Thoughts on the movie Kids (1995)?
Posted by BlabbityBlabbityBlah@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 284 comments

Posted by BlabbityBlabbityBlah@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 284 comments
cloudydays2021@reddit
I grew up in NYC. A lot of this really hit home. I was a party kid, and I knew people that were so similar to these characters. It was a reality check and warning for me that I needed to be a bit more careful and aware.
whyneedaname77@reddit
I watched the 30 for 30. Didn't a lot of the actors in this movie actually live this life in NYC? The movie was well crazy. Then I saw the 30 for 30 and saw how close to reality it was for them it was like wow...
Jd11347@reddit
Chloe Sevingy was the only actor and the other guys were legit semi pro skaters. It was mostly adlibbed. Kind of like how Blair Witch Project was. Semi scripted but not written out lines to remember kind of thing.
battletux@reddit
No, there were a few actual actors brought in to fill voids in the casting. This was one of Rosario Dawson 's earliest films as well.
If you watch the documentary "We were Once Kids" they discuss this. Along with how it all came about. It's worth a watch. Kicks you right in the feels too.
Jd11347@reddit
Wow it's that good? I'll check that out. I haven't seen the movie in over 30 years. I don't even remember Rosario Dawson. She must have been super young.
Terrible_Ad2869@reddit
She's the character that explains the difference between having sex, and f***ing
Murphity@reddit
Yeah, many of them did. I met one of the kids in the movie and had a close friend who was very much in that scene at the time. My impression was they were not all that wild and just lived to skate.
cloudydays2021@reddit
Some of them did, yeah. I used to see Harmony Korine around back in the day, here and there.
Agitated-Resolve-920@reddit
It was basically a documentary. He rolled with this crew.
whyneedaname77@reddit
I didn't know till I saw that Empire Skate. It really changed how I thought about that movie.
MesaGeek@reddit
Limelight…
cloudydays2021@reddit
Wish I spent more time there. One of my best friends (he’s a bit older than me) worked there in its heyday. He has so many stories about it!
I went to The Tunnel a lot because I knew someone that would get me in
Guttersnipe77@reddit
I liked Tunnel more than Limelight back then.
luxtabula@reddit
yeah this movie was a documentary more than anything I'd you grew up as a like in the 90s in and around NYC
cloudydays2021@reddit
I wouldn’t change it for the world but man was it vastly different in so many way from how most other people grew up
UpkeepUnicorn@reddit
Completed suicide, huh?
This movie scared the shit out of me and I wasn't even remotely engaging in those same behaviors.
WurmisD@reddit
I mean, while technically true, the actor who killed himself - Justin Pierce who played Casper - did so 5 years later, and it likely had nothing to do with this movie.
Both-Tree@reddit
Yeah that’s how it’s said now, “committed” has negative connotations supposedly, although I’m not sure why “murder” became “unalived”.
Odd_Opportunity_6011@reddit
Nah, it’s still “committed”.
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
No it isn't. You seem uneducated.
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
No, commonly used words and phrases don't change like that. "New" terminology is almost always jargon that's exclusive to a particular cultural bubble.
Stevie-Rae-5@reddit
It’s language that has changed clinically. People who work in mental health are now trained to use different language around suicide and are highly discouraged from saying “committed.” A lot of situations are about politically correct language; this isn’t one of them.
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
I don't think anyone's talking about "politically correct language" here. Formal jargon used in technical disciplines does often change quickly due to intentional efforts to add precision or remove ambiguities, but this doesn't reflect how language works in general usage.
It is erroneous to regard well-established vernacular usage as "wrong" simply because of novel jargon gaining traction in a technical niche that's the discussion isn't even taking place in.
Stevie-Rae-5@reddit
You referenced a “particular cultural bubble,” which does not sound like it’s the same as speaking of terms and language recommended by people who are experts in researching suicide and suicide prevention, which is what led me to point out that this isn’t political correctness.
Advocates for suicide prevention have been attempting to change the popular use of this language for several years at this point; it isn’t novel. Media outlets also consult with and are contacted by suicide prevention advocates, researchers, and providers regarding language use. All that to say that a lot of people have done a lot of work to make this common use and not just jargon within a field.
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Commonly used words and phrases don't change? What??? If they didn't we would still be using "thou" and "thy." Language is fluid, not static.
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
They absolutely, do, and that can be observed and measured, so we can get a clear view of what actually is the standard vernacular and what isn't at any given moment.
This enables us to know how novel words and phrases actually do propagate into general usage, and easily distinguish jargon from new terms that are gaining widespread traction.
Odd_Opportunity_6011@reddit
Sure thing champ.
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Ask yourself why it is so important to you that it is committed. Despite me and others in the comments saying it is outdated and considered offensive.
Odd_Opportunity_6011@reddit
I couldn’t care less if you’re offended.
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Have the day you deserve.
Odd_Opportunity_6011@reddit
I will, it’s going to be a great one.
Lafnear@reddit
"Completed suicide" had its time and now in the mental health field we usually say "died by suicide." "Committed suicide" is not often used.
Cool-Signature-7801@reddit
“Committed” implies “committing a sin,” which adds a religious angle to suicide. I believe that is why some people have stopped using that term.
ialsohaveadobro@reddit
More likely because it implies "committed a crime," as in "committed homicide." Note the "-cide."
Stevie-Rae-5@reddit
Yeah, you’re absolutely right about that being the reason.
Spazz6269@reddit
My guess is they were pretty committed~George Carlin's voice
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Committed suicide has negative associations because it implies a criminal act.
