Badmovies.org Forum

Actually, the human brain DOES produce  heroin-like chemicals during sex, exercise, injury, or any other strenuous experience or activity.  These substances are called endorphins.
You definitely need them after hearing Adrian sing, or after seeing this movie!

Okay, maybe it's a personal problem, but I really liked this movie (and no, I don't use mind-altering substances) -- one of my prized possessions is a promotional poster for the film autographed by Anne Carlisle.  

It's not much on plot (or logic, for that matter)...but it's a great roller-coaster ride of images and sounds, especially that relentless pounding soundtrack.  Comparing it to 'Aliens' is sort of apples-and-oranges...it's not intended to be straight science fiction, but an allegorical film...it belongs in the same file as 'Eraserhead', or the works of Stanislaw Lem.  

Thanks for giving this film some much-deserved publicity....

Jim Pennington

Of the many, many bad films I've watched and admired, this film is special. Plan 9 From Outer Space? The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Waterworld? At least these films produce derisive laughter. It is with the utmost confidence that I can label Liquid Sky THE WORST FILM EVER!!

There are so many bad things about this film that it's easy to point to them and say they aren't so bad. But the movie isn't just a scene about a junkie model arguing with her male counterpart outside the door, or the bizarre scenes of lovers disintegrating so little alien voyeurs can harvest their hormones.

On no. The movie is a whole, and the pervasive element of the film is self-indulgent yet apathetic self-examination. The culmination of the film, where Margaret laments to a crowd of her "peers" about how the underground fashion scene forced her to abandon her identity and become androgynous, is gauranteed to drive sensitive viewers into smashing their skulls into the nearest concrete surface. Tears, vomiting(and subsequent dry heaves), cold sweat, and involuntary waste elimination are simply not enough to psycho-somatically purge your system of this film. Massive, self-inflicted head injury is the only possible release.

The only good thing that can be said about this movie is NOT that it ends; if you've watched for that long, it's too late for anyone to help you. The only GOOD thing about this film is that the DAMNED SYNTHESIZER MUSIC STOPS!!

Tabby

I saw this movie at an afternoon performance one winter in a movie theatre in Belgium. The most surreal part for me was when, after two hours of a film about a demented woman having sex and doing drugs and periodically shouting "I kill with my c__t!", the lights came up at the end and I discovered that the rest of the audience was entirely composed of little old Belgian ladies. I can only assume that it was cheaper for them to go to the movies in the afternoon than to heat their apartments, and that they didn't care too much _what_ they watched ...

saw this film today at the san francisco international film fest.slava ( the director) was there in person, as was a "who's who" of the s.f. art/music/film/dance scene(jon moritsugu, i am spoonbender,metallica,etc.).i think that most of you who don't like liquid sky have very little sense of irony and should just accept your force-fed hollywood movie fate. yeah, l.s. isn't
f**king 'alien' (or perfect)but then again it had 1/50th the budget. also, it should be commended for the realistic approach to the subject matter alone.NO ONE in hollywood would have ever made a real new wave film.how many of you thought nicholas cage's "new wave" movie was great? thought so.

Hmmmm....Well this is definitely one of the more bizzare films I have ever seen.  I can't say that I enjoyed, but I didn't hate.  I wanted to finish watching, but my friends insisted that we turn it off.  The scene with people dancing at the "show" was incredibly strange. It made me feel like I was watching something I never was intended to see.  What were these people thinking?  Who would invest so much time into a film such as this?  Did they know it was going to make them look like complete asses?  It reminded me of any Todd Haynes film, f**king awful, but so f**king awful you keep watching to see if something, anything, will happen.

I just rented this 3 weeks ago, and watched it 3 times. I absolutely thought it was great. Someone earlier wrote that it seemed dated like it should have been filmed 4 years before; to me it seemed like the tail end of this kind of fashion/culture and if it had been made just one year later then it would have been very dated and out of place. It was great to watch Paula Sheppard (she was so great in Alice, Sweet Alice). Anne Carlisle was awesome as Jimmy. Margaret was a very interesting character, but I actually liked Jimmy more. He was a very pathetically funny character. The scene leading up to where Margaret gives Jimmy a bj is one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

