Featured Audience Ratings

• Emil K

  
  Kaboom is by far the most craziest thing that director/writer Gregg Araki has ever created and i love every experimental and candy coloured second of it. Here is finally a film that does not follow any rules or conventions of mainstream cinema. Araki is completely free to do whatever… More
  Kaboom is by far the most craziest thing that director/writer Gregg Araki has ever created and i love every experimental and candy coloured second of it. Here is finally a film that does not follow any rules or conventions of mainstream cinema. Araki is completely free to do whatever he wants or try techniques as wild as he ever wants to. I think Kaboom is an sort of an twin-sister to Araki's own Nowhere, but this time he manages to make it into a balanced whole. While Nowhere was, and still is, a fantastic film and one of the most trippiest experiences i have sat through ever in my life, it still does not achieve the same greatness as Araki has found with his Kaboom. Stylistically and thematically this film is most succesfull in Araki's filmography so far and it seems that he has finally made his masterpiece with this wild and toxicating film. With his much more darker and serious Mysterious Skin, Araki turned a new page in his career and found welcome balance between his themes and style. Mysterious Skin was beautiful and devastating work of art but it did not have the playful tone that made many of his another films so unique. Kaboom is a film that has the same balance and visually arresting style that Mysterious Skin had, but this one, unlike Mysterious Skin (which was based on Scott Heim's novel), is completely Araki's own creation originated from his rich and endless imagination. Kaboom goes into dreamy places where directors like David Lynch usually dare to go, maybe even somewhere further outside our own brains and nightmares. It is a hallucinatory dream that constantly keeps flirting between surrealism, horror, comedy and mystery. It is a film full of thousand ideas and still it does not feel a bit too packed. Films like this hardly gets released anymore. This can be a cliche but seriously, these days too many directors are too interested in making only money and big studios take away their own freedom of expression. Too often ideas or originality does not meet with entertainment, like they do in here. Kaboom is a best kind of proof that indie-films are still alive and Gregg Araki is one of the leading directors of uncompromising cinema movement. Araki does not give a fuck about rules of filmmaking and that is why i adore him so much. He is revolutionary artist doing his own art and following his own path. For the whole lenght of this fantastic film i was in a dreamy trance. From the very first image to the last, this film pulls you in to it's dreamlike world where anything is possible. Kaboom is Gregg Araki's most assured, best and wildest film to date. It is playful, mysterious, funny, scary and oddly hypnotic in a ways that is hard to describe. It has this enchanting atmosphere of a mystery and a surreal feel of a dream. Kaboom is a experience like no other and a film that i will not hesitate to call one of the true milestones in the history of cinema. A work of genius.

• Anthony L

  
  Gregg Araki parodies himself and goes back to his bi-curious sci-fi roots. Such a shame really as Mysterious Skin was so clever. It's middle-American teenage angst nonsense really, about as deep as a puddle and just as interesting. At least Nowhere takes the piss out of itself.… More
  Gregg Araki parodies himself and goes back to his bi-curious sci-fi roots. Such a shame really as Mysterious Skin was so clever. It's middle-American teenage angst nonsense really, about as deep as a puddle and just as interesting. At least Nowhere takes the piss out of itself. Gregg Araki needs to stop hanging around with John Waters, I blame him for this silliness.

• Carlos M

  
  A disjointed film where everything seems painfully arbitrary and with no sense of purpose. It suffers from an unfocused script, clumsy direction and an expository last scene - not funny as a hipster comedy nor intriguing enough as a mystery as it wants to be.

• Mark H

  
  Kaboom is a schizophrenic melding of two different films. It presents a mildly entertaining, bizarro apocalyptic fable that is buried under a lot of drek. What a shame that everything is ultimately explained in a hastily executed wrap up in the last 10 minutes. The explosive streams… More
  Kaboom is a schizophrenic melding of two different films. It presents a mildly entertaining, bizarro apocalyptic fable that is buried under a lot of drek. What a shame that everything is ultimately explained in a hastily executed wrap up in the last 10 minutes. The explosive streams of vernacular coming from the mouths of the entire cast is a recklessly spoken explosion of words meant to clarify what we've been watching. It renders the whole account as arbitrary and meaningless. I couldn't possibly do justice to the ridiculous conclusion. Perhaps the producers were running out of money and Araki had to quickly end this mess. I know you pretty much get what you deserve when you choose to watch a Gregg Araki flick, but good heavens, Kaboom is really out there, even for him. fastfilmreviews.wordpress.com

• Nicki M

  
  Won't be for everyone, but I quite liked it. Visually pretty to look at with an attractive cast. The story is way out there, but anyone who's seen this director's work before knows what to expect - weirdness. If you like a conventional storyline or are homophobic,… More
  Won't be for everyone, but I quite liked it. Visually pretty to look at with an attractive cast. The story is way out there, but anyone who's seen this director's work before knows what to expect - weirdness. If you like a conventional storyline or are homophobic, you're probably better to avoid this, but those who like something a little different may find this interesting.