Completes isn't great either because it means death makes you successful.
Personally, I say my brother died by suicide. That is the language mental health professionals and others who know about the subject tend to favor.
And yes it does matter despite your glib, mocking tone.
Stevie-Rae-5@reddit
I almost said I don’t know why you’re being downvoted when you’re literally being factual, but I apparently forgot I was on reddit for a moment.
I’m so sorry about your brother.
Bibblegead1412@reddit
It's negative because we use the same word (committed) about suicide that we do about crimes. We understand a whole lot more now about the reasons why someone might feel that way. Personally, I've started saying "took their life".
tibearius1123@reddit
And relationships.
twirlerina024@reddit
It's because of social media filters. Also grape = rape, and corn = porn.
FancyMyChurchPants@reddit
The worst is using “pew pew” for a gun
UtahItalian@reddit
It's a term used in clinical settings as well. The unalived bullshit is to get around vulgarity filters to monetize your channel .
NihilisticMacaron@reddit
Hmm. I thought suicide was the bad part.
ReiperXHC@reddit
Because "killed" and "murdered" are banned on TokTok and it has bled over to everywhere else.
Both-Tree@reddit
Ah, that’s what it was. Thank you!
BlacksmithThink9494@reddit
I think because it is vs. "attempted"
balding_git@reddit
committed is the word
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Not it isn't.
UpkeepUnicorn@reddit
Committed?
BlacksmithThink9494@reddit
Probably autocorrect but attempted vs completed works.
LanguageNo495@reddit
Not totally completed. It’s more of a work in progress. He’ll get there someday.
hamburger-pimp@reddit
Likely was going for “contemplated”
full_of_ghosts@reddit
I remember watching this movie at the time (at more or less the same age as the characters), and thinking "Thank God my friends and I aren't like that."
Then I grew up and watched it again as an adult, and thought "Wow, my friends and I were exactly like that."
It's perhaps a bit hyperbolic in its portrayal of 90s teen culture, but it's not inaccurate. I didn't grow up in NYC, so the places don't match, but I can tell you exactly which park in my home city was our equivalent of the movie's Washington Square Park. The park scene perfectly captures what it felt like to hang out in a city park as a teenager in that era. Took me right back there.
The aimless wandering, casual drug use, casual sex, occasional casual violence... It's all a little more extreme in the movie than it was in my actual teenage life, but it still hits a lot of nerves in my memory.
(Our version of Telly -- the kind-of-dorky, super-horny dude who aggressively tried to hook up with pretty much everyone -- eventually came out as a transgender woman. No HIV in that story, fortunately.)
jfrii@reddit
Same exact reaction, but realized it on the first viewing. Difference for us is we grew up COUNTRY. but yeah, we had the park where everyone fucked around. Underaged sex. Our parties were out in the middle of fuck nowhere woods around a bonfire or a cabin. Stupid shit we did may have involved train tressles or water towers. The setting was different, but a lot of the themes were very similar.
Objective_Smile5653@reddit
Why am I tasting neon green MD 20/20 while reading this?
TimedogGAF@reddit
The worst alcoholic drink I've ever had
jfrii@reddit
My man! Did we grow up in the same place? lmao
JLLIndy@reddit
I need to watch the movie again it’s been…. I guess 25+ years.. but I had your same experience in a semi-rural small town in Michigan.
reapersritehand@reddit
Good luck, seems pretty hard to come by
Amishpornstar7903@reddit
Gummo covered this topic.
jfrii@reddit
You smell like a bunch of bullshit rabbit!
(Also, yeah, it sorta did lol)
BilliousN@reddit
Where I grew up, farm parties were measured by how many kegs were ordered. "the olafson's are having a 10 kegger" means is going to be a good time.
jfrii@reddit
You knew it would be a rager if it was Budweiser and not natty light. Rich country folk.
Woodworkingwino@reddit
I remember field parties. The smell of alfalfa always takes me back.
jfrii@reddit
Not a hunter myself, but someone killed a wild boar and cooked it on a spit. there were close to a hundred people at that party. they came from all over the county. best country party i ever went to.
Woodworkingwino@reddit
That sounds amazing. That tops any party I went to.
shankthedog@reddit
Right. A foamed out keg of icehouse and a liter of everclear down at “the dunes” or “ blueberry hill”.
beachguy82@reddit
The number of times I got high on the middle of a train trestle is incalculable. I’m shocked looking back that no one fell off.
GtrGrl23@reddit
1000%
theAFguy200@reddit
I was Casper, minus the non-consenting part. Skated at the park all through high school. 40 oz to freedom on the weekends. Good times. A perfect example of skater/slacker live as a teen in the 90s. Not so proud moments? Definitely. Thankfully I made some good decisions and had guidance.
full_of_ghosts@reddit
I was a Casper too, minus the sexual assault part, of course. I wasn't a skater, but I filled a very Casper-like niche in my social circle.
mukwah@reddit
Casper, the dopest ghost around
tibearius1123@reddit
I thought Skins (us or uk) was very similar too.
Amishpornstar7903@reddit
Great show, I just watched re-watched.
