'Rocky Horror' No More At AMC Loews In Harvard Square

Fans of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" have lined up in outside the AMC Loews movie theater in Harvard Square for 28 years. But that theater announced Thursday that it will be going dark in July.

No more will the cult-classic's Boston-area devotees dress as their favorite characters from "Rocky Horror." They will no longer scream out lines of dialogue or throw rice at the movie screen. The longtime tradition will happen only three more times before Harvard Square's only multiplex shuts down for good on July 8.

While Jeb Bowerin of Belmont never saw "Rocky Horror" at the theater himself, he said he's been paying the price of admission to other mainstream Hollywood films since the '80s.

"I saw a movie here yesterday, and I was sort of noticing how dirty is was, the particular theater that I was in a lot of seats were broken," Bowerin said.

And now Bowerin knows why.

"I'm disappointed, just because it's great to have it here in this location," he said. "I'm always keeping an eye on what movies are here and it's convenient for me, so that's too bad."

Beneath the movie theater's marquee, George Clark told me he's also disappointed to learn about the closing. He works at Harvard University.

"I used to live in Central Square and just enjoyed coming here. I think it's kind of a cultural meltdown to lose a first-run movie house in the center of New England," Clark said.

The Brattle Theatre is only a couple of blocks away. Standing behind the concession stand, creative director Ned Hinkle admitted to being disheartened by the news, but not surprised.

"We've known for a long time, there have been rumors about maybe this happening, and I used to go to the Harvard Square when I was a teenager and I saw things like 'Repo Man' and 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' and 'Rocky Horror Picture Show,' and arguably it colored my film preferences even more than seeing things here at the Brattle, which I did when I was a teenager, so it's too bad to see it go," Hinkle said. "I wish we had millions of dollars to get in there and take it over and make it a super amazing place, but I don't think that's going to happen."

At the same time, though, Hinkle and his staff are preparing to absorb the AMC Loews moviegoers who might come the Brattle's way now that it's the only movie house left in Harvard Square.