your review was benighted and ignorant. this movie is a landmark of brilliant visuals and savage social comment. just because character's aren't likable doesn't mean that they have nothing to say.
the music is simply brilliant; people who don't appreciate are wasting their time watching films like this and should direct themselves to the nearest james cameron film. comparing it to crap like Alien is an insult. this movie is not some f**king mindless entertainment. it was made carefully for an audience which possess a certain degree of sophistication, which the author of the insipid review obviously failed to have. i simply don't understand why you go on so long condemning something like this:most people will never know about LS, and your feeble criticism only displays that you have an instinctive feeling that the movie is unique, but you are too dulled by your culture of conforminty to appreciate it. thus your invective. leave cool stuff alone if you can't handle it.
RvX

You know it really sucks that people like r van chalix have to condemn everybody for not having the same tastes that they do.  Get a life and stop judging everybody that you percieve to be a "conformist"...  I agree with the review... and I think this movie deserves a round on MST3K

Silly tooth-baring folk.  Ok -- you can be a very brilliant thoughtful non-conformist and still hate this movie.  This movie is the perfect ammo for people who like to be more-underground-than-you -- I suggest that some people, merely by watching this movie, start kicking other people's asses in their own minds.  I think the movie was great in the same way "Slacker" was great.  You saw and heard a lot of things that for some reason, never get said in movies.  But it suffered from a lack of adequate casting & budget.  And I think there were spaces in between the good moments, where things had to be hacked together because of lack of patience, money, etc (both in filming and in writing).  The music is also a key area where certain types of people chime in because they know most people will "miss" why it is so obviously good music.  I happen to have a bit of this attitude myself, and am quite p**sed off at pop culture too.  How about this -- if you don't like U.S. Maple you're an idiot and I rock cause I LOVE THEM.  You're so brainwashed by your damn ricky martin!  NO.  Not necessarily.  I need to cope with how isolated I feel that nobody else likes this band.  I need to do something constructive about the fact that I can't freakin FIND all my favorite albums in stores.  

The music was too much dicking around with synths.  It was music done by a smart person, and was at times nicely synchronized with the imagery, and was at times interesting.  But at other times it seemed like half-hearted filler.  And that's not impossible -- especially when we're talking about something so bare, so on-the-virge, created by a person who is just a person.  It's not rational to think you can know.  All you can do is be affected or not be.  I make music, and some of the music in Liquid Sky reminded me of me screwing around.  I might've discarded or ignored some of the stuff they kept.  I don't think that implies I'm ignorant of my own subconscious brilliance.  

Anyways.  I betcha the filmmakers would agree this film is a bit campy.. perhaps they dont' take themselves quite so seriously.  Maybe you can get serious messages from films by not taking them so seriously.  Or literally, etc etc.  

Speaking of films to get yourself off on being so non-pop-culture.. be sure to see Julien Donkey Boy.  It's great, and it makes you feel really cool in an isolated nobody-else-likes-this way, if you're LUCKY enough to like it.  Damn fine acting too.  And directing (Harmony Korine).  I'm too long winded.  

I really liked this movie.  And it wasn't just me.  The friend I was with was blown away too, and we talked it up for the next week.  Okay, yeah.  When you deconstruct it there is plenty to criticize.  But as a whole, it rocks!

Very interesting PUNK/art flick, about 4 years too late.
Lots of (dated) Bowie/New Wave imagery.  Similar in tone to Derek Jarman's 'Jubilee' and some Warhol pictures.
I thought the music was powerful & disturbing but they could also have used something by A Flock of Seagulls to lighten the soundtrack!

Where can I get one of those pipettes? I could have used one to drive through my own eye while watching this pathetic excuse for a movie. It's nothing but try-hards attempting to be "Oh-so-underground". I can just see all the behind the scenes footage...everyone pivoting between Bevis and Butthead-esque "Huh huh huh, yeah, that will be cool, huh huh huh" and thrashed coffee-house "art" students muttering "Man, that's like, so deep" as their eyes roll back in their heads.

 Unlike most of the people who've written comments, I really loved this film. It's one of my favorites. If someone thinks LS sucks that's their opinion. This film, like any film, is NOT for everyone. However, I agree with r van chalix, comparing this film to Aliens(vomit here) is an insult. In an industry with trendy bulls**t and yes, intolerable egomaniacs like Harmony Korine, one could benefit from watching an original film like Liquid Sky.    

