Review of Kaboom (2010) by Xuan-My T — 02 Feb 2011

Director Gregg Araki moves past the haunting maturity of his excellent Mysterious Skin in favor of his signature motifs: hot wild sex among the young and apocalyptic threats of annihilation. That's Kaboom, a compendium of scintillating eroticism and psycho fantasy that recalls Araki's 90's features (Totally Fucked Up, Nowhere).

Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is Smith, a film-studies student whose only undecided is his sexuality. Though he gleefully beds free-spirited, sexy London (Juno Temple, an incredible young actress), he lusts for his straight roommate Thor (Chris Zylka) who has a penchant for sleeping naked. London theorizes that this particular straight man is possibly gayer than actual gay men. Aside from putting a dick in your mouth while listening to Lady Gaga, that's about as gay as it gets.' she muses.

Things go from erotically strange to Donnie Darko-surreal when Smith tells his best friend Stella (Haley Bennett, who has a way with every lone she delivers) about a recurring dream he has in which he's being terrorized by men in animal masks, something that may be connected to the woman stalking Stella. It all threatens to fly way off the rails, and it comes incredibly close towards the end, but Araki is a maverick filmmaker worth following anywhere. His film is devoid of Hollywood bullshit and a safety net. Let Kaboom wash over you and them muse about how wildly fucked up it is.