But dude, I got to say, it blew dog backwards.

The costumes were amazing, and casting Laverne Cox as the lead Frank'n'Furter; brilliant.  And then the rest was all down hill.  So I'm old, and didn't recognize anyone of the main cast, which is fine as it was geared for a younger audience. I was sort of sad to see Tim Curry was just a bit player as the Criminologist/Narrator.  And I get that the songs were changed enough to fit the times as well as the actors singing abilities, but...I was just so disappointed by the overall of it.

I'm one of those rare people who actually likes the original for the movie not for the fan interaction. (I really hate the whole party thing of it) Okay, so I'm the only one on the planet who enjoys the original for being a cheesy 1970's movie based on Frankenstein and B-drive-in films of the 50's/60's.  I think one of the main things that made the original so worthy was that it played on the metaphors while poking fun at the way things were produced in those horror/sci-fi/musicals of the 40's/50's/60's.  This remake, just slapped it in your face without really getting it.
One thing I didn't understand about the way the remake was handled, they allowed some fairly gratuitous groping, while completely taking out the "hint" of the incestuous storyline between Riff-Raff and Magenta. Really? It's one line and a kiss; but by removing that a whole set of taboos were removed. Isn't that part of what made the original what it was? The hinted at undertones of taboos (the god-factor of creating a new species, the bisexuality of the characters, the incestuous relationships, the addiction of lust/drugs, the cult like mind control Frank'n'Furter has over everyone, cannibalism) was where the original pulled it's strongest punches, and sadly, where the remake fell off it's high heels.

The ending scene, where Riff-Raff and Magenta arrive "transformed" into their space suits, made me groan too, as seeing the token Bride of Frankenstein hair-do gone for a bunch of silver balls, just felt like another slap in the face. I felt as if the actual Frankenstein plot of a man creating life on his own out of the dead, was shoved under the sexual pride of it.

With all that said, I would like to see what they would have done with the sequel, Shock Treatment? That's something that might have worked better with an update for modern fans.