Main cast: Macaulay Culkin (Michael Alig), Seth Green (James Clark), Justin Hagan (Robert “Freez” Riggs), Diana Scarwid (Elke Alig), Dylan McDermott (Peter Gatien), Wilson Cruz (Andre “Angel” Melendez), Wilmer Valderrama (Superstar DJ Keoki), Chloë Sevigny (Gitsie), Marilyn Manson (Christina Superstar), Mia Kirshner (Natasha Gatien), Natasha Lyonne (Brooke), and John Stamos (Talk Show Host)
Directors: Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
OMG! Look what showed up on Netflix Streaming. Squeeee!
This Macaulay Culkin movie is based off the Michael Alig “documentary” which is based off the James St James book of the gruesome murder etc etc etc. It’s a fucking drug-addled train wreck complete with a sweetly ironic look behind the shallow scenes of the 90s youth-oriented night life of New York City called The Club Kids.
It is hilarious as it is amazing to watch, and honestly, you will not miss a damn thing not watching the more fact-based documentary with the same name. Because the only “facts” that really matter is that Angel (the drug dealer) dies a savage death and everything else is simply another selfish Club Kid’s point of view and highly contested by all the gossiping queens involved. You are never going to get a straight answer out of anyone ever.
If none of this rings any bells or seems even slightly approaching your interest let me try and explain. OK, do you remember Deee-Lite? That was one of the premiere Club Kid bands. So remember the lead singer’s outfits on their videos? Typical everyday Club Kid fashion through and through.
Club Kids were what you got when you mashed together drag with twinks. Much like drag, it’s about dressing up and being in the spot light but it’s all more democratically twink in nature. So the difference is Club Kids dress up and fight for the exact same spotlight at the very same time. It was Drag Survivor with a dress code. Whomever gets any attention outside the catty group, good or bad, wins.
They had their own culture and their own DJs and their own magazine and their own drugs and tons of daily media attention for a relatively short period of time. I remember going down to the local gay bookstore and picking up the latest magazine just to see what they were up to next.They faded away rather quickly and it was years till I heard about what actually happened to Michael Alig or what he did to himself.
In summary, I guess this movie will hit you like a mix of Rocky Horror Picture Show meets an episode of Cops. Just keep repeating to yourself as you watch this utterly surreal downward spiral, that this is all real. Deadly real. This is really what happened. From how a straight boy named Superstar DJ Keoki got launched into his career by simply dating Michael Alig to how RuPaul started her climb of the TV talk show circuit as a Club Kid expert, to how the Limelight and Disco 2000 became one of the hottest events in Manhattan for a short time, to the inevitable crash and burn ending in a sordid murder with Drano injections.
Twisted and wrong that is prime “must see” TV on Netflix if you ask me. Oh and despite the protests it is a gay movie that no one in their right mind would want to admit being about a flash in the pan gay subculture created by a bunch of kid queens. But it kinda sorta is exactly that.
