The Doom Generation
Encyclopedia
The Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki
. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan
, James Duval
and Johnathon Schaech
as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk
drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois
. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, the first being Totally Fucked Up
and the last Nowhere
. It was Araki's first movie to deal with a heterosexual relationship, and is billed in the opening titles as "A Heterosexual Movie by Gregg Araki".
"X". A late-night stop at a convenience store
leaves the three on the run when X accidentally kills the store's owner (Dustin Nguyen
). The trio hides in a motel to avoid arrest. While Jordan and Amy have sex in the bath tub, X learns from the local television news program that the store owner's wife (Margaret Cho
) disemboweled her children with a machete before committing suicide, thus, he concludes, removing any possibility of the trio being caught by the police.
Later that evening, Amy has sex with X, even though they do not get along. Eventually Jordan finds out, and things become tense as the two men develop a lingering sexual attraction for one another. As the trio journeys across small-town USA, they continue to get into violent situations due to people either claiming to be Amy's previous lovers or mistaking her for such. The FBI has a meeting and declares it will find Amy and kill her (exactly the same sentiment is voiced by several other parties in the film). She is mistakenly identified by a fast food window clerk as "Sunshine" and later by a character played by Parker Posey
as "Kitten".
Jordan, Amy and X spend the night in an abandoned barn, where they engage in a threesome
. While Amy goes to urinate, Jordan and X are attacked by a trio of neo-Nazis, one of whom had previously mistaken Amy for his ex-girlfriend "Bambi". The gang proceeds to beat up X and then hold Jordan down as the aforementioned neo-Nazi ties up and rape
s Amy on top of an American flag. The group finally severs Jordan's penis with pruning shears
and forces it into his mouth. After Amy breaks free, she kills the neo-Nazis with the shears and escapes with X, leaving Jordan for dead. The film ends with Amy and X driving aimlessly on the road. X is eating Doritos
and offers Amy some, but receives no response. Amy simply smokes a cigarette and continues driving as the film fades to the end credits.
, James Duval
and Johnathon Schaech
. Other members of the cast include Dustin Nguyen
, Margaret Cho
and Parker Posey
. The film features cameos from a number of celebrities including Heidi Fleiss
, Christopher Knight, Perry Farrell
, Amanda Bearse
, Nicky Katt
, and gay adult film stars Zak Spears
and Rex Chandler
.
's Natural Born Killers
. Film website Rotten Tomatoes
, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 50 percent. Roger Ebert famously gave the film "zero stars". This film has a considerable cult following. The film's anti-heroine "Amy" uses graphic language that is especially colorful when insulting "Xavier". Phrases such as "Eat my fuck", "Don't tard out on it", "You are a life support system for a cock", "Kindly pull your head out of your rectal region" became slang for fans of the movie. The phrase "That bitch. I am going to find her and then I am going to kill her" is spoken a few times in the movie by various characters. The same phrase appears in the song "A Daisy Chain 4 Satan" by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
.
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...
. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, James Duval
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor, who is most famous for his roles in the Gregg Araki trilogy—Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere—in addition to Frank in Donnie Darko, Blank in May, Miguel in Independence Day and Singh in Go.-Personal life:Duval was born in Detroit, Michigan...
and Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech is an American actor, writer, and director.-Early life:Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland to Joseph, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive. He is of German and Italian descent, and was raised Roman Catholic...
as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois
Ménage à trois
Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...
. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, the first being Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki...
and the last Nowhere
Nowhere (film)
Nowhere is a 1997 film by director and screenwriter Gregg Araki. It stars James Duval and Rachel True as Dark and Mel, a bisexual teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous....
. It was Araki's first movie to deal with a heterosexual relationship, and is billed in the opening titles as "A Heterosexual Movie by Gregg Araki".
Synopsis
Teenage lovers Jordan White (Duval) and Amy Blue (McGowan) pick up a handsome drifter named Xavier Red (Schaech) while driving home from a club. Jordan gives Xavier the nicknameNickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
"X". A late-night stop at a convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
leaves the three on the run when X accidentally kills the store's owner (Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American actor, director, writer and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on 21 Jump Street and as Johnny Loh on V.I.P.-Early life:...
). The trio hides in a motel to avoid arrest. While Jordan and Amy have sex in the bath tub, X learns from the local television news program that the store owner's wife (Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho is an American comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially those pertaining to race and sexuality. She has also directed and appeared in music...
