Sane Inside Insanity: The Phenomenon Of Rocky Horror

“It was great when it all began...”

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the one and only Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was re-released in cinemas in the same week that Frightfest screened this documentary. It’s the only one released on the subject this year, with original Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien at the centre of Strange Journey: The Rocky Horror Story, which is directed about his son. There is enough difference between the two, however, for them to co-exist comfortably side by side, and fans will want to see both.

No other film has fans quite like Rocky Horror, for the simple reason that, as its original stars have noted, it has become a form of participatory theatre. Full disclosure: I am myself a former member of Glasgow shadow cast Dr. Scott’s Extra Forks, and have performed in shows all around the UK. Director Andreas Zerr has no such connection. Though he had seen the film before embarking on this project, he came to Rocky Horror culture as a complete outsider. His subsequent success in engaging with his subject – over the course of years – is impressive, as this is the grittier, more intimate and more immersive of the year’s two films.

Approaching its subject in chronological order, the film begins with a focus on the stage show. Lacking access to the big star names (though he does have an extensive and marvellously entertaining interview with Little Nell), Zerr has focused on the movers and shakers behind the scenes, and on people involved in the production process. This results in a wealth of stories and insights never previously brought to light. It will be of interest to anyone involved in theatre and in the history of the arts, distilling as it does all the chaos of the show’s development and the lucky accidents – right down to the portentous lightning storm over London on opening night – which helped to make it more than the sum of its parts.

Situating the show in the context of what was happening in theatre at the time, Zerr is properly able to establish the impact of what many younger viewers now find tame. There’s a great interview with costume designer Sue Blane, whose work was pivotal to creating that sensation, along with input from original Eddie Paddy O’Hagan and original Rocky Rayner Bourton, the latter of whom has a shocking story to tell about costuming/make-up gone wrong. The phenomenal success of the show, in its tiny 500-seat space upstairs at the Royal Court theatre, is addressed with reference to the enthusiasm of celebrities like Mick Jagger, John Lennon and Jack Nicholson, as well as the unlikely boon of a positive review in the Daily Mail.

The transition to Broadway, and its disastrous failure, gets less attention – what can really be said? – but is explored in terms of its impact on the reputation and financial viability of the work, which could very well have died as a result. The many difficulties with the development of the film emerge thereafter, with Alan Ladd Jr. recalling – self-critically now – how he and other Fox executives visited the set during the shooting of the swimming pool scene and were appalled, not understanding what they saw at all. Because he’s not as attached to the film as most people who have interviewed about it over the years, Zerr is able to draw out many criticisms of it from those directly involved (Nell complains only that she wasn’t in it enough), which enables a more honest appraisal of the reasons for its difficulties.

The latter part of the film deals with audience participation and shadow casts, with contributions from the likes of Cards For Sorrow, Chocolate Covered Rocky Horror (a nice antidote to the whiteness of the rest) and Killer Aliens from Outer Space. It pays tribute to the dedicated team who kept it selling out at New York City’s 8th Street Playhouse every Friday and Saturday night for ten years despite never getting paid for their efforts. Most importantly, it understands why – that this is a space which reaches out to generation after generation of people who might otherwise find no other route to expressing who they really are, and provides support and friendship and the opportunity to feel good about themselves.

There are a few additional considerations. The video release and the lack of rewards for those who had put in the most work. The gradual over-commercialisation of the stage show. The pointless remake, which nobody is inclined to speak up for. The original caught lightning in a bottle, we hear more than once; there wasn’t a hope of an imitation doing likewise, especially not when it was polished and professionalised, out of touch with the qualities that made its predecessor into something people could really connect with. Zerr’s documentary has its own rough edges and suits the spirit of Rocky Horror. A great score by Modo Bierkamp helps to bring its various themes together and make it less dependent on repeating music from the show (though we do get some of that too). Rose-tinted it is not, and that’s a good thing – but it will, from a while, keep you free from your trouble and pain.

Reviewed on: 25 Aug 2025