Two attractive twenty-something year old teenage lovers (Blue and White) accidentally pick up a third attractive twenty-something year old teenager (Red) in their crappy old car and then set out on an aimless road trip around Los Angeles. Occasionally stopping along the way for some good ol’ American robbery, dismemberment and cock mutilation. Sounds cool, but it’s nowhere near as exciting as you would imagine. Not even close. Oh yeah, you did catch on that the three main characters, Red White and Blue, all have names that coincide with the colours of the American flag, right? Okay, cool. Just making sure. Cuz man…that’s fucking deep.
Featuring a cameo by Heidi Fleiss (among other forgotten celebrities), a joke about "Richard Gere's butthole", a Ministry shirt and music by everybody from Nine Inch Nails to MC 900 Ft Jesus, THE DOOM GENERATION is definitely a product of its times. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it is an interesting historical (and low budget) look back to the mid-1990’s America.
I remember seeing THE DOOM GENERATION when it first came out on home video (probably 1996) and being disappointed that it paled to NATURAL BORN KILLERS. Revisiting it now, the whole thing just looks cheap. And the dialogue is cringier than I remember. Also, the whole gay thing (two dudes) is so lightweight that is almost doesn’t exist. Lame. And the ending sucked.
Worth watching if you’re curious and / or interested in 1990’s independent cinema. Others would probably just find it boring. Writer, Director, Editor and Producer Gregg Araki would later go on to make the devastating MYSTERIOUS SKIN in 2004.