QuietNene@reddit
Agreed. Main difference is that the kids were a little younger than my friends and I were. But chalk that up to NYC. We matured a little more slowly in the suburbs. But aside from some lurid details, there is a lot of truth in this movie.
shinydolleyes@reddit
Same process for me but it happened faster. I watched it in college surrounded by kids who didn't grow up wandering NY or wandering at all and they were shocked by it. Meanwhile, I was sneaking out and wandering around The Tunnel and other clubs in NY and going to raves. Everyone had sex and I was considered innocent because I didn't lose my virginity until well after everyone else did and I didn't do a lot of casual drugs because my mom was an addict. I saw it all around me with my friends though. Kids as a movie reminded me far too much of people I knew.
flipnitch@reddit
I remember watching this movie and thinking “oh shit!” repeatedly. It was a bit exaggerated sure but it hit on like everything I was seeing in life at the time. It totally changed my character, I was already more mature within hours of watching it. I stayed in that scene (delinquent party kids not necessarily heroine) but made better choices and helped keep others safe as much (as they’d allow anyway).
There’s such a disconnect from that time of my life to my life now it’s absolutely insane though…I’m starting to understand how old people forget what kids face
Desikarma524@reddit
I was disturbed for months after watching this movie. I accidentally came across the movie during one of those free HBO weekends.
WeWander_@reddit
My parents rented it when it came out and I was ready too young to be watching it. Fucking traumatized me.
MyRedditUserName428@reddit
My mom let me rent it for my 13th birthday sleepover weekend with my friends 🤦🏻♀️
singlesunbeam_enough@reddit
The way I cackled when I read that! Did she know how bad it was once you played it or did she go in the other room and no one spoke of it afterwards? Inquiring minds want to know 😂
MyRedditUserName428@reddit
She just didn’t realize. We piled up half a dozen tapes at the counter, she paid and we watched them in my room.
singlesunbeam_enough@reddit
I remember those nights. I miss those days of sleepovers and VHS tapes from Blockbuster. ❤️
Nonametousehere1@reddit
Ahah that's how I first saw kids it was at a friend's sleepover party when I was like 15 I think.
Desikarma524@reddit
😳
1_art_please@reddit
I was at the indie DVD rental place and picked this up with the movie ' Happiness'.
2 movies with people doing fucked up shit. And not in a fun way but a sense of dread.
The worst scene for me was the very end. Arghhhhh
Serialkillingyou@reddit
2 of the worst, most depressing endings in cinema
malibuklw@reddit
My friend and I did the same. Fucked us up good
bassman314@reddit
Dude. Happiness is really messed up.
Add to that Welcome to the Doll House and this other one that my roommate found about a mom who gets a bad injury and her son has to take care of her…. And they get rather close.
We all had that friend who could find the most off the wall, random cinema.
ham_solo@reddit
Fun fact - there’s a sequel to Happiness called Life After Wartime. I actually think it’s better than its predecessor.
1_art_please@reddit
Haha more often I'd find something cool at the dvd rental store! But goddammit that evening was bleak.
I still haven't watched Welcome to the Dollhouse. Is it good? Or just fucked up?
incredibleninja@reddit
Welcome to the Dollhouse is about a little girl getting bullied and ignored because she is homely. You feel really bad for her and it never really gets better.
Happiness is just super fucked up for many reasons, not the least of which being that a boy's father admits to being a child molester who rapes a bunch of the young boys friends during a sleep over. This is supposed to be a comedy.
bassman314@reddit
Definitely not nearly as fucked up as the others. It’s intense and well-shot, but stays relatively “innocent”, as I recall.
Welcome to the Dollhouse is sort of a “Gateway Drug” to more disturbing stuff.
jigga19@reddit
Yea. I saw it. It was good. I don’t need to see it again.
Plane-Post-7720@reddit
I believe the other movie you’re referring to (where the mom and son get a little too close) is Spanking the Monkey. It was David O Russell’s first feature length film.
Slydiad-Ross@reddit
The administration said no, but my cool English teacher showed us Spanking the Monkey anyway when we read Oedipus in 9th grade World Literature. I miss that kind of thing being more possible.
bassman314@reddit
That’s sounds disturbingly familiar.
dogthatbrokethezebra@reddit
Happiness is a dark, dark movie
So-Called_Lunatic@reddit
Yeah it's somehow listed as a dark comedy, I didn't laugh once.
incredibleninja@reddit
That's because you're a healthy person with a working soul
Desikarma524@reddit
I haven’t seen Happiness. There was a time when I would have rented it but I can’t do dark movies anymore. 😣 Bully was another one of those crazy movies based on true events. 😳
So-Called_Lunatic@reddit
I just watched Happiness last night, had never seen it before even though I loved renting indie/cult movies when it came out. All I can say is WTF?
Deron_Lancaster_PA@reddit
*WRONG* Kids is a 1995 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine. NOT A DOCUMENTARY, THE KIDS WERE ACTORS. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_(film)
Necessary-Primary183@reddit
I have no legs!!
dzuunmod@reddit
"I have no legs, I have no legs"
CourtAlert8679@reddit
I think about this all the time. It’s about even with “That kid is back on the escalator!” whenever I’m in a mall.
The amount of real estate in my brain being occupied by 90’s movie quotes is actually staggering. I could be solving Reimann’s Hypothesis right now but all my processing power is being used up by thoughts of Buffalo Bill saying “Oh waittttt….was she a great big fat person?”
Just-a-Guy-4242@reddit
“That Kid…. Is back… on the escalator!” OMG, that brought back memories… haha
Hope-I-Die-Today@reddit
Fave movie… scene with the third nipple… “that’s disgusting!!!!”
SlackerDS5@reddit
Fuccaus
“That’s what I was thinking”
“She said focus…
*whatever…”
Just-a-Guy-4242@reddit
“Oh, I didn’t even notice…” “What?! Are you kidding me?!”
