Rocky Horror Picture Show, The: 50th Anniversary (Steelbook) (4K UHD Review)
Director
Jim SharmanRelease Date(s)
1975 (October 7, 2025)Studio(s)
Michael White Productions/20th Century Fox (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
[Editor's Note: The film review is written by Stephen Bjork and the disc review is written by Tim Salmons.]
“In the velvet darkness
Of the blackest night
Burning bright
There’s a guiding star
No matter what or who you are”
The star that would provide that guidance first ignited in 1975, when Jim Sharman’s adaptation of Richard O’Brien’s smash theatrical success The Rocky Horror Show opened as The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sharman had directed the musical, so he was the perfect choice to bring it to the big screen, but unfortunately, this star that had burned twice as bright on stage looked like it was going to end up burning half as long on film. Yet a funny thing happened on the way to becoming little more than a footnote in cinematic history: that celestial cinder continued to smolder until it exploded into a nova that continues to provide light in the blackest night, even fifty years later.
But more on that strange phenomenon in a moment. While the story in The Rocky Horror Picture Show is as well-known as the story of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a brief recap may still be in order:
As related by the omniscient narrator the Criminologist (Charles Gray), The Rocky Horror Picture Show is about the misadventures of a young couple named Brad (asshole Barry Bostwick) and Janet (slut Susan Sarandon), who are on their way to see their old mentor Dr. Scott (Jonathan Adams) when their car has a flat in the middle of nowhere on a dark and stormy night. (Dammit, we knew Brad should have gotten that spare tire fixed!) But there’s a light in the distance, over at the Frankenstein place, leading them to a fateful encounter with Dr. Frank-N-Furter (the resplendent Tim Curry). Frank has a plan to make a man with blond hair and a tan, Rocky (Peter Hinwood), and he won’t let anything get in his way, not even low down cheap little punk Eddie (Meat Loaf). Yet Frank doesn’t realize that his transgressive behavior has lost him the support of his servants Riff Raff (O’Brien) and Magenta (Patricia Quinn), as well as the love of his faithful groupie Columbia (Little Nell). Will Brad, Janet, and Dr. Scott be able to escape their trap before all this decadence saps their will?
Of course not, because in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, decadence doesn’t represent dissolution; instead, it’s pure liberation. The handful of people who actually saw it in 1975 may not have recognized that fact, but the word got around anyway, leading to a phenomenon that’s unlike any other in the history of cinema. Gradually, starting with midnight showings in 1976, it developed not just a devoted cult following, but one that started showing up in costume, bringing their own props, shouting responses at the screen, and even performing pantomime “shadow casts” in front of the screen. It’s not just that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a liberating film; the very experience of attending a show became a form of liberation for generations of ardent fans who were free to give themselves over to absolute pleasure while accompanied by friends and even total strangers. No matter what or who you are, you’re free to be yourself—or anything else, for that matter.
That’s the key element that has kept The Rocky Horror Picture Show alive for half a century now: acceptance. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you want to be; you don’t have to dream it, you can just be it, and everyone else in the theatre will accept you just as you are (or just as you want to be). All are welcome, and aside from the mandatory (but good-natured) hazing that Rocky Horror virgins undergo at their first showing, once you’ve passed that initiation, you’re a part of the club for life. Straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, queer, and all points in between, none of that is a barrier to entry, and it’s definitely not a barrier to acceptance. Prim and proper young ladies will happily end up calling Janet a slut, and defiantly heterosexual males will be enthusiastically singing along with Frank-N-Furter to Sweet Transvestite:
“Don’t get strung out by the way that I look
Don’t judge a book by its cover
I′m not much of a man by the light of day
But by night I′m one hell of a lover”
It’s a truly liberating experience regardless of how you may swing outside the movie theatre, and even when Frank seduces Janet by pretending to be Brad, and then turns right around and seduces Brad by pretending to be Janet, everyone goes along with the ride. Frank may be a mad scientist and a murderer (there is that), but he’s one helluva lover at night, and it’s impossible not to be seduced by his charms. In terms of the actual narrative for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Frank’s extravagant decadence causes him to fall out of favor with his fellow Transylvanians, and it’s seen as a danger to everyone by Dr. Scott:
