AGFA August: Terminal USA

Holly (Jenny Woo), Marvin (writer/director Jon Moritsugu), and Katzumi (Moritsugu again) are average Asian-American teenage siblings with not-so-average predilections for backstabbing, kinky sex, and drug-fueled freakouts. Neglected by their parents, the kids turn to outside “help” (including the scene-stealing Amy Davis, Moritsugu’s wife and longtime collaborator) in order to escape their bored existence. Naturally, this leads to gore killings, sex tapes, and the most hilarious phone conversations ever captured on 16mm film. A candy-colored hellscape that feels like an episode of Strangers with Candy that was filmed by Dario Argento during a three-day acid bender, Jon Moritsugu's Terminal USA is a crucial piece of 1990s alternative cinema—smart, shocking, and one of the most deranged films to ever be funded by American taxpayers. This is the film Heathers wished it could be.