SharpyButtsalot@reddit
It always sounds to me like he peaked the audio in that shot with how loud and exasperated he delivers that line, that or just great grit. Jason Lee's the fuckin best.
Hope-I-Die-Today@reddit
Now I gotta watch it again! Lol thanks man! 👍🏻
Just-a-Guy-4242@reddit
Haha, I had this same thought earlier…
bcarey724@reddit
That line is in the book! I couldn't believe it when I read it. I thought for sure it was some creative license but nope. Right there on the page.
CourtAlert8679@reddit
Ted Levine may not have come up with the words…but that warbling delivery, the shifty eyes….he made it his own. Ted Levine is such an icon I can’t think of him as anyone but BB. When Bosko died in Heat all I could think was “better check his basement, just to be safe.”
SkinConsulter123@reddit
What was this line said in reference to in the movie?
dzuunmod@reddit
I can't remember exactly when in the movie it occurred (I haven't seen the movie in like 30 years) but it's a beggar going up and down the subway, or up and down a subway platform who is literally begging for money by singing the line over and over again.
tj_hooker99@reddit
He had nothing below his waist and rolled on a skateboard down the middle of the subway car
MedicalDeviceJesus@reddit
I believe he was a real guy, who really did do this in public all the time
Sad_Egg_5176@reddit
I think everyone in the background is real. Even a lot of the “cast”
dzuunmod@reddit
TY
Leather_Addition2605@reddit
Every single time I scroll too long on the toilet.
TheMetropolisKid@reddit
Used to see this dude on the train all the time then he just disappeared. I hope he’s ok.
Talisman80@reddit
Probably not
Legitimate_Bird_5712@reddit
I can't see anyone in a wheelchair without this popping into my head.
FancyMyChurchPants@reddit
Why is it that to this day this gets randomly stuck in my head
So-Called_Lunatic@reddit
"Bless you"
Sunshine_And_Alchemy@reddit
Exactly this comment
LBSTRdelaHOYA@reddit
They all have successful acting careers because of the film
CensorshipIsWeakness@reddit
"Completed"
Quite the accomplishment
LingonberrySea3619@reddit
Embarrassed_Key_4539@reddit
Completed suicide is weird
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Died by suicide is the preferred language now. Completed and committed are outdated.
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
Nope, "committed" is 100% standard vernacular. Whoever told you otherwise has either mistaken jargon from a narrow cultural bubble for standard usage, or else is trying to introduce new terminology into widespread usage through deceptive means.
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
Mental health professionals use died by suicide. This is something you can verify with a simple google search.
The r slur used to be standard vernacular for mentally challenged people, but now it is considered outdated and offensive. Language is constantly changing and evolving along with society.
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
Google results -- this seems to confirm that it's jargon and not standard English.
And we're not having this discussion in a clinical context. The unusual usage of "completed" was on a Twitter post, the discussion of the usage was here in a Reddit thread. When people pointed out that it's a weird usage, others responded by describing what they think is "the preferred language now" as a general statement without any relation to the narrow context in which that may be true.
This is a little closer to the truth, as there's definitely a marked downward trend of the "'r' word", although it's still the most common term in general use.
Absolutely, but that's a real phenomenon that's observable and measurable, which gives us insight into what the language actually is at any given moment. Saying "language evolves" isn't a meaningful excuse for using language in a way that's inconsistent with what actually is the current state of actual usage, or pretending that novel usages that are limited to specific niches are somehow "correct" while what remain the most widespread and standard usages are somehow "Wrong".
PrincessSarahHippo@reddit
I hope you aren't trying to argue that professional jargon, specifically that used by mental health professionals, can't become standard. Because PTSD is now the preferred term, but it started as professional jargon to replace shell shock or battle fatigue. The general public followed. And it is not just me and the shrinks saying "died by suicide." It's what more and more health organizations are using. It's in the AP stylebook. It's what advocacy groups use. Communities pushing for change is exactly how language evolves. Terms that start in 'niche' settings gaining use outside of those original settings. Without people introducing language that is inconsistent with current real world usage, language could not evolve.
ialsohaveadobro@reddit
Their not talking about the vernacular. "Preferred" here means "clinically preferred."
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
No, the statement about what is "the preferred language now" was made as a general statement in response to people commenting on the phrasing of a Twitter post. No one was speaking in or about clinical jargon.
FirstDukeofAnkh@reddit
r/iamverysmart
red286@reddit
Probably just autocorrected from "committed".
stations-creation@reddit
The soundtrack is AMAZING. Life changing for me kind of. The movie itself also while scary changed my brain chemistry as the kids say these days mainly because I didn’t know a movie could be like that. I started seeking out indie films and would later go to NY to go to “film school” (New York Film Academy was a big rip off) and 9/11 happening while I was in school.
chechnyah0merdrive@reddit
It was an uncomfortable watch.
Holiday_Ad_9163@reddit
It was supposed to be.
EmployedByCats@reddit
Very. Especially the passed out female that gets raped, later to find out she is now hiv positive with no idea that she was given it by her friend that rated her. Extremely uncomfortable movie, but as a female... I learned lessons to steal clear of just from watching this movie. Before it, I was doing stupid stuff just like these kids. Blindly trusting people just because we hung out.
VisibleCoat995@reddit
If i’m not mistaken she got HIV from Teddy, the horny main guy who probably gave it to two virgins that day, then she was raped by Casper at the end who probably got it from that. I don’t think Teddy raped her but probably used the same lies he used on both girls he had sex with that movie.
