When we saw Gregg Araki‘s “Kaboom” at TIFF we said that it was like “Saved By The Bell” meets “Lost Highway” on ecstasy. Sounds fucking great, right? Well, not really.
The ambitious story follows an ambisexual 18-year-old college freshman (Thomas Dekker) who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic Southern California seaside town. The film plays like a strange dream, a murder mystery, a rom-com and general WTF-ness all rolled into one. We felt “the ludicrous and convoluted plotline is ambitious and amusing — advanced irony graduates will likely adore its silly absurdisms — and in other ways it deserves a TV-like laugh track it is so pedestrian and eye-roll provoking.” But ultimately the film comes off as David Lynch film made by a college student and trailer practically screams “I want to be a cult movie!”
You can see for yourself if Araki delivers the goods when the film hits theaters on January 28th via Sundance Selects. Check out the synopsis and trailer below (or in HD at Apple).
Indie veteran Gregg Araki returns to the spotlight with KABOOM, a hyper-stylized Twin Peaks for the Coachella Generation, featuring a gorgeous, super-hot young cast. The film is a wild, sex-drenched, comical thriller that tells the story of Smith, an ambisexual 18-year-old college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic Southern California seaside town. KABOOM will make its US premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and is writer/director Araki’s eighth film there since his breakthrough The Living End, including The Doom Generation to his masterpiece Mysterious Skin. The film stars Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida, Andy Fischer-Price, James Duval and Kelly Lynch.
