Call it “The Doom Generation II.” Gregg Araki’s “Kaboom” re turns to the trippy ways of his 1995 erotic head trip, which featured James Duval and foul-mouthed Rose McGowan (her career has gone downhill ever since) and ended with a castration scene I still can’t watch.
Duval, older but still looking good, has a minor part in “Kaboom,” but the stars are Thomas Dekker and Haley Bennett.
He’s Smith, an 18-year-old, sexually “undeclared” freshman at a California college who nightly has the same frightening dream.
READ MORE: Q&A WITH DIRECTOR GREGG ARAKI
She’s the lesbian Stella, Smith’s best friend, who seems to be channeling McGowan.
Add to the mix Thor (Chris Zylka), Smith’s straight, surfer-boy roommate, who has a large collection of flip-flops in his closet; and Stella’s main squeeze, Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), who might be a witch. And a conspiracy theory that never jells.
“Kaboom” is a minor, uneven work admittedly best watched for its buffed, naked young bodies.
Araki, now 51, burst onto the scene as an enfant terrible in the 1990s. More recently, he showed a welcome maturity with “Mysterious Skin” (2004), which dealt with pedophilia, and the criminally ignored stoner comedy “Smiley Face” (2007), with Anna Faris.
“Kaboom” is a return to Araki’s frivolous past — fun to watch but mostly forgettable.