EmployedByCats@reddit
That's right, I forgot about that. It's been many years so I only remembered bits and pieces
Subtlerevisions@reddit
The opening scene turned my stomach.
originalbrowncoat@reddit
I enjoyed this movie, but it was so far away from my person experience as a teen in the 90s that it was practically science fiction
No movie has captured my teen years better than Cant Hardly Wait. More specifically, the two DnD nerds who don’t go to the party but stay home instead.
NoComputer8922@reddit
Just illustrates how different the US is from one place to another. For a lot of people can’t hardly wait is radically less relatable than kids.
GtrGrl23@reddit
I can relate to both very well, which probably shows the difference in social groups even within the same small town, and also middle school vs high school. 🤷♀️
singlesunbeam_enough@reddit
My friends and I were around 18 or 19 and still very innocent and were “wanna be” straight edge punk kids. We were around that life of punk shows and raves but didn’t participate in the drugs and sex (we just rocked and rolled). I think it helped me and my naive friends realize we didn’t have to be “nice” or worry about hurting guys feelings and it gave us insight inside a young man’s mind. It was eye opening and I was never happier to be a virgin. I almost threw up during the first scene… my poor innocent soul lol 😂
Maleficent_Finger642@reddit
My mom started drug testing me after she watched this movie.
dbzmah@reddit
Trash film, just like Gummo. The director deserves zero praise, and has exploited people multiple times.
AnalMohawk@reddit
This tweet pisses me off. The correlation of dudes suicide with being involved in the movie is trash bait.
BlackHeartedXenial@reddit
It’s in the same category as Requiem for a Dream; glad I watched it, never need to rewatch it.
FirstDukeofAnkh@reddit
It’s Rent for the skater crowd.
jhnystvns@reddit
You have any disdick
Brief-Moment-5236@reddit
I still can’t find this film anywhere to watch!! Please help. It haunts me.
BlabbityBlabbityBlah@reddit (OP)
I cant find it either!! The internet says it’s on a few streaming services but it also said it was on Netflix and I have Netflix and it’s not on there. I’m also at a loss but would love to watch it again. I love fucked up movies like this.
22nd_century@reddit
This movie lives rent free in my head.
battletux@reddit
Great film, fucked you up a little watching it as a teenager back in the late 90's.
Shame the cast were cut out of any royalties. Things may have been different for them if they had got more than the $1000 Larry Clark paid them.
Farpoint_Farms@reddit
Good god. I rented it from the video store I worked at thinking it would be a Clerks type movie. Nope! Drama city and really nasty story at that.
I'm not saying it was bad, but it sure wasn't what i was looking for!
TheB1G_Lebowski@reddit
What a fucked up movie. Good for 1 watch, I never want to see it again. just like requiem for a dream, 1 and done.
HereWeFuckingGooo@reddit
Lol, I have Requiem For a Dream on DVD and I've probably watched it about 20 times.
fairlyaveragetrader@reddit
I need to watch this again because I bet you what I think of it today will be a lot different than when I first watched it. From what I remember it was basically just how it was
TheGrapeSlushies@reddit
I was nauseated for a week after watching it.
TheDnBDawl@reddit
I loved the soundtrack. Was also my introduction into the rave culture. The party at NASA looked so amazing I sought that out as soon as I could.
user08182019@reddit
I rented it with my dad when I was 13 bc the title colors were fun and someone had a skateboard and I liked skateboards. Cue me watching the opening scene with my father in the same room… then the rest of the movie …….
jp112078@reddit
It was shocking for sure when I saw it. But (unpopular opinion) this was in the middle of the propaganda message of the mid 90’s that “if you have straight sex without a condom, you WILL get AIDS!”
BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit
Absurdly marketed. MUST SEE! THIS IS HOW ALL KIDS TODAY GROW UP!
Yeah right, maybe like 0.0001%.
I rarely dislike movies but I strongly disliked this one, even FF through more and more.
Bleh.
Bssmn77@reddit
I’m from Toronto. Different city, but grew up in a similar style neighborhood. Was in 12th grade when it came out. Our history teacher was a movie buff and suggested we should go see it. So, a few of us went cause it sounded like a movie about our life. It kind of was. and we were all stunned when we walked out of the theater. But it was great. My wife and I watch it occasionally and are still just as moved every time. Still hits close to home for us Xennials
stykface@reddit
Did not like it at all. Born and raised in a suburb of Texas, on the cusp of rural, it did not resonate with me or any of my friends really. I was 12 when it came out, probably 14 when I watched it. I haven't watched it since that one time on VHS from my Dad's friend's son (who desperately wanted to be thug).
dazrage@reddit
Horrible. Did not age well. We used to think it was so edgy. It's just scumbags being scumbags.
Kindly_Session_5102@reddit
In my hazy memory this is.what I thought too. But I was mostly a straight edge kid who was a virgin until I was 21 and almost joined the priesthood at one point so this was alien, frightening, and nihilistic and I found it horrifying.
red286@reddit
That was kind of the point of the movie, though.
dazrage@reddit
I don't think that movie had a point.
ManbadFerrara@reddit
That applies to all the Harmony Korine I've seen tbh.
SuperDoubleDecker@reddit
It's a mirror of society.
Kids have only gotten worse since then.
particularswamp@reddit
Not only were we just like that, it gave us more to strive towards.
We were truly a mess. So many didn’t survive, even fewer thrived. We didn’t fall through the cracks, we dove in head first.