) disemboweled her children with a machete before committing suicide, thus, he concludes, removing any possibility of the trio being caught by the police.
Later that evening, Amy has sex with X, even though they do not get along. Eventually Jordan finds out, and things become tense as the two men develop a lingering sexual attraction for one another. As the trio journeys across small-town USA, they continue to get into violent situations due to people either claiming to be Amy's previous lovers or mistaking her for such. The FBI has a meeting and declares it will find Amy and kill her (exactly the same sentiment is voiced by several other parties in the film). She is mistakenly identified by a fast food window clerk as "Sunshine" and later by a character played by Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
as "Kitten".
Jordan, Amy and X spend the night in an abandoned barn, where they engage in a threesome
Threesome
A threesome is a group of three engaged in the same activity. In relation to a sexual activity a threesome refer to the activity involving three people of any gender or sexual orientation...
. While Amy goes to urinate, Jordan and X are attacked by a trio of neo-Nazis, one of whom had previously mistaken Amy for his ex-girlfriend "Bambi". The gang proceeds to beat up X and then hold Jordan down as the aforementioned neo-Nazi ties up and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s Amy on top of an American flag. The group finally severs Jordan's penis with pruning shears
Pruning shears
Pruning shears, also called hand pruners , or secateurs are a type of scissors for use with plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to two centimetres thick...
and forces it into his mouth. After Amy breaks free, she kills the neo-Nazis with the shears and escapes with X, leaving Jordan for dead. The film ends with Amy and X driving aimlessly on the road. X is eating Doritos
Doritos
Doritos is a brand of seasoned tortilla chips created by Arch West and produced since 1964 by the American food company Frito-Lay ....
and offers Amy some, but receives no response. Amy simply smokes a cigarette and continues driving as the film fades to the end credits.
Cast
The Doom Generation stars Rose McGowanRose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, James Duval
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor, who is most famous for his roles in the Gregg Araki trilogy—Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere—in addition to Frank in Donnie Darko, Blank in May, Miguel in Independence Day and Singh in Go.-Personal life:Duval was born in Detroit, Michigan...
and Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech is an American actor, writer, and director.-Early life:Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland to Joseph, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive. He is of German and Italian descent, and was raised Roman Catholic...
. Other members of the cast include Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American actor, director, writer and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on 21 Jump Street and as Johnny Loh on V.I.P.-Early life:...
, Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho is an American comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially those pertaining to race and sexuality. She has also directed and appeared in music...
and Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
. The film features cameos from a number of celebrities including Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Lynne Fleiss is an American former madam, and also a columnist and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam"....
, Christopher Knight, Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell is the frontman for the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction in 1991; it has since evolved into an annual destination festival. Farrell continues to produce Lollapalooza with partners William...
, Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse is an American actress, director and comedienne best known for her role as wacky neighbor Marcy D'Arcy on Married.....
, Nicky Katt
Nicky Katt
Nicholas Lea "Nicky" Katt is an American actor known for his role as unorthodox teacher Harry Senate on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public.-Career:...
, and gay adult film stars Zak Spears
Zak Spears
Zak Spears is a gay pornographic actor who performs in adult films.Spears appeared in the 1995 feature film The Doom Generation using the name Khristofor Rossianov, and in the 2006 black comedy feature film Forgiving the Franklins under the name Khris Scaramanga.- Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards :Zak...
and Rex Chandler
Rex Chandler
Rex Chandler is an American actor and former pornographic actor who appeared in gay adult films.Chandler was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan on August 14, 1966. A former Mr. Michigan, he decided to move to Los Angeles in 1990 to seek out roles in the entertainment field. He modeled for several...
.
Response
The Doom Generation received mixed reviews, with critics often comparing the film both favorably and unfavorably to Oliver StoneOliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
. Film website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 50 percent. Roger Ebert famously gave the film "zero stars". This film has a considerable cult following. The film's anti-heroine "Amy" uses graphic language that is especially colorful when insulting "Xavier". Phrases such as "Eat my fuck", "Don't tard out on it", "You are a life support system for a cock", "Kindly pull your head out of your rectal region" became slang for fans of the movie. The phrase "That bitch. I am going to find her and then I am going to kill her" is spoken a few times in the movie by various characters. The same phrase appears in the song "A Daisy Chain 4 Satan" by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is an American electronic industrial rock band originally based out of Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
.