Okay, "Me & My Rhythm Box" is the BEAT. It predates Madonna's new single by so many years, and yet she _obviously_ bit that s--t from this movie. Y'all better recognize.  But, well, the drawback is that it's the best thing about this movie next to the premise.  Oh well.

Actually, the brain DOES produce a dopamine-like substance in the "pleasure center", that's probably where the whole prospect of the 'brain chemical sucking' thing came from...

(they made me learn that in drug education class, if you must know-dopamine is one of the chemicals in cocaine that messes up your brain too.)

This is great! I didn't know there were other people out there who could relate to my love of this little film.  The movie was like a drug, where time and reason are suspended in a haze and anything can happen and does---besides the visual effects and the contagious sounds, the movie has so many classic lines about life, etc. -Adrian spiel on p**s--she is a street philosopher-pearls of wisdom that are still relevant in the new millenium in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. Margaret's character is Shakespearian in form-definitely a tragic hero. She has beauty, boyfriends, girlfriends, but no happiness and all her choices seem to drive her deeper in the hole-perhaps a sarcastic metaphor for our times!  

OK, not a great film, I can certainly understand why someone wouldn't like it.  Nevertheless, if you have the patience, is an atmosphere that is truly creepy - not creepy as in 'there is a big slime covered monster waiting to jump out from behind a bush' creepy, but 'the universe is fundamentally out of whack' creepy.  And if you get into it, the soundtrack is kind of neat.

That the aliens are tiny is a neat idea - and that they are never really seen or explained in any way.  (As Gregory Benford once said: the thing about aliens is, they're aliens). And the scientist character was wonderful - we should all be so calm in the face of insanity.  

In sum: not a great movie, but not really bad like Megaforce or Spacehunter bad...  Parts of the movie (can) capture a mood that few other sci-fi movies have.

OK. . where is Anne Carlisle now?  She did Desperately Seeking Susan, Perfect Strangers, and Crocodile Dundee II, but I WANT TO KNOW, WHAT IS SHE DOING NOW? I can't seem to find ANYTHING on her except freaking naked pictures on the net. .  .  but anyway, this film is a must-see especially for aspiring cinematographers. . . what an eclectic variety of brain candy!!!!  

   This movie just had an odd way of staying with me. I really liked it a lot. Far more intruiging than your average hollywood lameness. and NO, that was NOT darryl Hannah. I watched it again and found myself wondering whatever happened to Anne Carlisle. Anyone know?

I will definitely write a more extensive comment when i got more time. Unfortunately, the different reviews are not dated - so I have no idea whether they are 2 months or 10 years old.

Just wanted to mention that i first saw this film in 1984 and watched it at least 20 times since then. One of my absolute favourites!!

As to the different ppl here who destroyed the movie: Read the comment from wobbly lettuce (Emperor Zorg) above - there is nothing to add.

I found this site by accident and just cant fight the goosebumps.

The movie was part of my youth. I watched it in different states of mind and have to admit that it is much better on dope than on mineral water. ;-) Nevertheless its DEFINITELY not a bad movie. Keep in mind the budget and  the spirit of the 80s when reviewing this film.

The fairlight soundtrack is superb and i did also very much like "Me and my rhythm box". I still listen to the soundtrack in my car from time to time

Many thanks to the poster "Margaret" who once again reminded my of this fantastic scene. Again goosebumps, when i remind the scene when they show the different pictures in Margarets life, together with this weird fairlight music.

BTW: Ive seen Anne Carlisle in a miami vice episode. Just for those who didnt know.

GREAT MOVIE.

PS: Can anybody tell me where I can get it on DVD?

I saw this when it came out in the theaters. When it came out, Siouxie of the Banshees looked like them.  The art crowd who listened to "new wave" and punk looked like them.  It was a time-appropriate film.  I still own the soundtrack on vinyl and want it on CD.  Do not overanalyze - simply be satisfied with your reaction.  If you get a strong reaction, positive or negative, the film was effective.

I saw this movie at the Waverly in Greenwich Village.It had the longest run of any movie ever shown at the Waverly. Need any more be said.

Wow, thats some heated debate on this film. Alas I have not seen it though it seems from the comments above that indeed I must locate the film in whatever form of media available and watch it to see what all the fuss is about.