Great_Produce4812@reddit
I grew up in NYC so watching this I was expecting something real, but our reality was different than the ones portrayed. My friends and I were shook after seeing it though. That last scene is still implanted in my brain somewhere.
iputitthere@reddit
Watched it soon after it came out on VHS or DVD and it hit way to close to home. Switch our NYC for New Orleans and it’s was basically a documentary of my life from 13-17 years old. Luckily I made it out somewhat unscathed but so so many of my friends didn’t.
c4mbo@reddit
Ughhh I watched this multiple times as a kid in my teens. I was a skateboarder, we travelled in packs, got in fights, smoked weed among other things. The movie resonated with me.
But the sexual shit just made things 1000x darker. We were shitheads, but we never got to that place.
I can’t watch that movie again, and even the thought of it makes me cringe.
Jd11347@reddit
KIds and the not too long ago movie "Mid 90's" was pretty realistic for me. I was a California kid, so the NY stuff didn't apply, but it was basically the same for me as both of those movies portrayed it. I was kind of on the wild side as a kid. Not a criminal or getting suspended from school (often) but I hung around people who were like these people more than I was. My high school had a popular kid who got AIDS and he was running trains on girls raw all the time. I saw my first knife in school in elementary school. First gun in JR high, and been involved in a few "almost" drive by shootings.
I think that both of these movies were not about the average kid of that generation. More like the average troubled kid of that generation.
HankBuffalo@reddit
Completed
-E-Cross@reddit
"completed suicide" is a weird way of wording.
MothyBelmont@reddit
I watched this and Showgirls on the same night. It was amazing strange experience.
Character_Bend_5824@reddit
I watched it for the first time last week. Just a bunch of absolutely directionless losers. Like, not in school, skating all day, fighting when not skating, unprotected sex, underage substance abuse. A club I'm glad I wasn't in back then.
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
Suburbia is better
xPeachmosa23x@reddit
This movie scared me into not having gratuitous sex or doing gratuitous drugs as a young person.
1BannedAgain@reddit
Loved this movie
VideoEvening2382@reddit
Never saw it, and unless these kids spend the whole movie playing N64 and eating pizza rolls, I can’t relate to it.
TheFoxandTheSandor@reddit
Eternal Sigh forevermore
BoringExperience5345@reddit
The probability is that one actor in every movie will die by suicide, since one in 100 people do and there are often around 100 actors in a film whether they’re speaking or not. I don’t think bringing that up is relevant, and it comes across as prejudice against the director or the film for personal reasons. It was an independent movie with no indication it would become as successful as it did, and the creative team didn’t take all that money home, it probably wasn’t even that much, because the studios surely took advantage of them.
nonexistentnight@reddit
Director Larry Clark's Wassup Rockers is way more interesting IMO. It's about some Latino skate punks in LA that decide to go skating in Beverly Hills. They get harassed by the cops and have to make their way back home. It still has Clark's creepy obsessions but it actually feels like social commentary instead of lurid voyeurism.
mtron32@reddit
I couldn’t relate to this movie because I wasn’t allowed to run the streets like the kids in the movie. We did cut school, but we weren’t beating down randos and doing the drug thing too heavily.
My father would have stepped in my ass if I came home drunk lol. College was a different story though, I went wild.
Fit-Accountant-157@reddit
That's bullshit, I didn't expect it to be a huge payday for those kids but at least something.
snowblindx@reddit
As a skater in an NYC suburb, it was 60% documentary, 30% what we imagined ourselves being, and 10% fiction.
VelocityGrrl39@reddit
Why do they look like children in this shot? We were the same age when it came out, I didn’t look this young, right?
Jegermuscles@reddit
"Reefer Madness" of the 90's.
hagbarddiscordia@reddit
New tool for Karma farming. Thoughts on….
Fuck this movie. It’s boring.
steveism@reddit
What a lot of people misunderstand is that this film was meant as an art piece. It is beautifully filmed, Larry Clark did an amazing job. The plot and behavior of the characters isn’t really supposed to be fully relatable. Instead, all of the scummy moral decay is a commentary on the state of young people in the 90’s as the first generation of Americans to grow up in divorced households with little to no supervision. These kids genuinely had nothing better to do with their lives. The sensationalism was meant to be shocking because American societal decay was shocking.
VisibleCoat995@reddit
I related to the film in that my group of teenage friends were poor, bored, and more divorces than two parent homes. We definitely got into some shit just because we were young, bored and poor.
Jegermuscles@reddit
My take away was "Thank God no one actually saw this or the news would be raving mad and I'd never be allowed outside ever again."
Accurate? Fuck no. My dude and chick friends were doing the same shit portrayed, but the movie was like the '90s version of "Reefer Madness". Anyone who thought this movie was great had to have been either severely sheltered or was a Juvie Junkie.
Adlien_@reddit
Great movie, scared me for sure but the type of freedom to be a fucked up teen is something you either get or you don't. I rented this on VHS because the place that did movie rentals had the versions they weren't censored like from blockbusters.
Never heard of it just put it on. Wild. But other movies were also fucked up: Bad Lieutenant, Man Bites Dog, Natural Born Killers
lexypher@reddit
Not a good date movie. "Oh I heard about this really great Indy film I know nothing else about." Setting the tone for fml.
DUNETOOL@reddit
Helped me to use a condom. I got another healthy reminder from Rules Of Attraction. Then again from Knocked Up.
pianotherms@reddit
Never saw it but the soundtrack rules.
slom_ax@reddit
1 committed suicide and it years after the the release when he was an adult.
