The Living End (1992)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Gregg Araki

Writer:

Gregg Araki (writer)

Release Date:

21 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

An Irresponsible Movie by Gregg Araki

Plot:

Luke is a gay hustler. Jon is a movie critic. Both are HIV positive. They go on a hedonistic, dangerous journey, their motto "Fuck the world"

Plot Keywords:

Hiv | Hustler | Gay | Sex | Road

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Mike Dytri	...	Luke
Craig Gilmore	...	Jon
Mark Finch	...	Doctor
Mary Woronov	...	Daisy
Johanna Went	...	Fern
Darcy Marta	...	Darcy
Scot Goetz	...	Peter
Brett Vail	...	Ken (as Bretton Vail)
Nicole Dillenberg	...	Barbie
Stephen Holman	...	7-11 Couple
Magie Song	...	7-11 Couple
Peter Lanigan	...	Three Stooges
Jon Gerrans	...	Three Stooges
Jack Kofman	...	Three Stooges
Chris Mabli	...	NeoNazi (as Christopher Mabli)

Runtime:

92 min | Spain:84 min | UK:84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Australia:R | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Desperate Pictures

Quotes:

Jon: I'm not going to fondle your crotch right now.
Luke: Why not?
Jon: Because I'm a responsible driver.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Cloning (#2.23)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Suburbarenity

Could have been great . . .

It's difficult to make an 85 movie drag on, but somehow, Gregg Araki manages to do so with his amateurish direction. The plot is inspired, the cast is competent, but Araki ruins it with draggy direction and corny dialogue. Even talented and charismatic Mike Dytri can't save this clunker. By the time it got to the end, which I had heard so much about, I was ready to just turn it off and return the tape. It's very hard to care about the characters, likeable though they are, when every line of dialogue is punctuated by unnecessary pregnant pauses (a sure sign of incompetent direction). The film had great potential, but it came out as just a bunch of scenes slapped together with a really bad soundtrack (not the music: the volume kept jumping up and down alternating soft to loud from scene to scene).