All 8 Rocky Horror Picture Show Major Characters, Ranked

Few films can turn a stranded couple, a murderous scientist, a gold-painted creation, and a house full of Transylvanians into a cultural institution. Yet The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been doing exactly that for more than 50 years. Jim Sharman’s 1975 musical comedy-horror follows Brad and Janet into Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s castle, where their innocent road trip goes spectacularly off the rails. The Library of Congress describes the film as a blend of rock opera and horror spoof, while its extraordinary midnight-screening culture eventually made audience participation part of the experience itself.

The film’s longevity owes plenty to Richard O’Brien’s songs and Sharman’s gleefully eccentric direction, but those ingredients needed characters outrageous enough to carry them. With Tim Curry’s death at 80 bringing renewed attention to the film that launched him internationally, it feels appropriate to revisit the residents and unfortunate visitors of that famous castle.

8 Rocky Horror Is More Than Frank’s Experiment

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Peter Hinwood’s Rocky Horror has the unenviable job of being born into complete bedlam and somehow looking like the least strange person in the room. Created by Frank as his ideal muscular companion, Rocky enters the film as the triumphant result of Frank’s experiment. The official Rocky Horror site appropriately lists Hinwood’s character as Frank’s “creation.” Rocky is crucial to Frank’s unraveling, especially once jealousy, desire, and Eddie’s murder turn the castle into a pressure cooker. Still, he has less agency and personality than the characters above him.

7 Brad Majors Is the Perfect Square

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Brad Majors walking into Frank’s castle is roughly equivalent to bringing a rulebook to a riot. Barry Bostwick plays Brad as conservative, stiff, and hilariously ill-equipped for his surroundings. He begins as Janet’s newly engaged sweetheart, confidently expecting to find a telephone after their car breaks down. Instead, every assumption he carries about s*x, masculinity, and propriety receives a thorough kicking. Rotten Tomatoes lists Bostwick alongside Susan Sarandon and Curry among the film’s central cast. Brad’s bewilderment supplies terrific comedy, although Janet undergoes the more compelling transformation.

6 Magenta Makes Weirdness Look Effortless

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Patricia Quinn does not need mountains of dialogue to make Magenta impossible to overlook. Introduced as Frank’s domestic servant, Magenta participates in the castle’s debauchery before the film discloses something considerably bigger: she and Riff Raff are siblings and fellow Transylvanians who have had enough of Frank’s excesses. Quinn also provides the unmistakable lips seen during the opening Science Fiction/Double Feature sequence, although O’Brien supplies the singing voice. Her performance carries a wonderfully dry, macabre quality that fits Rocky Horror like a glove. Magenta ranks sixth because her presence is enormous even when her screen time is not.

5 Columbia Brings Heart to the Madness

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Columbia could easily have remained another colorful castle resident. Nell Campbell gives her considerably more bite. The official cast listing describes Columbia as a “groupie,” but her connections to both Frank and Eddie make her surprisingly vulnerable. Her exuberant contribution to Time Warp introduces the character at full throttle, while Eddie’s death exposes the hurt underneath the glitter. Plenty of characters embrace Frank’s hedonistic kingdom, but Columbia eventually confronts him after watching his cruelty consume people around her. She is funny, flamboyant, jealous, wounded, and finally rebellious.

4 Eddie Steals the Film in Minutes

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Meat Loaf arrives as Eddie, tears through Hot Patootie — Bless My Soul, infuriates Frank, and meets a grisly end. Talk about making every minute count. Eddie is Columbia’s former lover and an ex-delivery boy who has been kept in cold storage after Frank used part of his brain for Rocky. Frank eventually murders him with a pickaxe, creating one of the film’s sharpest turns from musical lunacy into black comedy and horror. Fandango credits Meat Loaf as Eddie alongside the film’s principal ensemble. His limited screen time keeps him outside the top three, but his entrance remains dynamite.

3 Janet Weiss Has the Wildest Transformation

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Susan Sarandon’s Janet Weiss enters the castle as a nervous newlywed-to-be and leaves her old inhibitions somewhere near the laboratory. Janet initially mirrors Brad’s conventional outlook, but Frank’s influence rapidly changes that. Her growing sexual confidence culminates in Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me, turning the supposedly innocent heroine into one of the film’s most liberated characters. Sarandon later became an Academy Award-winning actress, but Janet remains one of her defining early performances (per EW).

2 Riff Raff Has Been Holding the Cards

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Richard O’Brien wrote the original musical, co-wrote the screenplay with Sharman, composed its songs, and played Riff Raff. That alone makes his fingerprints difficult to miss. Riff Raff initially appears to be Frank’s eerie handyman, hunched over and hovering around the castle like bad news waiting for an appointment. Eventually, he stops taking orders. Alongside Magenta, he turns against Frank, declares their return to Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, and kills Frank, Columbia, and Rocky.

He also leads Time Warp, arguably the film’s most participatory musical number. Riff Raff spends much of the movie lurking around the edges before taking command of its conclusion.

1 Frank-N-Furter Owns The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Dr. Frank-N-Furter is The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Curry had originated the role onstage in The Rocky Horror Show before bringing Frank to the 1975 film, the performance that propelled him toward international recognition. Frank is seductive, narcissistic, hilarious, jealous, murderous, theatrical, and strangely vulnerable. Curry attacks Sweet Transvestite with outrageous confidence, yet I’m Going Home exposes the loneliness beneath all that bravado.

That contradiction keeps Frank fascinating. He behaves appallingly, but Curry makes looking away nearly impossible. Following Curry’s death, the current Broadway company honored him with a performance of I’m Going Home, a fitting reminder that actors continue inheriting a character he made immortal. More than half a century later, audiences still dress as Frank, quote him, sing with him, and return to midnight screenings. Which The Rocky Horror Picture Show character would take first place on your list? Drop your ranking in the comments, and follow FandomWire for more trips back to the cult movies that refuse to grow old.