A life lost is painful, but getting the facts right is important.
karatechop97@reddit
Disconcerting at a visceral level.
jimlahey2100@reddit
Bring no the down votes but I don't find it to be the thought provoking master piece Reddit holds it up to be.
xargos32@reddit
Take my upvote.
207Menace@reddit
This movie gave me PTSD. Also. I have no legs.
Super_Fishing9564@reddit
Idk from this photo it looks like they are having an ok time
Grinzy@reddit
I watched this and it made me think twice about being promiscuous in the rave scene in LA and San Bernardino. My friends and I were all into E and hooked up frequently with each other and people we met... watching Kids made us all chill the fuck out.
specks_of_dust@reddit
This is an interesting perspective.
I was never very popular or well-liked when I was young and struggled to make friends. I always romanticized being part of a friend group with tight bonds and loose boundaries. I guess I wanted people to like me enough to party, do drugs, and have sex with me. Like, this was my goal. I even dumped real friends to try to fit into groups, but never fit in.
Watching Kids changed my perception on what I wanted. It killed the idealization I had created in my head. So, I guess it had the same effect on me as it did you in some ways.
Also, I lived in the IE and LA.
Staninator@reddit
The film's director, Harmony Korine was / is a bit of an oddball. His appearances on Letterman never fail to give me a chuckle...
Harmony Korine
Jadedcelebrity@reddit
I always laugh when this subject comes up. I was a teen in Brownsville in the late 90s. This is just sensationalized garbage to freak out middle America. Were there drugs and promiscuity? Of course. But saying that this was the average New York teens life is like saying that Requiem for a Dream accurately depicts the average drug user. It’s mostly made up nonsense.
mouse6502@reddit
of course, that’s why Gummo exists.
drummer_who_codes@reddit
Kids is just sensationalized garbage to freak out middle America. Gummo is just just sensationalized garbage to freak out the inner cities.
specks_of_dust@reddit
This is truth, though you have to be a certain level of ignorant to actually get freaked out by either of them.
Jadedcelebrity@reddit
Yup, Gummo freaked me out as a big city kid. I vowed to never visit small town America 😂
Healey_Dell@reddit
Hated it. Director staging some very problematic fantasies (to put it mildly)….
Agreeable-Chart-5561@reddit
The headline makes it seem like Justin killed himself because of this movie. He didn’t die until 2000. Harold Hunter also died but it was from an accidental overdose.
xargos32@reddit
Hate it. I saw it once and couldn't stand it. Maybe it's because unlike a lot of people I couldn't relate to it at all.
magyarsvensk@reddit
Most movies that rely on shocking the audience rarely have much aesthetic value.
When I saw it, I didn’t hate it, but then I was young and didn’t yet know the Hollywood indie game.
Now that I have seen thousands of movies and know their techniques, I realize that this was mainly a movie about kids having sex with each other an being in various states of undress, and that is the main reason people watch it.
It’s only an artistic movie in the sense that people who want to see that kind of stuff need plausible deniability.
Available_Forever_32@reddit
My favorite movie
-threefeetoffun-@reddit
Great movie. In my head Telly moves to Baltimore and goes by Johnny after be outted.
And I know it's a movie but I am glad the next year was a huge breakthrough on HIV treatment. Poor girls.
ParamedicSpecific130@reddit
Are you me? I have walked around with this head canon since 'The Wire' came out.
-threefeetoffun-@reddit
Yes. Yes I am.
tolbintime@reddit
That movie kept me from getting AIDS
Cma1234@reddit
Tbf Casper killed himself a long time after this movie came out.
FluxusFlotsam@reddit
Reefer Madness for the AIDS generation
the dialogue is unintentionally hilarious, the science/fear mongering is laughable in hindsight
an after school special with an amazing soundtrack*
*a REALLY REALLY amazing soundtrack
SaltyOldSailer@reddit
That movie was awesome! I learned life lessons watching it
Ned_Rodjaws@reddit
Yea Justin Pierce killed himself 5 years after being in kids, I don’t think there’s a correlation.
Queenv918@reddit
That movie taught me and my cousin how to roll a blunt.
More-read-than-eddit@reddit
It's great. Wish there was a 4k transfer (or maybe there is and I didn't notice)
whyneedaname77@reddit
If you see the 30 for 30 Empire Skate you will see why they spoke that way. They were skaters in NYC in that movie.
bargman@reddit
Probably the best movie I'll never watch again.
One_Maize1836@reddit
Garbage movie, good soundtrack.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
It looked weird and I chose to never see it.
Traumagatchi@reddit
I was raped because of this movie. Passed out at a party and woke up to two guys laughing about them pulling a Casper.
stormer1_1@reddit
Jesus, I'm so sorry
UpkeepUnicorn@reddit
Shit.
Fuck.
Lawrenceburntfish@reddit
I saw it once when I was a teenager in the 90's and never saw it again.
soopirV@reddit
I was a junior when it came out and remember my classmates talking about how fucked up it was, and I think mostly as a result, I still haven’t watched it.
RobertBDwyer@reddit
It’s the single most traumatic piece of storytelling I’ve ever subjected myself to more than once.
Verbull710@reddit
Never saw it
throwitlikethewind@reddit
I didn't see it when it first came out, but a few years later. Once was enough.
amccune@reddit
Shh. It’s just me, Casper
pseudonymmed@reddit
I grew up in a very different place (small town Canada) but I can say that I recognised some of those characters as being similar to people I knew. All those things were going on but how much you actually experienced depended on the individual and how engaged/strict their own parents were and what circles they hung out in. The ending made me so mad. It reminded me of my first ‘party’ with drinking involved where I walked in on someone doing the same to my passed out friend. I’m sorry to hear the actors were unpaid, that is indeed exploitative. I can’t imagine them using actual teens for such roles nowadays.