“Ach! We’ve got to get out of this trap
Before this decadence saps our will
I’ve got to be strong and try to hang on
Or my mind may well snap
Und my life will be lived for the thrills”
Yet that’s not the real Dr. Scott; it’s just the façade that he puts on to get through his routine existence in a world that doesn’t accept behavior that it deems to be aberrant. No, the real Dr. Scott is the one who has been speeding around the stage in his wheelchair, his crippled legs finding new life while encased in the warm comfort of stockings and a garter belt. Handicapped or not, he finally achieved liberation, and he should have just lived his life for the decadent thrills. Once the experience of that is over, he’s left to founder on the ground aimlessly. Like Brad and Janet, he had found his true self, but he fought against it and now he’s lost his way again, and they’re all left to founder in the vanishing mists of what liberation had given them:
“And crawling on the planet’s face
Some insects called the human race
Lost in time, and lost in space
And meaning”
Yet while Riff Raff and Magenta have left them behind, there’s still a light over at the Frankenstein place: The Rocky Horror Picture Show itself. Time hasn’t extinguished that light over the last half century, regardless of what cultural shifts may have occurred during that time. Like the Dude, The Rocky Horror Picture Show abides. It remains a beacon for dreamers of all sorts, and that magnetic attraction will always be irresistible to anyone who falls under its sway. No matter what or who you are, the light of The Rocky Horror Picture Show stays on 24 hours a day, and all are welcome in the light:
“There’s a light
Over at the Frankenstein place
There’s a light
Burning in the fireplace
There’s a light, a light
In the darkness of everybody’s life”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show was shot by cinematographer Peter Suschitzky on 35mm film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment debuts Walt Disney Restoration’s 10-month remaster of the film on Ultra HD with a new 4K restoration of the original camera negative, which has been graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and encoded to a dual-layered BD-66 disc. By and large, Rocky Horror has received its fair share of home video love since first premiering on VHS in 1990 for its 15th anniversary. Its presentation has had its up and downs over the years, both visually and aurally, and when it first arrived on DVD in 2000, we were finally blessed with the full original version of the film as seen in the United Kingdom featuring the full Super Heroes closing number, which was unjustly chopped out of the US presentation. Disney’s restoration team has chosen to only include this version of the film on the Ultra HD disc, which is odd since seamless branching could have been utilized in order to include both versions, for archival purposes as much as anything. However, deep-seated fans will also note that depending on which version you’ve seen, minor details throughout the film can be different. For instance, the producer credits at the beginning of the film, which read “A Lou Adler/Michael White Production” in the US and “A Michael White/Lou Adler Production” in the UK. The version presented on this release includes the former, meaning that it may not be 100 percent accurate, but it’s close enough.
Those same long-time fans will also note that all of the film’s softer, less detail-oriented material was due to a heavy use of optical wipes, which were printed on Color Reversal Internegative film stock that tends to fade more quickly over time. Because Charles Gray’s footage is mostly on the beginning and tail ends of these opticals, his scenes have always had the short end of the shrift. This lower resolution quality is still present in this new UHD master, but it’s much more preferable than attempting to re-create it in a computer, which always appears as a digital re-creation no matter what software or techniques have been used to achieve it. There’s also the matter of the color correction, which has mostly been good, even great in previous presentations, but usually with a minor caveat or two. The bedroom and post-bedroom antics scenes involving Janet, Brad, and Frank-N-Furter, as well as The Time Warp (Reprise) footage before the closing credits, have sometimes been incorrectly tinted to appear more natural. That’s not the case here. Janet and her subsequent scenes are appropriately tinted red, while Brad’s scenes and The Time Warp (Reprise) are correctly tinted blue. Along with the inclusion of Super Heroes at the end, this is the most complete and accurate visual representation of the film available.
