The Rocky Horror Picture Show cult following

[3]: 25 The film was then re-launched as a midnight movie, beginning its run at the Waverly Theatre in New York City on April 1, 1976.

[6] Rocky Horror helped shape conditions of cult film's transition from art-house to grind-house style.

[8]: 104  Performance groups became a staple at Rocky Horror screenings due in large part to the prominent New York City fan cast.

[7] The Los Angeles area performance groups originated in 1977 at the Fox Theatre, where Michael Wolfson, portraying Frank, won a look-alike contest, as well as another at the Tiffany Theater on Sunset Blvd.

[8]: 104–119  D. Garret Gafford, was out of work in 1978, trying to raise enough funds for gender confirmation surgery while spending the weekends performing at the Tiffany.

[14] To the fans, Rocky Horror is a repeated cycle, of going home and coming back to see the film each weekend, making the practice a ritual of compulsive, re-affirmation of community that has been compared to a "religious event".

[10] The Rocky Horror Picture Show has a global following and remains popular well into the 21st century,[15] and the film's fan culture of cosplaying and audience participation during screenings laid the groundwork for the similarly influential cult following surrounding Tommy Wiseau's The Room (2003).

[3]: 36  "Shadow Casts" of fans acting out the entire movie below, or in some cases directly in front of the screen, are almost always present at showings.

At the Tiffany Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, fans included a transgender individual performing as Frank N. Furter, just a few blocks away from the Roxy Theatre where The Rocky Horror Show made its American debut.

[3]: 126–127 Audience participation also includes dancing the Time Warp along with the film, and throwing objects such as toast, water, toilet paper, hot dogs, and rice at appropriate points in the movie.

At a now-defunct theater in New Orleans, the local "Eddie" would ride his motorcycle down the aisle during Meat Loaf's/Eddie's song, "Hot Patootie.

In some venues, audience members who provide incorrect or poorly timed responses may find themselves angrily shouted down just as if they were being disruptive in a normal movie.