Strange Journey

Strange Journey tells the unlikely story of the stage and film versions of Tim O’Brien’s much-loved Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is still screening in theatres 50 years after its first opening, making it the longest-running theatrical release in film history. Initially a flop, the film gradually became cinema’s most enduring—and endearing—cult classic, its untrammelled madness carrying a powerful message of sexual and psychological liberation. As Susan Sarandon comments, Rocky was about saying “yes” to life and to everything, and it’s to the documentary’s credit that it carries that same embrace of radical optimism. For young queer people, Rocky, along with the deep cult of audience participation that fueled its long-tail success, provided a space of belonging in a broader culture that demanded normalcy. As queer theorist Karen Tongson notes, the film opened a way of imagining our desires as something that we should pursue and not repress, which is perhaps its most lasting contribution to contemporary culture.