Film

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

A theatrical grenade tossed at 1970s prudishness: two clean-cut squares stumble into a mansion run by a corseted alien scientist and his household of gleeful degenerates. It's a glam-rock pastiche of B-movie horror and sci-fi, sung and danced with total conviction. Best experienced loud, ideally with a rowdy crowd throwing toast and heckling the screen — it was built for participation, not passive viewing.

TMDb rating7.4

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Hedwig and the Angry Inch2001

John Cameron Mitchell's glam-rock confessional has the same wig, glitter and heartbreak-under-the-eyeliner energy, but with a genuinely moving story about identity and betrayal underneath the songs.

But It's more emotionally raw and less campy-fun than Rocky Horror — the laughs come with real sting attached.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch poster

Phantom of the Paradise1974no page yet

Brian De Palma's glam-rock Faust, made the same year, with an outrageous production designer villain and a soundtrack by Paul Williams that's just as unhinged and catchy.

But Less internationally famous, so nobody in the room will be dressed up or throwing rice.

Little Shop of Horrors1986

Doo-wop instead of glam rock, but the same recipe: a man-eating plant, a killer soundtrack, and comic horror played with total sincerity by a cast clearly having the time of their lives.

But Sweeter and less sexually anarchic — this one's a date movie, not an orgy.

Little Shop of Horrors poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Gods and Monsters1998no page yet

Rocky Horror's mad-scientist plot is a loving parody of Whale's Frankenstein films; this film is the real, aching story of the gay man who directed them, in an industry that never let him be as free as Frank-N-Furter.

A tender, melancholy biopic of James Whale, the openly gay director who made the Frankenstein films Rocky Horror is directly parodying — Ian McKellen is extraordinary as an old man haunted by the monsters he made.

But Quiet, sad, and completely without jokes or songs — it's the sober flip side of the joke Rocky Horror is telling.

More like this (8)

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert1994

Three drag queens crossing the Australian outback in a bus, dressed in feathers and sequins, belting disco — it's Rocky Horror's road-trip cousin, equally flamboyant and warmer-hearted.

But Trades the horror-movie spookiness for sunburnt comedy-drama; there's no mad scientist in sight.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert poster

Cabaret1972

Berlin decadence, sexual fluidity and cabaret numbers that seduce you before the darkness underneath reveals itself — the theatrical ancestor of everything Frank-N-Furter represents.

But Genuinely political and grim by the end; this is prestige drama, not a party.

Cabaret poster

Grease1978

Another jukebox musical from the same era with cult sing-along status and a costume-party afterlife — if you love shouting lyrics at a screen, this crowd knows the drill too.

But Wholesome by comparison — no aliens, no bondage gear, just hair grease and hand jives.

Grease poster

Repo! The Genetic Opera2008no page yet

A gonzo goth-rock opera about organ repossession with a devoted midnight-screening cult following almost as fervent as Rocky Horror's — same DIY theatrical spirit, turned up nastier.

But Rougher production values and a much bleaker, gorier tone than the film that inspired its fandom.

Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical2006no page yet

A gleeful musical remake of 1930s anti-drug propaganda, played with the same knowing camp and full theatrical commitment as Rocky Horror's B-movie send-up.

But Much less famous and rougher around the edges — a cult item for people who already like this exact joke.

The Return of the Living Dead1985no page yet

Punky, gleefully self-aware horror-comedy that treats its own genre with the same affectionate mockery Rocky Horror aims at 1950s sci-fi — gross, funny, and never once scared of itself.

But No music, no costumes to dress up in — this scratches the horror-comedy itch, not the musical one.

The Disaster Artist2017

Rocky Horror basically invented the participatory midnight-screening ritual; this film shows how another disastrous, sincere passion project earned that exact same devoted, shout-at-the-screen afterlife decades later.

James Franco's uncanny recreation of the making of The Room shows how midnight-movie cult worship is built — the same communal shrieking-at-the-screen ritual Rocky Horror invented, from the other side of the camera.

But It's about a different so-bad-it's-good film entirely — you need to know or care about The Room to get the full joke.

The Disaster Artist poster

Paris Is Burning1991

Both are about performance as liberation and costume as identity, but where Rocky Horror turns that into a glittery party, this documentary shows the same impulse as lived, sometimes desperate, reality.

A landmark documentary about New York's Black and Latino drag ball scene, where costume, performance and chosen family become survival — the real, unglamorised roots of the queer theatricality Rocky Horror plays for laughs.

But There's no camp comfort here — it's a documentary about real people facing real poverty, homophobia and the AIDS crisis, with genuine stakes.

Paris Is Burning poster

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Recommended by

The Addams Family, Orlando, Showgirls, American Horror Story, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Anna and the Apocalypse, Little Shop of Horrors, Velvet Goldmine