• Matheus C

  
  A really trippy gay movie on acid that, while doesn't completely set all its cilinders on fire, delivers 90 minutes of near mindless stilish fun.

• Liam G

  
  This film is flat out insane. I have a lot of problems with it, the main one being that it doesn't know whether it wants to be a sex comedy or a science fiction thriller. In the second half of ''Kaboom'', director Gregg Araki abandons the whole aspect of it… More
  This film is flat out insane. I have a lot of problems with it, the main one being that it doesn't know whether it wants to be a sex comedy or a science fiction thriller. In the second half of ''Kaboom'', director Gregg Araki abandons the whole aspect of it being a sex comedy and turns it into something completely different. Also, it doesn't flow in any kind of coherent or smooth fashion and doesn't find any rhythm. That being said, it is very ambitious and has a lot going for it. The performances are decent, the direction is solid and the story, despite turning 360 degrees in the second half, proves pretty interesting throughout. It's also got a cool soundtrack going for it as well. ''Kaboom'' almost gets away with some of its massive problems, just by how different and somewhat crazy it is.

• Steven C

  
  The one thing you need to know before viewing "Kaboom" is that writer/director Gregg Araki is a pop artist. He is not always concerned with narrative cinema and neither should you when watching his work. "Kaboom" is a kinetic, funny and involving pop spectacle. The… More
  The one thing you need to know before viewing "Kaboom" is that writer/director Gregg Araki is a pop artist. He is not always concerned with narrative cinema and neither should you when watching his work. "Kaboom" is a kinetic, funny and involving pop spectacle. The plot (a return to his 'teenage apocalypse' formate from the 90s) is jumpy, interesting and meaningless all at once. "Kaboom" has some fun, beautiful looking actors in a fun, beautiful looking movie. Expect to be disorientated, turned on and turned around because that's what Araki is best at- images, sex and angst.

• Jose C

  
  This is a very entertaining, but also extremely bizarre gay-surreal-fantasy/coming-of-age tale of sexual exploration and the end of the world... among other things. The stars are appealing, the visuals colorful and the dialogue sharp and sometimes, hilarious. Worth a look for film… More
  This is a very entertaining, but also extremely bizarre gay-surreal-fantasy/coming-of-age tale of sexual exploration and the end of the world... among other things. The stars are appealing, the visuals colorful and the dialogue sharp and sometimes, hilarious. Worth a look for film buffs.

• Jeff T

  
  Gregg Araki gets a pass for ever and always for the truly wonderful MYSTERIOUS SKIN. That pass means I'll see whatever he makes. It does not, however, mean I have to like it. His latest, KABOOM, is a pretty mess - full of teen sex of every shape and size, cosmic foofiness and… More
  Gregg Araki gets a pass for ever and always for the truly wonderful MYSTERIOUS SKIN. That pass means I'll see whatever he makes. It does not, however, mean I have to like it. His latest, KABOOM, is a pretty mess - full of teen sex of every shape and size, cosmic foofiness and an the-end-is-coming looniness that wants to be fun but is mostly just ridiculous. It also features the enormously appealing Thomas Dekker in the central role, and he buys the increasingly goofy script tons of goodwill, but in the end, not quite enough. At 86 minutes it feels too long, and there are tedious patches that not even near-naked (or completely naked) sex-starved teens can cure. And I thought that could cure anything.

