Cry Baby at fancy dress Midnight Movies

Everywhere I looked there were other 50s devotees, though they were more about drape style than the full skirts and cute ponytails of squares Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

Drawing on Johnny Depp’s tattooed tear, Ricki Lake’s proud pregnancy (in this case, with a lot of padding), and Traci Lords’ figure-hugging pencil skirts, they were, as rockabilly queen Ramona says, “so pretty in tight clothes, all painted up like trash” Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

This is, of course, quite correct for a midnight movie. The audiences were always into dipping into the dressing-up box. From the 70s onwards, the night owl screenings of oddities that didn’t make it into mainstream theatres (Todd Brown’s Freaks, David Lynch’s Eraserhead), became an safe haven for self-confessed outcasts Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

The glitter-coated performance troupe, The Cockettes, came out of a pre-midnight movie show at a theatre in San Francisco. And The Rocky Horror Picture Show became almost a parody of a midnight movie – with audiences dressing up like Frank-N-Furter and shouting the lines along with Tim Curry Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

After attending one of these at the Prince Charles cinema, I can tell you it's one strictly for the devotees Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

While midnight movies proper died out in the 80s, the Curzon’s night is a sign that they may be on the return Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

While not sticking to the midnight movie genre entirely (previous screenings have delved into 80s style with Mannequin and Breakin’), this is something I for one would be pleased to see – and not just for the dress-up element Photograph: Lauren Cochrane

An upcoming Halloween all-nighter presented by The League of Gentlemen’s Jeremy Dyson and with Blaxploitation horror Scream Blacula Scream on the bill, will no doubt evoke the spirit of midnight movies past. Who knows what ghouls will walk through the door. One thing’s for sure – I’ve got my fangs at the ready Photograph: Lauren Cochrane