The only reason I show interest in the film in the first place is that its suggested as a "Cyber-punk" genre film. I hate spoon feeder s**tty , "big dollar" , strangle the creative juices of your director or writter films and it would seem from the comments that this is the opposite.

If anyone reads this post and shares an interest in cult-cyberpunk-off the wall-different genre films then feel free to email me for a chat about em , my horizons need some broadening.

Chris -England-

PS- Has anyone found a film yet that doesn't have a love theme in it. If so please email me.

 

There are many works of art that envoke great passion;  Stravkinskys Rite of Spring.  The priemer in Paris, 1911 stirred a riot!  Both sides doing much to convice the other is wrong.   Late in the 20th century, we have Liquid Sky.   I love everything about it;  the "acting", the dialouge, the sets, the costumes, the aliens and... the MUSIC!!  Yes, its irritating, but if you know thats what its supposd to be.  Not everyone has an ear for Brittney spears.  Nor does everyone have an ear for this caliope induced, restoration attachment, "new wwave" sound that Slava Tsukerman lovingly titled: the score.    

If anyone out there kmnows where it is... PLEAse... HELP ME.

There is obviously a fine line between fantasy and reality, and what ever side of this line I am currently standing on, Liquid Sky is on the other.  Frankly, I didn't imagine the victims were vaporized as much as they were turned into imploding piles of aluminum foil, and it seemed more like Maragaret was hit by the ufo's "Interpretive Dance Beam" than its "Kill Freaky New Waver Chick Beam". Face it, this movie is bad.  No, really, it's bad.  Seriously.  Bad. Bad, bad bad.  It deserves its one Drop o' Goo.  It fits right into this website's line up. This. Movie. Is. Bad.  It is overdramatized, underbudgeted, and intensely monotonous.  The only reason I watched it all the way through was just to see how bad it got (which was pretty damned bad).  Oh, I admit there were plenty of artistic/philosohpical/socio-political statements made by different aspects of this film.  For example, the strong presence of sex, drugs, and horrible arrhythmic yodelling, the strange metaphor of an actress having sex with herself in third person, the goofy double entendre of "Me and My Rhythm Box", the oh-so-awful peer pressure and conflicting class issue moments, etc, etc.  But then again, I find more sense in it when I come to realize that this movie is, in fact, BAD.

Obviously the most memorable line from this movie is "I kill with my c**t". Where are all my teachers? They are all dead. I killed them.

Think about when this movie was made -- 1983 -- right at the time AIDS/HIV was silently 'invading' America. I have no idea what the message or intent of the writers or producers were of this script/movie, but it is none the less prophetic in the regard that drugs (especially heroin needle sharing)/homosexuality/promescuity in the 1980's was in fact a catalyst for the invasion of tiny foreign 'creatures' (sexually transmitted virus) in America that has killed thousands and infected millions world wide (and is still rampantly invading our planet). In fact, many people are in fact 'killing with their c**ts' (transmitting leathal virus through sex).

This movie is very interesting in many regards. 1) It isn't the typical hollywood drivel that passes as culture in America. 2) Interesting post 60's psychedelic visuals that have more impressionistic interest than many of the high tech computer animated visuals of current films. 3) Some interesting synthesized music (although some of the music is truly abrasive beyond tolerance -- but wasn't the intent of the movie to be somewhat abrasive and mocking?). 4) Salient messages about the alienation of american youth in the 80's whose dreams were shattered by sex/drugs and a self-destructive sub-culture (incidentally this would be about the time that BUSH the current President was doing Coccaine by his own admission - or more precisely by his lack of denial of having done Coccaine). 5) It is a film made by people presumably trying to make 'art' as opposed to hollywood producers trying to make a buck (I can think of a dozen movies made the last few years by respected hollywood actors that are far less interesting and tolerable than this movie).

I find there to be several interesting themes and messages in this movie, and quite frankly those messages are social in nature and have little to do with science fiction per se. Although the little science fiction in this movie is no less lame than a typical star trek movie. I am also unimpressed by the gliz and glamor of high budget computer animation of many current films that despite techno wizardy having sound and fury, accomplish nothing (The Lord of The Rings comes to mind, a film that I walked out on and was truly insufferable).

