The Doom Generation (2023)

Disturbing yet enthralling

Brilliant and touching

Awesome Movie

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) is with her current boyfriend Jordon White (James Duval) when they abruptly meet Xavier Red (Johnathon Schaech). She was a combined SAT score of 666 and is the brains in the group. Circumstances have them on the run as they leave a trail of bodies behind them in California, all in some sort of self defense. It seem where ever Amy goes someone claims to know her by a different name, a former lover, who now wants her dead. And the number 666 comes up often.The film is off-beat and quirky and my biggest regret is having missed it in 1995, although admittedly I was too busy getting milked by a cow during that era. It is a cult classic and has a Tarantino quality to it.Guide: F-word, sex, nudity (Rose McGowan)

Mindless awesome! OK, it's not that mindless, it's quite frank with its lack of an excessively deep purpose which makes it one of the coolest films ever made. For the most part, great movies must offer more than just entertainment, they must provide with a whole set of another qualities, and stay in your mind for whatever reasons. "The Doom Generation" stays with you for a long time due to a calculated slickness, painfully missed by practically all the demanding viewers and reviewers who simply couldn't understand the director's proposition with this apparently misguided, twisted violent film. News Flash: it's a spoof!The target here is not only the violent action/thriller flicks but also the satires made on those films such as the time very fresh "Natural Born Killers", from which borrow its storyline structure of following a criminal couple on the loose. Well, a little different, perhaps. A young couple (Rose McGowan and James Duval) is involved in a series of crimes after bumping into a mysterious drifter (Johnathon Schaech) who reveals to be a complete psychopath who kills everyone on their way. Or better saying, everyone on the girl's way cause she's like a magnet for trouble, and all the strange, dangerous and demented people they meet claim to had known her (it has some "Scott Pilgrim" feels and that way before its creation). Next thing you know, the nice trio of troubled misfits are deeply involved as friends, sexual partners with some love/hate in between and adding more and more crimes and victims on their run. Hollywood and its entertainment products for the masses dispose their garbage at us every year with plenty of movies that are pointless, with no good plots, using of sometimes excessive and most of the time pointless violence, all which later is labeled as "entertainment", fun for all the family. Ever since the 1970's, and the trend is still strong. This movie is simply poking fun at their schemes, so Araki couldn't miss with this and he made something ten thousand times better than all those lousy films ever made. And it was more than criticism, it was a fun experience. Insanely weird but fun and pure 1990's. And graciously well-acted. The wild group is explosive, sexy, funny, just wished the director would stop with the tease between James and Johnathon and let them do something (the sexual tension between these two is just...you must see it!). The majority complains of poor line delivery, terrible script and acting, tasteless movie. Not at all. It's all calculated to appear that way but it's far from being a despicable work. For better enjoyment of the experience, take things as lightly as you can and you'll have some fun with it. 10/10

Jordan White (James Duval) and Amy Blue (Rose McGowan), two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embark on a sex and violence-filled journey through an America of psychos and quickiemarts.While this is probably not a good movie, it holds a certain nostalgia value for me. Gregg Araki really struck a nerve with those coming of age in the 1990s who had an interest in the Gothic an industrial music scene. With the inclusion of references to Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and Skinny Puppy, it was perfect for that demographic.The 1990s had a nihilistic undertone that was not seen in the 1980s or 2000s, leading to such films as "Seven", "Dark City", and the popularity of Tim Burton and David Fincher. This fit in that trend easily and possibly propelled it. The follow-up, "Nowhere", similarly fit in, catching the tail end. (The trend essentially died with "The Matrix".)

There is more depth and thought to this movie than first meets the eye but the Doom Generation unfortunately falls to the ills of poor acting, poor screen writing, and major gaps and holes in the storyline. The first half of the movie, aside from setting up the storyline, is almost a waste of time.Still, the movie is an interesting study in the dark thought and actions of 3 teens on a road trip to hell finding elicit drugs, sex, and violence just at about every stop over. Amy and Jordan are two X Generation punk rockers best described as Stoned most of the time and looking for excitement. They picked up an older but even more-so on the edge low life named X or Xavier who was running from the 'Skin-heads'. As the movie goes along, the depth of depravity increases until Jordan who I find is the most redeemable character being the most harmless starts asking the question 'Is there any meaning in life'.Still I enjoyed some of the thought especially towards the end of the movie. There are some themes around redemption and salvation that I find interesting. There is a lot of sex in this movie of which while I found provocative in the beginning, a major turn off towards the end of the movie where especially for Amy and X, there was nothing sacred in sex. At the conclusion of the movie, Jordan it seemed was the redeemable character as he confesses his love for Amy. And, for those who are squeamish, avoid the ending at all costs. I found it a bit unnecessary and the ending scene in the car almost pointless.