The Rocky Horror Glee Show "Slant Magazine" called it a "travesty" and criticized "the arms-length treatment of the Frank N. Furter character", and Amy Reiter of the "Los Angeles Times" deemed the episode flawed through its sanitization, despite initially having found the two shows "a particularly promising match". "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" received several favorable comparisons to previous themed episodes; Erica Futterman of "Rolling Stone" deemed it the best yet. Both "Entertainment Weekly" Tim Stack and Jarett Wieselman of the "New York Post" preferred it to the Britney Spears tribute episode "Britney/Brittany"; Wieselman hailed it as a "run-away success" that would satisfy "Rocky Horror"
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Horror: From Concept to Cult", designer Sue Blane discusses the "Rocky Horror" costumes' influence on punk music style, opining "[It was a] big part of the build-up [to punk]." She states that ripped fishnet stockings, glitter, and coloured hair were directly attributable to "Rocky Horror". Some of the costumes from the film had been originally used in the stage production. Props and set pieces were reused from old Hammer Horror productions and others. The tank and dummy used for Rocky's birth originally appeared in "The Revenge of Frankenstein" (1958). These references to earlier productions, in addition to cutting costs, enhanced