Liquid sky certainly is not a bad film by any means (in fact I quite like this movie). But then, I am someone who enjoys movies like clockwork orange, eraser head and repo man and absolutely detest the latest (ad nauseum) installments of star wars. Go figure.

Liquid Sky rocks!!!  This is one of my favorite movies of all time.  and just for the record, it's actually better sober than on drugs.

The music is mostly adaptations of classical pieces to the Casiotone.  This is a very new-wave retro movie.  Think Barcelona on acid.

The one thing I remember thinking after seeing this is "Hands down the WEIRDEST movie I've ever seen. Almost a quarter century later and...STILL THE WEIRDEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN!!! And I've seen some real hum-dingers, too (Harold and Maude, Brazil to name a couple). This is one movie I would like seeing again just to see it through more "mature" eyes.

I saw this movie about eighteen years ago.  I still think about it now and then.  I liked it then, and the fact that I still think about it means something.

My favorite example of movies that seem to separate people into distinct camps is anything by Monty Python, and their first movie "And Now for Something Completely Different" is the perfect description of why I walked out of the theater enraptured with Liquid Sky.  I had walked in with no preconceptions about it and found a visual and aural experience, leavened with an outrageous campiness, that left me wanting to call everyone I knew and tell them to go see this movie.  It's about aliens who walk among us, but it's not science-fiction.  It's not a "great" movie, but it IS a movie that rattles your senses as it whacks you on the side of the head, and that is something worth experiencing.

I really don't remember much about this movie....I saw it about 15-16 years ago under the recommendation of the owner of this little video store I belonged to (you USED to HAVE to be a member)...he also recommended Videodrome and RepoMan, so he wasn't too bad.

The main thing I remember was how much I hated the music. I thought my ears were going to bleed. Geezus.

Anyway, about 10 years ago, I got remarried. I happened to mention this terrible movie to my wife....and she tells me that her step-sister did the soundtrack to it. Her pay for the music? A free copy of the soundtrack on LP and a VHS copy of the movie. Her name is Brenda Hutchinson, she has a degree in Music Composition from Carnegie, among others. Everytime she stops by to visit, I have to give her some crap about that horrible music. She laughs....she's gotten a LOT better.

I LOVE this website.

My wife and I are mad about this movie.  We now live in a very rural area and are unable to find the film.  We went back to the video store where we originally rented LIQUID SKY.  Their copy was worn out from use.  We helped by viewing the movie over 15 times.  What a great flick.  In this day and age when everything is formula, bang, bang, shoot to kill, it was refreshing to find a movie that we could not predict.  One of the aspects of the movie that intrigued us was the sound track.  Adrian's voice, what a hoot.  We would laugh every time we saw the movie.  WATCH OUT FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE IN SAUCERS.

I stumbled on it in '83 with a boyfriend in a Denver theatre.  We had no idea what we were going to see.  Totally BIZARRE is the only way I can describe it.  I actually was quite entertained.  Twenty years later it is still on my mind - enough to do a search for it.  I guess I run with the mainstream because nobody I've bothered to ask has even heard of this movie.  Gosh I guess that means I'm not an "artsy" type and am just a boring average consuming middle to upper middle class American.  Well gotta go get in my SUV and pick up my 'tweens from soccer practice and the mall now.........

I loved this movie just because it was different from all the rest of the stuff that was out there at the time.  It is great to find a site that has other like minded people. Since I saw it I have never found any one that has ever seen the movie. I loved the colours of this movie, the movement, the clothes and the make-up.  The music was different a mind trip. I have the Lp and just looking at the cover brings back great memories.
There are three types of people, those who love LS, those who don't and those who will never know what they have missed.

  Back before in the "bad old days" before there was satellite TV in Antarctica, picking up this movie at the tape library and putting it in the lounge VCR was a sure fire way to clear the drunks out of the lounge so you could watch a movie you wanted to see without a peanut gallery.

I saw this film about three years ago and couldn't really figure out what it was that appealed to me so much. I'd really like to see it again, or own it. There's something about Liquid Sky..........

