Frisk (film)

Last updated
Frisk
Frisk FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Todd Verow
Written by Dennis Cooper (novel)
James Derek Dwyer
George LaVoo
Todd Verow
Produced by Jon Gerrans
Marcus Hu
Starring
Cinematography Greg Watkins
Edited byTodd Verow
Music by Coil, Lee Ranaldo
Distributed byStrand Releasing
Release date
  • 1995 (1995)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Frisk is a 1995 American drama film directed by Todd Verow, based on the 1991 novel of the same name by author Dennis Cooper. It is a first-person narrative about a serial killer. Dennis (Michael Gunther) describes a series of ritual murders in letters to his sometime lover and best friend Julian (Jaie Laplante) and Julian's younger brother Kevin (Raoul O'Connell), an object of desire to Dennis.

Contents

Verow once explained in an interview "we really need to concentrate on what makes us unique, what makes us interesting and what makes us dangerous". [1]

It is banned in the UK due to its content. It was rejected by the BBFC in 1998, and although still banned in UK, it has been shown without a certificate at London's ICA cinema. [2] It was the closing night attraction at the 1996 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. [3] When screened in Manhattan, several cinema viewers left during the violent scenes. [4]

Bob Mould mooted scoring the film in 1993. Dennis Cooper's work, he said, "deals with a lot of fetishes and fantasies and free-floating imagery, which I like a lot. I've read the book. It's pretty harsh. It's pretty gay." [5]

Cast

Reviews

In 1996, Stephen Holden of the New York Times called the film "harshly repellent" and "realistic but messy style that might be called cold porn for its utter lack of erotic warmth". It is "meandering and narratively diffuse, but it is also disturbingly well acted". [4]

Related Research Articles

Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature which focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual or illicit ways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les Dennis</span> English television presenter, actor, and comedian

Leslie Dennis Heseltine is an English television presenter, actor and comedian. He presented Family Fortunes from 1987 until 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce LaBruce</span> Canadian filmmaker and artist

Bruce LaBruce is a Canadian artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and underground director based in Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Cooper</span> American writer (born 1953)

Dennis Cooper is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist. He is best known for the George Miles Cycle, a series of five semi-autobiographical novels published between 1989 and 2000 and described by Tony O'Neill "as intense a dissection of human relationships and obsession that modern literature has ever attempted." Cooper is the founder and editor of Little Caesar Magazine, a punk zine, that ran between 1976 and 1982.

Paul Bartel was an American actor, writer and director. He was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he co-wrote, starred in and directed.

<i>Riot on Sunset Strip</i> 1967 film by Arthur Dreifuss

Riot on Sunset Strip is a 1967 counterculture-era exploitation movie, released by American International Pictures. It was filmed and released within four months of the late-1966 Sunset Strip curfew riots.

<i>Fat Girl</i> 2001 film by Catherine Breillat

Fat Girl is a 2001 drama film written and directed by Catherine Breillat, and starring Anaïs Reboux and Roxane Mesquida. It was released in certain English-speaking countries under the alternative titles For My Sister and Story of a Whale. The film's plot follows two young sisters as they deal with coming-of-age, sibling rivalry, and desire while on vacation with their family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Morris</span> English actor (born 1983)

Julian David Morris is an English actor. After appearing in the British television series The Knock (1996) and Fish (2000) during his teenage years, he had his first starring role in the American slasher film Cry Wolf (2005). He subsequently had supporting roles in the thriller Donkey Punch (2008), the historical drama Valkyrie (2008), and another slasher film Sorority Row (2009).

<i>Sugar</i> (2004 film) 2004 romantic drama film by John Palmer

Sugar is a 2004 independent Canadian romantic drama film co-written and directed by John Palmer, and starring Andre Noble, Brendan Fehr, Marnie McPhail, Maury Chaykin, and Sarah Polley. Its plot follows a young gay man who falls in love with street hustler in Toronto. It is based on short stories by Bruce LaBruce. Noble, who received strong reviews for his performance in Sugar, died just a few weeks after the film's debut.