All of that said, this is also the best that the film has ever looked on optical disc, with much more precise and higher levels of detail in the image than seen previously. Outside of a grain spike at around 67:38, grain is evenly-tempered and well-resolved, outside of opticals which still stand out, but blend a little better here than they have in the past. The bitrate sits mostly between 70 and 100Mbps without a speck or scratch in sight. Besides the clarity, the biggest muscle that this release has is the HDR grades, which beautifully enhance the film’s gorgeous palette with rich swatches of red, blue, and purple, among many other greens and browns. Blacks are velvety deep with vast detail in the shadows and perfect contrast. The picture is thoroughly stable and crisp, from the finer details of costumes to the glistening petroleum jelly on Rocky’s chest to Frank-N-Furter’s amazing array of make-up and wardrobe. It’s an outstanding picture.
Audio is included in English Dolby Atmos and 2.0 mono Dolby Digital. As with every previous home video release of the film, the audio for the film has had some key differences along the way. Chase Productions originally restored the film’s audio and later created the 5.1 experience, which some fans have expressed their displeasure with, but the primary source for the new Atmos remix appears to mostly be the original mono, with one main difference. The original mono, which has unfortunately been included in a lossy container, features a completely different set of audio for the closing credits. It’s mastered at a higher pitch and Richard O’Brien’s vocals on Science Fiction/Double Feature (Reprise) are less-processed, or possibly from a different performance altogether. There’s also a different version of The Time Warp (Reprise) which is much more saxophone-heavy and concludes naturally instead of slowing down, as heard in the main version. Other than that, the Atmos track expands upon the original soundtrack without any real changes, filling out the surrounds with the music and sound effects, and anchoring vocals mostly to the front. Some of the vocals seem to have a little more reverb to them, but nothing drastic. It’s worth noting that Peter Hinwood’s re-recorded stereo vocals by Trevor White are still present on both tracks. It’s a shame that they couldn’t be included on an alternate track somehow as I actually prefer the performance on the original soundtrack release. While not perfect, the audio options are solid nonetheless. An additional English 2.0 Descriptive Audio option is also included, as are subtitle options in English SDH, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Norwegian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin America), and Swedish.
Sony’s 2-Disc 50th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show also includes a 1080p Blu-ray featuring the same restoration, as well as the bulk of the extras, in very nice Steelbook packaging. The following extras are included on each disc:
DISC ONE (UHD)
- Trivia Track: 50 Years and Still Kicking!
- Vintage Callback Track (Unrated)
- Audio Commentary with Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn
- Rocky-Oke: Sing It! – With or Without Vocals:
- Science Fiction/Double Feature (HD – 4:32)
- Dammit Janet (HD – 2:52)
- Over at the Frankenstein Place (HD – 3:09)
- The Time Warp (HD – 4:22)
- Sweet Transvestite (HD – 4:06)
- Sword of Damocles (HD – 2:06)
- I Can Make You a Man (HD – 2:12)
- Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul (HD – 3:05)
- I Can Make You a Man (Reprise) (HD – 1:45)
- Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me (HD – 2:30)
- Eddie (HD – 2:46)
- Planet, Schmanet, Janet (HD – 3:02)
- Rose Tint My World/Floor Show (HD – 2:48)
- Fanfare/Don’t Dream It (HD – 4:03)
- Wild and Untamed Thing (HD – 1:53)
- I’m Going Home (HD – 2:55)
- Super Heroes (HD – 2:35)
- Science Fiction/Double Feature (Reprise) (HD – 1:29)
DISC TWO (BD)
- Trivia Track: 50 Years and Still Kicking!