If you like 'Me and My rhythm box' from Liquid Sky, there is a CD out called Death Before Disco that has I Am Spoonbender (with Jimmy/Margaret) doing "My Rhythm Box Has Teeth", a cover (of sorts). Really awesome take on it, with great vocals. Very different for I Am Spoonbender too 'cuz they use a drum machine on this one i think (they have a super bad-ass drummer usually, but the drum machine fits this song perfectly- go figure). If i remember right, I think they did this cover years before the revival of this kinda stuff. Anyway it's cool.

I saw this little weird thing in '82 & felt invaded.  Probably the music.  Loved the time lapse street scenes in NYC.  I'd heard a Russian guy did most of the filming.  One of my favorite films because it is so wacko, but with relentless sound and images.  Of course I loved Baraka too which is both wordless & plotless.

At some level, this film really isn't so bad. When I saw it a few years after its release, I understood it as a numbed but negative reaction to the whole arty NewWave culture of the time. Some of it is also quite beautifully shot. Unfortunately, the screenplay is underdeveloped, the dialog is terrible, and the acting is even worse. By far not the best arty/junkie/New York movie - that prize goes, of course, to _Trash_ (which I suspect inspired this film).

I saw LIQUID SKY at a Midnight Showing here in Kansas City, back in 1983 or 84. I was in my late teens and just discovering Independent and Foreign films. This was a far cry from most of the schlock I was paying to see at the multiplex at that time. To each his own, but I LOVED LIQUID SKY! The cinematography and use of color were incredible and in retrospect, I think the film is pretty much a harbinger of what was to come into the mid-late 80's. It's look at excess and style over substance more or less defined that period in time.

About two years ago, I bought the dvd from AMAZON.com and although the packaging and content could have been better, I was just glad to finally have a copy of the film in ANY format. Until that time, the only place in KC I could find Liquid Sky, was a beat up copy on VHS from my local Library(!!). I probably checked that tape out a dozen times, just to show friends, many of who, depite what you might think of us simple folk here in the Red States, absolutely loved it! The film made New York and it's hip, arty inhabitants, seem as if they were from another planet. They were no less strange than the alien, or whatever the hell that thing was in the film.

Like many others here, I am curious to know what ever became of Anne Carlisle and Paula E. Sheppard. There is almost zero information about them anywhere in Cyberspace. I did want to pop in to say, after viewing the film again last night on DVD for the umpteenth time, that I am crazy about this weird, beautiful little film. It captures everything that was cool about Independent film in the 80's. Colorful, bizarre, risque, dark, smart and yes, even funny. I can see how this film would divide people, but if you like it, that's cool. If you don't, well, that's also cool. That I still have it etched in my brain over 20 years later, to me, says a good deal about it's appeal.........    

I saw this on video in the 80's, and it's stayed with me. Very enlightening reading some of the other comments - thanks. I must say, bad or not, I liked it.

I saw this twice at an "Art House" theater in 1983 (once altered, once not!).  I though it was fascinating, disturbed entertainment.  Perhaps a lot of the folks who really disliked it saw it too late (i.e. post 1990's).  The soundtrack of relentless altered synth version of Ravel's "Bolero" is simply perfect in context.  There again, it was produced in a pre-"midi" environment on analog instruments (before your time).  I think, absorbed in context of time and social realities, this stacks up.  I do think that it should be categorized with Eraserhead, etc. rather than "Sci-Fi???"

ME AND MY RHYTHM BOX = The quintessential song of the whole arty-burnout-postpunk-electro-deathdisco asthetic. Best song from the early 80s i've heard so far. It is a rant about where music was inevitably headed, it is music of complete isolation. It is in effect one person's heart beat which is then embellished by machine music from this rhythm box which "doesn't eat or s**t." By this time (1983? the future? it rerally doesn't matter; everything is cyclical), bands are played out; this is an isolated, masturbatory world where one cannot be bothered to put up with other people long enough to start a group, compose songs, sing on any key, or clap at the end of a performance.

I first saw this movie when i was about 10. My father and I went to the video store to see what we could see and we picked this up based on the cover. I didn't quite understand it at the time, but i know it shaped me somehow because i remembered it for years after. I liked the visuals, and the profanity, and the jarring out and out perverseness of the whole affair. And the thing that stuck with me most was that beautiful Me and My Rhythmbox song. I am 22 now and have watched it again, and the song is just how i remember it. Now that I am older and have discovered bands like Public Image Ltd. circa 1979-80 and Young Marble Giants, this song makes all that much more sense. Whoever composed and/or improvised this song, thank you, because this song is one of my favorites ever.  
 

