100 American Indie Flicks

I've now seen this movie over 10 times and the final image *still* sends shivers up my spine.

One of the most profitable films of all time (largely thanks to its ingenious marketing), it was released to almost unanimous critical acclaim but has since had a fair amount of backlash.

For some people it just didn't live up to the hype, but for me this was a breath of fresh, scary air, and undoubtedly a groundbreaking (psychological) horror film. The film was largely improvised and the three performances by Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams, and in particular, Heather Donahue are astonishing.

A hastily shot sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, followed a year later but lightning didn't strike twice (although it's still an interesting failure).

It hasn't aged very well, but this still remains a definitive movie of its period, which has been much imitated since its release.

Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson are both fantastic in their roles, although Peter Fonda is less convincing. The soundtrack, is of course, awesome (and I swear I was listening to "The Weight" by The Band when I was going down the same stretch of road by Monument Valley back in 2005 that was shown here), some of the photography is beautiful, and the film raises interesting questions about freedom, individuality and the culture of fear that are definitely (unfortunately) still relevant today.

The 'bad trip' scenes in the cemetery may seem somewhat lame now, but that's only because every other drug-related movie and student film has stolen from them and made them feel clichéd. I have to say though that the ending seemed a bit rushed, although I did love the way it was filmed.

As a background to the film I would recommend reading about its creation & distribution in Peter Biskind's book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls - the story behind the films' making is just as interesting as the film itself...

A fascinating, deeply disturbing and serious film depicting the mind of a serial killer, that has aged very well and has an intense power. Michael Rooker is mesmerising as Henry, an empty vessel of a man who does not change from beginning to end - he kills kills kills; there's no redemption in sight, no possibility of remorse. In fact, he doesn't seem to show any positive emotion at all. The title is apt and almost ironic, since this portrait is more akin to a blank canvas. There's nothing there.

The other performances are less successful and the music score, though inventive, also distracts, though the direction is mostly very effective. There are two key scenes in this film that highlight just how deceptively clever it is: the first is the 'TV Salesman' scene where the audience is invited to root on the inevitable violence and almost get catharsis from the killing of a grossly unlikeable character, which is the precursor for the 'home invasion' scene, which by contrast turns the tables. Here the violence is repellent, shocking, sickening and realistic.

Jennie, at 16 years old and having only ever had sex once, with the promiscuous Telly, discovers she is HIV-positive, and so sets out to confront Telly and perhaps prevent him from infecting anyone else. Meanwhile, Telly and his best friend Casper, hang out, do drugs, shoplift, and seduce young girls.

Whilst it doesn't reach the heights of his later Bully, Larry Clark's Kids is an important, incendiary film that, whilst it has dated in terms of music, fashion and 'teen-speak', is still largely relevant today. In the UK it was recently announced that the number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases have been steadily increasing in the 15-20 age-group year-on-year; a result of ignorance or apathy or both. On release this film was seen as a 'wake-up call' to HIV/Aids amongst sexually active teenagers; perhaps it should be screened as part of sex eduction in high schools.

Apart from the quieter scenes with Jennie, a shrill, hyperactive tone is maintained almost throughout the entire running time, which takes some getting used to. The script feels improvised and genuine, and the amateurish acting only seems to make the film feel more real, though there are two stand-out performances from Chloë Sevigny (as Jennie) and Justin Pierce (as Casper). A powerful, bleak film.