The new documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror follows the story of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, from its origins as a London musical, to its move to Los Angeles, to the film adaptation that starts off as a box office bomb but finds new life as a cult phenomenon. The documentary is from Linus O’Brien, the son of Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien (“Riff Raff”).

The film starts off with a look at O’Brien’s early life, and what led him to write the musical. He talks about writing the songs for this rock musical and how some of them came about. We see the modern day O’Brien performing the songs while playing the guitar and being accompanied on the piano. There are also discussions about the costumes, casting the roles, combining high art and low art for an immersive theater experience, the previews, and the opening night reactions to when Frank-N-Furter drops his cape and reveals his costume. The film then goes into moving the production to Los Angeles to the Roxy for a cabaret-style immersive experience, developing and casting the film adaptation, the grueling 6-week shoot, and creating the opening title mouth sequence. O’Brien shares a fun story about how he tricked Susan Sarandon into auditioning after her manager said she wouldn’t.

The documentary then delves into the failed attempt to move the show to Broadway, which faced a lot of criticism and pushback, and the equally disappointing box office performance of the film. However, when theaters in Austin and New York started midnight showings, the film took on a new life of its own. Audiences embraced it and made it their own, adding shout outs, costumes, props, and a shadow cast, turning cinema back into theater, and taking things full-circle.

Over the course of the documentary, those interviewed include creator Richard O’Brien (“Riff Raff”); stage/screen version stars Nell Campbell (“Columbia”), Tim Curry (“Dr. Frank-N-Furter”), Patricia Quinn (“Magenta”), Barry Bostwick (“Brad Majors”), Susan Sarandon (“Janet Weiss”), Peter Hinwood (“Rocky”) & Belinda Sinclair (“Janet”); friend/actress Chrissie Shrimpton, director Jim Sharman, musical director Richard Hartley, costume designer Sue Blane, producer Lou Adler, casting director Joel Thurm, producer John Goldstone; fans like television personality/musician Trixie Mattel, actor/musician Jack Black, original shadow cast member 1977-1987 Lillias Piro, shadow cast member 1985-1990 Sean Waters, lead producer “Sins O’ The Flesh” shadow cast Austin Fresh & founder “Fluster Muster” shadow cast Tristan Ratterman; and scholars USC professor of gender and sexuality studies Karen Tongson, PhD & film scholar Jeffrey Weinstock, PhD.

Some of the interviews get personal, such as O’Brien talking about his own coming out story and how he sees himself as 30% female, as well as some other emotional stories from others who felt seen and were inspired by Rocky Horror. O’Brien also reads some letters from fans writing him to tell him how Rocky Horror, and in particular the “I’m Going Home” song, helped them in times of grief.

Alliance Entertainment, in association with Magenta Light Studios, has released Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror on Blu-ray & Digital. We were sent the Blu-ray release for review. The visual presentation is solid, with the new interview footage looking very clean. Some of the archival footage is less clear and detailed, but that is to be expected. The audio features clear dialogue throughout, with a nice backing score that fills the room at times.

The Blu-ray disc is placed in a standard HD keepcase. Our review copy did not include a slipcover. There is no digital copy code included, and the disc contains no bonus material.

What’s Included:

Film (1:29:57):

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

No bonus material included.

Final Thoughts:

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror is an interesting look at the Rocky Horror phenomenon, with some fun and entertaining stories, and a solid cross section of participants from the various aspects and forms this production has taken. While it may not delve as deep into things as some folks may want, I found it to be an entertaining 90-minute look at the journey and history of Rocky Horror. The Blu-ray presentation is solid, but the disc is barebones, with no additional bonus material.