SANE INSIDE INSANITY

****

Directed by Andreas Zerr.

Starring Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Jim Sharman, Barry Bostwick.

Documentary, Germany, 100 mins.

Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2025 - English Premiere

Crucially, the director of this feature documentary (years in the making but premiering in time for the 50th anniversary of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW) confessed to not being a fan of the 1975 film, noting how it starts OK and gets “boring” in the second half. That’s somewhat harsh, but is not without a modicum of truth and, far from a love letter, among the various engaging elements of this doc is conveying how later incarnations of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW on stage suffered from erring too close to the movie version.

As such, the main focus is on the creative background of ROCKY, the radical nature of the original show and the many worldwide fans who resurrected the movie adaptation (a commercial failure at the time) by participating in “shadow” performances in front of cinema screens and bringing the energy it sometimes lacks. Archive interviews feature key absent talking heads like Richard O’Brien, Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry, but the new interviews with director Jim Sharman and actors Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell and Barry Bostwick offer plenty of insight into the original production and its incredible afterlife. 

This nicely edited, comprehensive piece captures the evolution of O’Brien’s concept and its fandom over the decades, reinforcing the positivity of a constantly expanding community of people of all colours, genders, nationalities and creeds, for whom it has been a life-changing musical. It also offers frank, valuable discussions about how most of the cast and crew were stitched up financially by the latter-day success of a cult film that has potentially made as much as $500 million over the decades.

Steven West