<i>Luster</i> (film) 2002 American film

Luster is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Everett Lewis. The film is about a weekend in the lives of a group of friends in the Los Angeles queer punk scene. Lewis sought to "infuse queerness" into the film as much as he could, so he cast a number of non-heterosexual actors and used music by a number of queer punk bands. Critical response to Luster was deeply divided.

<i>Circuit</i> (film) 2002 gay-themed film directed by Dirk Shafer

Circuit is a 2002 gay-themed independent film set in the world of gay circuit parties. Written by Dirk Shafer and Gregory Hinton and directed by Shafer, Circuit follows the lives of several people involved in the circuit party scene. Shot on digital video over a period of six months, Shafer was inspired by circuit party music in crafting the film. Circuit received mixed reviews, with reviewers finding the film too long and the performances of several of the lead actors weak.

<i>The Paper Brigade</i> 1996 American film

The Paper Brigade is a 1996 adventure/comedy film directed by Blair Treu. The film stars Kyle Howard and Robert Englund. The story follows a group of small-town paperboys who band together to prevent bullies from taking over their routes.

<i>Frisk</i> (novel) 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper

Frisk is a 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper. In 1995, the book was made into a film of the same name directed by Todd Verow.

<i>Clapham Junction</i> (film) 2007 British television film

Clapham Junction is a 2007 British television film, written by Kevin Elyot. Directed by Adrian Shergold, the film centres on the experiences of several gay men during a 36-hour period in the Clapham area of London and the consequences when their lives collide. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 22 July 2007, repeated on 1 September 2009, and later released on DVD on Region 1.

Charles Steven Key, better known as Paul Morris, is the owner of Treasure Island Media, a San Francisco, California-based gay pornography studio that specializes in bareback pornography.

Marcus Ewert, previously known as Mark Ewert, is an American writer, actor and director, living in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Cooper (band)</span> American rock band

Alice Cooper, also known as the Alice Cooper Group or the Alice Cooper Band, is an American rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964. The band consisted of lead singer Vincent Furnier, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith (drums). The band was notorious for their elaborate, theatrical shock rock stage shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaie Laplante</span> Canadian-American screenwriter and actor

Jaie Laplante is a Canadian-American screenwriter, actor and curator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ishmael Houston-Jones</span> American choreographer (born 1951)

Ishmael Houston-Jones is a choreographer, author, performer, teacher, curator, and arts advocate known for his improvisational dance and language work. His work has been performed in New York City, across the United States, in Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America. Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a 1984 New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award for their work Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders performed at The Kitchen and he shared another Bessie Award in 2011 with writer Dennis Cooper and composer Chris Cochrane for the 2010 revival of their 1985 collaboration, THEM. THEM was performed at Performance Space 122, the American Realness Festival, Springdance in Utrecht, Tanz im August in Berlin, REDCAT in Los Angeles, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and at TAP, Theatre and Auditorium of Poitiers, France. The 1985 premier performance of THEM at PS122 was part of New York's first AIDS benefit.

<i>Janeane from Des Moines</i> 2012 American film

Janeane from Des Moines is a 2012 American political drama film directed by Grace Lee, written by Lee and Jane Edith Wilson, and starring Wilson as a conservative housewife who attends the 2012 Republican Party primary in Iowa. It mixes elements of mockumentary and real-life interviews with Republican politicians conducted in-character without their knowledge.

References

  1. Carl Stychin and Didi Herman (Editors) Sexuality in the Legal Arena , p. 82, at Google Books
  2. "Banned in the UK". letterboxd.com. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  3. "Frisk (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  4. 1 2 Holden, Stephen (22 March 1996). "FILM REVIEW;Where Gory Ends Wait For Drugged-Out Punks". New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  5. Cavanagh, David (July 1993). "Sidewalking". Select . p. 72.