• Walter M

  
  In "Kaboom," Smith(Thomas Dekker, of "The Sarah Connor Chronicles), a college freshman, has been having the same dream every night where he sees people from his life, including two women he does not recognize. If that did not keep him up at night, his roommate… More
  In "Kaboom," Smith(Thomas Dekker, of "The Sarah Connor Chronicles), a college freshman, has been having the same dream every night where he sees people from his life, including two women he does not recognize. If that did not keep him up at night, his roommate Thor(Chris Zylka) bringing women back to the room most certainly would. That does not stop Chris from having a crush on him and his mighty hammer, though. At least, Smith's best friend, Stella(Haley Bennett), is not as sad, hooking up with Lorelei(Roxane Mesquida) at a party. Lorelei is also one of the unknown women from his dream. The other dreamgirl(Nicole LaLiberte) pukes on his shoes, forcing him to go to the bathroom to get cleaned up where he is propositioned by London(Juno Temple). Written and directed by Gregg Araki, "Kaboom" is first and foremost wicked fun. As has been mentioned elsewhere, Araki is depicting college as a first taste of freedom away from parents to explore all sorts of things, especially sexuality and drugs.(Keeping with the educational themes, there is a tutorial on cunnilingus. Pay attention. There will be a quiz later, guys.) For a while, I was concerned the movie was getting close to "Donnie Darko" territory but "Kaboom" is a whole different kind of crazy altogether. There is a question of what's real and not, but after a while, I stopped caring and just relaxed. However, the movie could have found a better place to end which happens suddenly after wrapping up all 42 plot strands at once while moving at 80 miles per hour.

• John B

  
  Having been disappointed with previous Araki films, I was expecting a let down with Kaboom but was surprised. This movie is as original as it is brightly coloured. Terribly imaginative and well cast.

• Alec B

  
  Its like some bizarre cross between 'Donnie Darko' and the dialogue of 'Juno' with cast compromised of nothing but people who have bodies chiseled from marble. It has moments but overall it pretentiousness is undeserved and the ending is stupid . . . so, so stupid.

• Mike T

  
  Visual flair, a talented cast and a great soundtrack cannot save Araki's directionless script and misguided execution. Very disappointing.

• Danny R

  
  Director Gregg Araki's latest film "Kaboom" is a unhinged, candy-colored gonzo teen sex fantasy and apocalyptic cult thriller. It can also be described as a engaging acid-trip, a crazy combination of Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko and The X-Files, with some truly funny… More
  Director Gregg Araki's latest film "Kaboom" is a unhinged, candy-colored gonzo teen sex fantasy and apocalyptic cult thriller. It can also be described as a engaging acid-trip, a crazy combination of Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko and The X-Files, with some truly funny scenes, and some eerie ones that has to be seen to be believed. It concerns the sexual exploits of a handsome perpetually horny, and awkward 18-year-old bi-sexual college freshman named Smith, played by Thomas Dekker in a solid performance who spends his days fantasizing and lusting after the object of his affection, his hot and frequently naked, dumb as a log, heterosexual surfer roommate, Thor, well played by Chris Zylka and hanging out with his best friend a sassy lesbian named Stella, nicely played by Haley Bennett. Strange things begin to happened when people in Smith's recurring dream begin to show up in real life, Men wearing animal masks start stalking him, and there is a subplot about a murderous cult trying to bring an end to the world, in between the lesbian witches, crazy animal-mask wearing cultists, and a college campus populated by promiscuous teens who spend all their time having lots of sex, both gay and straight and everything in between. Director Araki has brilliantly captured a real 1980s kitsch feel to this very strange but amusing film, which is without a doubt not for the ultra-conservative or homophobic crowd. So if you appreciate the bizarre, i think you will have a hell of a good time with quirky film. Highly recommended.

• Sylvester K

  
  Kaboom is a sci-fi coming of age sex comedy. I love the direction style, costumes, set design, dialogues. It's so sexually explicit, drug filled, comic and meaningful. Kinda like a mixture of Donnie Darko and Mysterious Skin. I love how unconventional this film really is.

• Doctor S

  
  I don't know what it is about Gregg Araki, no matter the movie his lead characters are always such frakking morons. Maybe that's his 'signature' but sure doesn't win me over. This is another exercise in style which can be diverting for a period of, oh, about… More
  I don't know what it is about Gregg Araki, no matter the movie his lead characters are always such frakking morons. Maybe that's his 'signature' but sure doesn't win me over. This is another exercise in style which can be diverting for a period of, oh, about 5 minutes before the colorful high dissipates and we're left in the company of a collection of drab college kids in a completely muddled mystery with homoerotic overtones. This is the second straight indie shitfest I've seen with the winsome Juno Temple made within the past 2 years - girl, you've got to get yourself a more discerning agent. Credit where due: at least Araki usually chooses good music, for <i>Kaboom</i> the score was composed by dreamscape expert Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins.

Read all 17 featured audience ratings