Generation der Verdammten

The Doom Generation is an art film trying to please the audience that its making fun of. It has gratuitous violence and is pretty much a soft core porn. The dialog is poor at best. But these are the things that make it a "good" film. The movie is basically taking to task generation X, I mean there is after all a character named "X" who leads the two other "innocent" characters down the road to hell. The gratuitous violence is suppose to highlight the characters apathy toward fellow human beings. In the string of murders and violence that ensues the only time the 3 of them show remorse or concern is when they hit a dog on the road. They end the dogs suffering and bury it! And Amy says something to the effect of "Life Sucks".Out of all the human death they only show concern for themselves and the effect it will have on them, i.e. getting caught, but they all suffer for the poor dogs death. The sex, voyeurism, partner swapping etc. are just examples of more apathy and general selfishness-if it feels good do it. But your not even sure if it feels good because towards the end when the climax of violence is happening nobody seems overly upset that the sex has taken such a bad turn. Maybe Perry Farrel's earlier cameo is to get you to keep in mind the Jane's addiction lyric "... sex is violence"? Any way I could ramble on maybe I'm so brimming with insight because the first time I saw it I was high and then on finally re-watching it I was truly frightened by how many friends I have fit the film's stereotypes

The Doom Generation is a stunning, gripping, gut-wrenching movie. It's easy to see why reactions are so strongly polarized, with almost everybody either loving it or hating it. It's scary to imagine what kind of mind would react with genuine indifference.

I admit I didn't read all the reviews already posted for it, but in the ones I did read I was surprised to find so few that mentioned how funny and how charming this movie is. Like it or not, it's primarily a romantic comedy, and if you miss that you've missed what holds it all together. It's extremely intelligent, very dark, very sweet, profoundly erotic, and shockingly bloody. But most of all it's very, very funny. If I'd missed the humor, I'd still like the freewheeling sexiness, but I'd be appalled by the violence. But I didn't miss the humor, so I loved it all.

Everything about it is brilliant: the writing, the direction, even the gory special effects, and every single member of the large cast is perfect, especially the three leads. For a "heterosexual" movie, as Araki labeled it (with some irony, I have to think), with plenty of sex between the girl and both guys, the most powerfully erotic scenes are between the two men alone. There's no sex acted out between them at all, not even a kiss, but the heat is intense and stunning, much more powerful than the explicit sex between either of them and the girl. It's the best proof I've ever seen that eroticism and sex are completely different, and in a movie eroticism is much more entertaining. The sex acts in this movie may be all hetero, but the real heat is as gay as it gets. That's quite a coup.

I for one am glad it's not in widescreen on the DVD. If a movie that's filmed widescreen is shown at 4:3, you do lose information. But a lot of independent movies from that period were filmed at 4:3, so that a "widescreen" version just crops off the top and bottom of the picture, and you actually get less information. (The widescreen version of Gus Van Sant's brilliant Elephant is like that, but fortunately that DVD includes both versions.)

Some films divide audiences immediately. 'Eraserhead', 'Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls', 'Night Of The Living Dead'. 'The Doom Generation' is one of those movies! I don't know of anyone who has seen it that has a luke warm response. You either love it or hate it, and I love it!

Gregg Araki makes unique movies. Self conscious, self parodying, INTELLIGENT trash. His world is not really our world. It's an exaggerated, surreal version of "reality". Sexy, violent, pop culture bombarded, dream-like, impossible to forget or ignore. 'The Doom Generation' is clever, ironic, disturbing fun.

Personally, I think his next movie 'Nowhere' is his masterpiece, but this is almost as good. Plus we get lots of Rose McGowan flesh on display - not a bad thing! Her performance as Amy Blue ALMOST makes her the 1990s version of Tura Satana! She will never knock off Tura's crown as Queen of Sleaze, but she seems to be having a hell of a lot of fun trying, and I have a hell of a lot of fun watching her!

I write this because I read a harsh critic from a fellow watcher here and I don't really understand his opinion.

this movie is highly surrealistic, and in its on way very truthful - regarding the fact that it shows the story through the eyes of these overcharacterized stereotypical teens. being an eastern European guy, I think I can say that this movie requires the watcher to step out of his usual westernized filters he's watching films through, and try to be as objective a listener as possible. I must disagree with the opinion that this movie has to be taken seriously - this is a weird kind of entertainment, weird in a positive way like those C-trash horrors that are so bad you start to collect them on your shelf. araki may not be the brightest star in independent film-making, but he's reasonably strong and original.

I recommend this to mature people who don't think that knowing high arts requires them to deny their childhood classics or spider-man. watch it with much self-irony and have a good time. :)

Gregg Araki's Doom Generation is a satirical look at a generation that has been played out in cookie cutter versions of Gen X films. Don't get me wrong, Doom Generation is a little more "visual" than let's say, "Reality Bites," but then so is "Nowhere." The graphic nature of the violence and language play into Araki's satire and even the subliminal messages throughout the film play into the hands of those who look upon the "Gen-X" films as hip because we all go to a coffee house. Capitalism is evident in these films because of all the product placement, but we are not supposed to give in to this commercialism. Giving into this wasteland of over-marketed products is what Gen-X'ers say that they will not do while wearing their $60 Tommy pants and sipping on a $6.00 latte. Araki does what any brilliant director would do in this situation: make THE DOOM GENERATION.