Half a century ago Richard O’Brien was a New Zealander transplanted to London, where he was struggling to make a living as an actor. Then came the three-week run of a tiny musical production that turned into a smash hit, morphed into a movie, gained a cult following unlike that of any other film, and lives on to this day.

A spirited riff (or Riff-Raff) on old sci-fi B movies and a clutch of lively, witty tunes, The Rocky Horror Show is still produced on stage around the world, suchwi its current Broadway revival starring Luke Evans as Dr. Frank N Furter that’s a smash hit extending its limited engagement through November at Studio 54. With its success, the Rocky Horror Broadway Curse has finally ended. Two previous editions, a staging of the original LA version with Tim Curry in1975 closed after 45 performances. after two previous editions, including the original that starred Tim Curry, failed. In 2000, it was revived at the Circle in the Square where it did reasonably good business until 9/11 occurred. It closed soon after, losing its investment.

(For more information about the current revival, follow this link.)

One placeThe Rocky Horror Picture Show still draws crowds are those interactive midnight screenings where “shadow casts” brave hurled toast, tossed rice, biting quips, water guns, and raucous replies to the screen from enthralled audiences.

Now filmmaker Linus O’Brien — Richard’s son — captures an oral history of sorts about the origins of Rocky Horror in the documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror.In the film, now available on streaming platforms, Linus accompanying his father to the spot in New Zealand where he once cut hair (and where a glam rock statue of O’Brien now stands). He also sits his dad down to play some unplugged renditions of a few of the show’s famous songs, turns his camera on cast members (Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Tim Curry, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell), and sprinkles rousing clips from the film throughout.

We hear from fans, too, including drag performer Trixie Mattel (who reveals the connection between her drag name and the show and recalls how important it was as a queer kid to find community and acceptance through the Rocky Horror community) and actor Jack Black (who discovered the phenomenon of late-night Rocky Horror viewings as a kid and reveled in them).

For the uninitiated, the show’s story line is pure B-movie bunkum: Brad (Bostwick) and Janet (Sarandon), an innocuously virginal couple, are so inspired by the wedding of a friend that they decide to tie the knot as well. In their excitement they decide to pay a visit to Dr. Scott (Jonathan Adams), the high school teacher in whose science class they first met. Alas, a violent thunderstorm and a flat tire cut their journey short; stranded in the stormy night they decide to take refuge “over at the Frankenstein place,” the requisite Gothic manor that all vintage horror movies seem to feature, and that’s where they encounter a cadre of extraterrestrials led by Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Curry), a mad scientist exiled to Earth for reasons unknown. To party, perhaps? Because that’s what these aliens seem best at, to the point of Dr. F building his own boy toy (“a man with blond hair and a tan”) — a creation he dubs Rocky (Peter Hinwood). A night of wild frolics ensues, punctuated by tongue-in-cheek rock-opera songs, fourth-wall breaking expositions, sexual revelations, cheesy SFX, cannibalistic tableaux, and… well… Meat Loaf (playing an ill-fated character named Eddie).

There’s dish served up in the doc, and tea spilled, as we learn about the play’s sudden success, the unusual (and fortunate) translation of the stage cast to the film (directed by Jim Sharman), American actors Sarandon and Bostwick being dropped into the middle of a troupe of British thesps (which, come to think of it, must have been a little like Brad and Janet’s abrupt engulfment by beings from another world), the deliberate B-movie aesthetic O’Brien and Sharman were going for, and the rise of a passionate, world-wide fandom with a tent (or castle) big enough to accommodate just about anyone.

The doc is playing in UK and Irish cinemas starting Oct. 3 and heading to home releases and streaming on the 20th. I don’t have to tell you to check it out as soon as you possibly can; I can see you shiver with antici…

You know the rest.

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror is available to stream on Prime Video and AppleTV.\