Ok_Percentage5157@reddit
Nah, fuck this movie and the way it was made. I never liked it, and was pissed I spent money on it. I have never thought it was this auteur piece that everyone makes it out to be. Both Premiere and USAToday had articles about the assholes who made it, and how the kids were fucked over.
Mission_Tip7003@reddit
I was totally creeped out.
Exciting_Agent3901@reddit
It was pretty fucked up. I saw it in a small theater in a very rural town and remember thinking they probably shouldn’t be showing this.
Black_Aquarian82@reddit
This movie was just beyond dark, weird, & f****d up - all at the same time.
This makes me glad that I waited until after I graduated from high school to watch this in its entirety
brakeb@reddit
never heard of it...
Upset-Word151@reddit
Saw it as a teen and thought it was insane. Never wanted to see it again
AldusPrime@reddit
I remember thinking it was really good, and that I would never watch it again as long as I lived.
It felt like it had a reality to it that was really uncomfortable. IT's kind of weird, because I grew up in a poor, small beach town in California (back when towns like that existed) and it seemed so far away I might as well have been watching a movie about Mars.
JeerzQD@reddit
The chances of casper actually contracting aids from 1 single act of unprotected vaginal sex is very slim, especially for a guy. So he likely just raped that girl with no repercussions. They were really trying to scare us into safe sex during the height of the aids epidemic.
SamwiseTheOppressed@reddit
I only got to see this version https://youtu.be/xJGkIqockBg?si=foMa3J0C7Ia81imi (skip to 34:40)
GlomBastic@reddit
I grew up in a small town. It really romanticizes NYC. You could just be free. You didn't need a ride to take you home five miles from town. Have more than thee friends you can hang out with everyday.
We had all that same fucked up shit in the country. It just took more effort and planning to pull it off. Maybe a little less AIDS, that we know of.
rideadove@reddit
Growing up in the north NJ suburbs with NYC all of 10 miles away, this movie was everything. Took the bus into the city with friends when it came out and went to the Angelika Theater.
SlinkDogg@reddit
same man, its a time capsule
I_Framed_OJ@reddit
The only good thing about it is it gave the world Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sévigny.
Other than that it’s pure exploitation, made by exploitative creep Larry Clark, and real live fraggle Harmony Korine.
Danny-Wah@reddit
I remember watching this movie and thinking, "Wow.. what is messed up." and then making everyone I know watch it!
Leo Fitzpatrick will always be Telly to me. (Even though I always eff up and call him Sully)
jayne-eerie@reddit
I refused to see it because the description made it sound so much more interesting than my actual life and I got jealous. Apparently teenage me really wanted to die of AIDS or something.
Maybe I’ll watch it this weekend.
littlekatie3@reddit
I thought it was depressing.
Trick_Second1657@reddit
It was supposed to be depressing. Harmony Korine is not a same person.
Expensive-Day-3551@reddit
I don’t think I ever watched it, it’s not something that would have been allowed in my fathers house. I should try to find it on streaming sometime.
Corkwell@reddit
Look up Gummo too . Same director and a very strange film.
Blazenkks@reddit
We started smoking blunts because of Kids. Blunts hadn’t really hit the scene in California. After we saw Kids blunts were all the rage. And really caught on in my city.
Starbreiz@reddit
I never saw it, as I was super busy being an overachiever when it came out, but I distinctly remember all the controversy.
Thamnophis660@reddit
Good movie, I just didn't enjoy it. Gross and made me feel like shit afterwards. That's the point of the movie though.
dominator5k@reddit
Never heard of it
NopeYupWhat@reddit
I was a skater in the 90s. It was a reflection of the life I was living. It was wild, but I survived the good and bad times. Not all my friends did.
Greedy_Practice_5327@reddit
I've never seen it but when I was 15 and working at a little grocery store my manager was hounding me to watch it. He was an old creep.
presidentdemdcamacho@reddit
Mid 99’s reminded me a bit of Kids, maybe a more sterile version.
rideadove@reddit
Big hit man!
ScooterWorm@reddit
Saw it when I was about the same age as the characters. Great movie. Love the rawness. Soundtrack is fabulous as well .
Planetofthought@reddit
I didn't like it. I was 18 when it came out. I hated most of the characters. Everyone was just gross. My friends and I were divided on it. No one was indifferent. We either loved it or hated it.
I did not like how it was promoted in the trailers as controversial and edgey, like it was some sort of work of art and a reflection of modern youth.
No-Purchase-5930@reddit
My girlfriend roped me into watching this but I couldn't take it. It just didn't speak to me personally.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
Love the movie, but in many ways it hit close to home.
I grew up about as far away from NYC as you can get, in a rural beach town in Texas. But knew alot of the same types of people, just roaming town all day and getting into trouble. Drinking and doing drugs all the time, imposing on other people's homes.
I had a good home life but would run with these folks from time to time, and it was always kind of uncomfortable for me, and eventually I moved away to go live with my dad. One of the reasons was I didn't see a good future for myself in that town any longer. Most of the people I grew up with ended up ruining their lives with drinking and drugs and crimes and stuff, with many still there or suffering the consequences of having done so.
Yougotthewronglad@reddit
I was living in the UK when this film released and was obsessed with skate/street culture as a teen, I was more interested because Harold Hunter ripped at skating.