At its core, cult phenomenon “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a movie about conservative values versus transgression. The audience surrogates, Brad (asshole!) and Janet (slut!), are two naïve virgins and the living embodiment of the word “stuffy” who are thrown into a world of mad scientist transvestites, hunky Frankensteins, and alien butlers and maids. Sure, the kinky, queer world the two squares fall into is dangerous, but it’s also a lot of fun, and “Rocky Horror” makes it clear that it’s also liberating for the young virgins to escape their conservative world, don some fishnet tights, and embrace their inner freak.
“Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror” is a documentary that loudly, and proudly, celebrates the freaks and the misfits who have found solace in the rock ‘n roll musical film since its 1975 premiere. And yet, it fits more in the “square” category than it should. Directed with obvious reverence by Linus O’Brien, the son of original “Rocky Horror” writer Richard O’Brien, “Strange Journey” is a sweet and enjoyable film that nonetheless feels identifical to hundreds of other movie and music documentaries, just with an edgier subject at its center.
Is that a bad thing? Your mileage will vary. Stuffed with talking heads, archival footage, and still photos, “Strange Journey” is a meat-and-potatoes doc through-and-through. But if, like Susan Sarandon’s Janet memorably sings, you’ve tasted blood and you want more (more, more, more), those meat-and-potatoes will still taste decently appetizing.
The film begins like many documentaries of artists do: with footage of Richard O’Brien returning to his hometown (here, Tarunaga, New Zealand) to tour his old neighborhood and visit a statue of himself, wearing fishnets and stilettos. From there, and across a breezy 90 minutes and change, the younger O’Brien dutifully goes over the ’70s journey of “Rocky Horror” from an idea in his father’s head to a West End production to a flop film to a cult midnight movie phenomenon, covering each step of the journey through his father’s recollections as well as those of his key collaborators. It’s all charming fun, filled with clear affection for the original film.
At the same time, anybody who knows anything about “Rocky Horror” is unlikely to come away from “Strange Journey” having learned anything new. Speeding through the story in 90 minutes means the film never outstays its welcome, but it also means that the anecdotes — from O’Brien gaining inspiration for the musical by attending midnight movie showings to the collaboration of the scrappy original production to the making of the motion picture — also stay surface level and essentially public knowledge. Everything to be found in the film can likely be gleamed by picking up a book, or tracking down a news interview with O’Brien or the cast. And certain parts of the story get shortchanged: the entire development of the iconic “shadow cast” shows that made the film version of “Rocky Horror” a true cult classic in America gets relegated to 20 minutes before the documentary wraps things up.
The big draw for most fans will, likely, just to be able to hear the story from the mouths of all the people who brought the beloved film to life. While some key figures might not be around anymore (the film is dedicated to Sal Piro, one of the most prominent big name fans in the movie’s early years and who died in 2023), by and large all of the key collaborators on the original musical and the movie are present and accounted for including: director Jim Sharman, producer Lou Adler, musical director Richard Hartley, costume designer Sue Blane, and stars Tim Curry, Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn, and even Peter Hinwood.
The love this crew has for their work is obvious, and they speak intelligently about the impact that “Rocky Horror” had with the queer community and how its transgressive themes are still relevant today. Sarandon is a particularly sharp, funny subject, who while discussing Janet’s sexual liberation arc and its relevance during the ’70s feminist movement sums up the film’s moral neatly: “I think the movie’s about saying yes, to life, to everything.”
There’s also some appearances from famous fans of the film as well as movie historians. Some feel a bit perfunctory and unrevealing, such as Jack Black popping in for a segment to talk about the late Meat Loaf’s scene-stealing cameo. Others are more poignant: the film is bookended by interviews with drag queen Trixie Mattel, who speaks about how seeing “Rocky Horror” for the first time allowed her to explore drag safely while growing up in rural, conservative Wisconsin.
Also sweet are the rare times the O’Briens are onscreen together, even if the documentary doesn’t probe too strongly into Richard O’Brien’s gender identity (he describes himself as third gender, “70 percent male and 30 percent female”). There’s a version of “Strange Journey” that perhaps is more explicitly personal, a father-son story and a portrait of the artist rather than the work he created, and you get the sense that could have been a more revealing and memorable documentary, even if what we got is perfectly solid.
When asked what “Rocky Horror” means to him at the documentary’s conclusion, Richard O’Brien recounts a story where a fan told him, “It doesn’t matter what you think about ‘Rocky Horror’ anymore Richard, because it’s not yours. It belongs to us, not to you.” That’s perhaps true of the documentary, which — as the Piro dedication might tip off — is a love letter to the fans first and foremost before it’s anything else. Credit to it, the film achieves that goal with flying colors: anyone who lives, breathes, and bleeds “Rocky Horror” will find comfort in “Strange Journey” and its celebration of the musical’s enduring legacy. Anybody else won’t find much to grab onto.
Grade: B-
“Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror” premiered at the SXSW 2025 Film Festival. It is currently seeking distribution.