- Vintage Callback Track (Unrated)
- Audio Commentary with Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn
- Alternate Version with B&W Opening (HD – 100:04)
- Deleted Song: Once in a While (SD – 3:08)
- Outtakes (SD – 10:02):
- The Time Wrap Alternate, Take 1 (SD – 1:29)
- The Time Wrap Alternate, Take 2 (SD – 1:17)
- Brad and Janet Undressed Alternate, Take 1 (SD – 1:01)
- Brad and Janet Undressed Alternate, Take 2 (SD – :35)
- Brad and Janet Undressed Alternate, Take 3 (SD – :48)
- Brad and Janet Undressed Alternate, Take 4 (SD – :29)
- Brad and Janet Undressed Alternate, Take 5 (SD – :32)
- Janet’s Seduction Alternate, Take 1 (SD – 1:24)
- Janet’s Seduction Alternate, Take 2 (SD – :49)
- Floor Show Prep Alternate, Take 1 (SD – :43)
- Floor Show Prep Alternate, Take 2 (SD – :50)
- Alternate Credit Ending (SD – 3:45)
- Misprint Ending (SD – 1:44)
- Rocky Horror Double Feature Video Show (SD – 36:25)
- The Time Warp Music Video (15th Anniversary VHS Release) (SD – 4:36)
- Beacon Theater, New York City (10th Anniversary) (SD – 5:20)
- Trailers:
- Theatrical Trailer 1 (SD – :30)
- Theatrical Trailer 2 (SD – 2:59)
- Rocky-Oke: Sing It! – With or Without Vocals:
- Science Fiction/Double Feature (HD – 4:32)
- Dammit Janet (HD – 2:52)
- Over at the Frankenstein Place (HD – 3:09)
- The Time Warp (HD – 4:22)
- Sweet Transvestite (HD – 4:06)
- Sword of Damocles (HD – 2:06)
- I Can Make You a Man (HD – 2:12)
- Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul (HD – 3:05)
- I Can Make You a Man (Reprise) (HD – 1:45)
- Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me (HD – 2:30)
- Eddie (HD – 2:46)
- Planet, Schmanet, Janet (HD – 3:02)
- Rose Tint My World/Floor Show (HD – 2:48)
- Fanfare/Don’t Dream It (HD – 4:03)
- Wild and Untamed Thing (HD – 1:53)
- I’m Going Home (HD – 2:55)
- Super Heroes (HD – 2:35)
- Science Fiction/Double Feature (Reprise) (HD – 1:29)
The majority of the bonus materials from previous releases of the film have carried over, though the Trivia Track has been newly-updated. It’s worth noting that the version of the film with the black and white opening has been relegated to the Blu-ray only. The Vintage Callback Track is an optional audio track that allows you to watch the film with the unrated 1983 The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Audience Par-tic-i-pation album. There’s also the audio commentary with Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn and the extensive Rocky-Oke: Sing It! karaoke section dedicated to every single musical number. The rest of the material dates back as far as the film’s VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD releases, including the Beacon Theatre, New York City: 10th Anniversary featurette and The Time Warp Music Video., both of which were featured on the original 15th Anniversary VHS release.
Not included from the Limited Edition 35th Anniversary Blu-ray is all of the material from within the pages of the Digibook version; subtitle options for the audio commentary; The Midnight Experience picture-in-picture options Trivia Track (the older one), Prop Box, and The Late Night, Double Feature, Picture-in-Picture Show; The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast featurettes Don’t Dream It, Be It! and An-Tic-I-Pation; Mick Rock (A Photographer); Mick Rock’s Picture Show (A Gallery); a Pressbook Gallery; and a Poster Gallery. Not included from the 25th Anniversary DVD release is the previous 5.1 audio track; the Multi-View Theatre Experience, featuring the Participation Prompter subtitle track and Audience Participation audio track; segments from VH1’s Behind the Music, Where Are They Now?, and Pop-Up Video programs; sing-a-longs for Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me and Sweet Transvestite (replaced by Rocky-Oke: Sing It!); and several DVD-ROM features. The 20th Anniversary Special Edition LaserDisc featured a 24K gold CD soundtrack and the book Creatures of the Night 2: More of the Rocky Horror Experience by Sal Piro. There’s also a number of items that have been floating around for a while now, including footage shot specifically for BBC’s Film Night on the set of the film, a participatory version of the film hosted by Meat Loaf that aired on the Fox Movie Channel, various MTV specials and other TV appearances, and a set of radio spots, all of which have never appeared on any home release.
While the new 4K Ultra HD release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show doesn’t get everything exactly right in the audio and supplemental department, it knocks it out of the park in terms of its visual presentation. It’s the best the film has ever looked on home video, and should be an essential purchase for fans. Even with a couple of minor caveats, it’s still highly recommended.
- Tim Salmons and Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Tim on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd. And be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel here.)
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).