Gregg Araki on Kaboom: Fantasy Film Podcast

Waiting for the End of the World: (l to r) Juno Temple, Thomas Dekker, and Haley Bennett in KABOOM.
Waiting for the End of the World: (l to r) Juno Temple, Thomas Dekker, and Haley Bennett in KABOOM.

His previous film, SMILEY FACE, seems to have perked director Gregg Araki up considerably. There’s a fatality to his newest, KABOOM — dealing with the imminent end of the world and all that — but there’s also an antic attitude to it that pulls the proceedings away from the darkness. Granted, when your story is about an “ambisexual” (that’s the way the notes put it) college freshman (Thomas Dekker) who’s getting premonitions of an impending apocalypse in between bouts of sex and copious drug use — all while his best friend (Haley Bennett) is being stalked by a jealous witch and his surfer-cute roommate (Chris Zylka) is sending out decidedly mixed signals — it’s hard to keep a (forgive us) straight face. This may be another of Araki’s doomed generations, but they’re not gonna mope around about it.
Click on the player to hear my interview with Gregg.

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