As a queer woman going into the Halloween season, the loss of Tim Curry hits a little harder than before. If you somehow made it through September without hearing the news, I am so sorry that a Her Campus article is the way you are finding out about the passing of Tim Curry at the age of 80. Tim Curry, as you may or may not know, was a keystone actor and performer from the 70s to 2012. His presence blessed both the West End and Broadway, where he was in productions like Hair and Spamelot, and one of his first big on screen appearances was, of course, as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).Â
Despite being a queer woman that consumed as much queer media as I could, I had never seen Rocky Horror, mostly because I assumed it was a horror movie and I don’t touch those with a stick of any length. But one Halloween, I was far too sick to leave my home in my Smosh-themed costume. I was The Chosen in case you were wondering. Instead of accompanying my little brother around our neighborhood, I sat at home with my mom and handed out candy to passing trick-or-treaters.Â
Like I said, I don’t do scary movies, so as my mom was throwing out suggestions for a spooky movie night, nothing she listed quite caught my eye. It wasn’t until she came upon Rocky Horror Picture Show that my attention was drawn. For some context, my mom is a very open minded person. I came out to her in a Mother’s Day card and I’m almost certain she keeps it in her night stand for safe keeping. We have a very close relationship and at this point in my life, I was comfortable talking about girls with her, the way any daughter would with her mom. So Rocky Horror it was.Â
As the credits rolled, my mom immediately started movin’ a groovin’ along with the music. She had to explain to me that the movie was a spoof, based off of Frankenstein, and that was why Tim Curry’s character was Dr. Frank-N-Furter. I wasn’t getting it, but was there for the campiness nonetheless. As the movie played out, my mom and I yapped over the unimportant parts and talked about life and mother-daughter stuff. I don’t recall the conversation exactly, but I remember laughing a lot. Once the movie was over, my little brother had come home and we were perplexed with what to watch next. To keep to the theatre kid theme, I suggested Clue, another Tim Curry classic. After all the movies were said and done, it was like 1:00 in the morning and my mom insisted we went to bed. I would say it was a Halloween well spent.
Now, I understand that to most high school aged kids, spending Halloweekend with your mom, little brother and Tim Curry movies sounds really lame in comparison to attending an epic rager, but for me, it was never about being cool. I am a firm believer that moms are some of the best people on this planet, and simply because my father will never let me live it down that I wrote and published an article about my mom and not him, I guess I will say that dads are pretty cool too. But with this belief, I stand firm in spending Halloween with your family and watching Rocky Horror and Clue if you come from a queer household like me. Although it was only one night, I still think about it all the time. I think about how my mom made me feel safe and how hard we laughed together.Â
Tim Curry, like everyone else, was somebody’s son. He was a diva, who probably watched movies with his mom, and now that he has passed on, I hope that you all go home this fall break and watch campy Tim Curry movies with your loved ones. It’s what he would’ve wanted.