The Doom Generation (1995) - Araki's violent, sometimes sexy, not that good 5th

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The in-your-face style poster for Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation

QUICK REVIEW:

A young couple drives out on an adventure and picks up a sexy stranger to go with them, who, however, soon gets them involved in several bloody murders.

You can't really blame adults in the mid 1990s for being slightly uneasy about the younger generation with films such as this. Great LA writer-director Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin (2004)), in this his 5th feature and second film in his Teenage Apocalypse trilogy (also consisting of Totally F***ed Up (1993) and Nowhere (1997), shows us a depraved and deeply unhealthy youth, utterly lacking any moral compass while navigating in a manufactured, mediated type reality.
Som sexy scenes and stars James Duval (Donnie Darko (2001)), Rose McGowan (Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)) and Johnathon Schaech (Broken Horses (2015)) light up in the general nihilist-apocalyptic mood of Doom Generation, a film that wants to be a lot more than it is.
SPOILER Unfortunately, it also ends in an unnecessarily vile scene of violence, in which Duval's genitals are mutilated. Yuck! Poor, sweet Duval...

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: 284k $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty (but likely at least a big flop)
[The Doom Generation premiered January 26 (Sundance) and runs 83 minutes. It was shot in January 1994 in LA and was Araki's biggest movie to date. At its Sundance premiere, many critics reportedly walked out. Roger Ebert was among the harshest critics of it, giving it a zero star rating. In North America, it received small public reception, probably heavily influenced by its being released unrated, peaking in just 20 theaters. It was released in at least 16 countries besides the US, so without a world gross, it is impossible to ascertain its theatrical status, however, it was likely at least a big flop. McGowan was nominated for the Best Debut Performance at the Spirit Awards, losing to Justin Pierce from the great Kids. The Doom Generation is rotten at 47 % with a 4.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Doom Generation?