Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror review – insiders’ account of cult musical 50 years on

Stars including Richard O’Brien, Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry line up to recount the endearing origin story of the perennial crowdpleaserNot to be confused with the unauthorised, warts-and-all fan history Sane Inside Insanity: The Phenomenon of Rocky Horror, this is an insider’s account all the way, starring the stage-show-turned-cult-film’s writer and co-star Richard O’Brien. Heck, it’s even directed by O’Brien’s son, Linus O’Brien, a fact you couldn’t really miss given interviewees frequently allude cosily to Richard as “your dad”. Given its provenance, it’s no surprise that no one here says, as they do in the rival documentary, that the 1975 film adaptation is a “shitty fucking movie” – but nevertheless there’s honesty on display, mostly about the slapdash origins of the project and the later mistakes made, including the huge flop when the original stage production tried to transfer from Los Angeles to Broadway.But even the most diehard Rocky Horror sceptic would have to concede that this account does a more than competent job of explaining what the Rocky cult means to fans. That goes especially for queer viewers who saw their first glimpse of an out-and-proud identity baked right into the plot, and a community that grew up around the film that might accept them for who they were. We get personal, quite moving testimonies from various devotees including drag performer Trixie Mattel about how much it all meant to them, especially those living in areas where coming out was especially challenging. Even more touching are the recollections of one guy who ran away from home and ended up being a hustler in New York City at the height of the Aids epidemic, but feels his survival and HIV negative status may be owed to the fact that he spent every Friday and Saturday night out of circulation in a Greenwich Village cinema doing the Time Warp. Jack Black, meanwhile, remembers how the midnight screenings with their audience participation turned him on to the idea that rock music and theatrics could intersect and create joy. Continue reading...

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Paul Mescal is better than ever in The History of Sound – but I wanted more

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