Not Quite Thrill Kill Kult: Early Gregg Araki Films, the Guilty Pleasure of My Youth

My buddy Ray keeps sending me videos of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, who, I will not deny, I did love at one point in my life (when I listened to Meat Beat Manifesto incessantly).  This makes me think of early Gregg Araki films. So very, very 90s they are kind of like My So Called Life if it were X-Rated. And they feature a young, pre-diet pills-era Rose McGowan. Here’s two McGowan-filled clips from two of the “teenage apocalypse” trilogy films (Totally F****k Up is impossible to find it seems online…):

The Doom Generation

Nowhere

One of the few shots in Nowhere (or really, any movie) where McGowan is wearing clothing…

Also please do note that Araki did go on to make one of my favorite films, the  earily heartbreaking Mysterious Skin starring soulful manboy Joseph Gordon Levitt. Even A.O. Scott liked that one!