I rented this film 17 years ago and enjoyed it--it was punk
and freaky, the colors we're cool and the soundtrack sounded like a 1970's zombie flick-- very hypnotic effect overall.
Rented it again the other night and enjoyed it all over again
from a different perspective. Ive since given up drugs and booze and the constant references to drugs throughout made me shudder--total death scene and the movie does a good job of showing what fiends people can be for that s**t. Seeing those pre-punk photos of the lovely Anne Carlisle was worth the price of the rental and I still think they are the central "omygod" moment of the film. Weird, powerful,captivating and oddly relaxing period piece from the heart of new wave's glammy,punky,future-now,shiny soul. Worthwhile film on a lot of different levels.

So, you say you're looking for a movie dripping with great ideas and bad dialogue. You say you're looking for a film drenched in 1983 style-- drugged-out new York City art cognisinti bulls**t?...Then, this is your film...A minor (and I mean minor) mini-masterpiece with the best "Kurzwille" keyboard synth soundtrack I've ever heard...Heck, buy the film just for the soundtrack...**** out of *****

I'm going to buy this movie and play it for my conservative husband and watch his face.  It will be at least as interesting as the movie.  He married me because I was exciting, liberal, raised in Hollywood, had green hair, etc.  OK, sweetheart, here come the perks!

Put the chicken in the pot!
Here he is ...  Miss America...
and they call me beautiful... and I kill with my c**t...
Is'nt it fashionable.
So com'on who's next,who wants to teach me?

Why do you wear all this weird make-up and strange clothes?
Your strange...
What do you mean by that,I'm not wearing rags!
Your wearing what they want from you...baby.
Who are they?
America.

Liquid Sky is the key to heaven.

Space aliens hooked on endorphins produced during sex, twelve year olds sniffing airplane glue, same thing. The premise is sound as well as realistic. the fun thing about the film is the vehicle that the director uses to present the characters and the imagery, that being space aliens hooked on endorphins, what a blast.

Its just fun, lighten up and enjoy it for what it is.

Pure and simple, Liquid Sky is what it is. To compare the film to any other does nothing but lead one away from any appreciation of that that is unique. Think about it.

Well, reading these comments has been fascinating, and I am now moved to tell my own Liquid Sky anecdote.  I first heard of this movie back in 1983 (I was 21) on a Siskel & Ebert episode where they reviewed it and, yes, HATED it!  But watching the clips they showed and hearing the plot described, my immediate reaction was "I have GOT to see this movie!"  My first opportunity was a midnight showing at an ancient downtown movie house with the most dreadful sound system that prevented me from hearing/comprehending about half the dialogue, but I loved it anyway.  In the late 80's I made a copy of a VHS version I'd rented [oops, don't tell anybody!] so I could have it for my very own.  

It's a morality play of sorts, kind of a New York predecessor to "Less than Zero," wherein a bunch of young, shallow, narcissistic, sexually confused punkasses spend their free time (i.e., most of their waking hours) trying to numb themselves into oblivion.  I guess it was a trend back then. Come to think of it, I was one of those punkasses for a time, and both LS and LtZ reflected our zeitgeist, but just really exaggerated it for dramatic effect.  

Gah, didn't mean to get analytical there...anyway I loved its low budget, the incredibly intriguing one-of-a-kind plot, the weird music, the awkward acting and dialogue, the colors, the whole vibe of the thing, because it WAS so very different from most of the movies that were being put out, and 22 years later, it still is!  And yes, I now own the DVD!

I saw this movie in NYC in the Waverley in Greenwich Village in '85 while an alien of a different kind. I've since realised it was made by a bunch of visionaries living on a spaceship(NYC), off the coast of Amerikay. What else were they gonna do? The metaphor of the Empire State building as a hypo syringe is especially good. All those things happeniing to those people? May as well have been pages from the script of my own life.
Got into healinig 20 years later

I was born in 1982.  My older sister was about 13 when I was born...but a few years later she saw this movie at a friend's house.  She said it was the first art that really spoke to her.  She completely identified with Margaret.  
In the 90's she rented this movie over and over and showed it to anyone who would sit still (for a little while).  Of course I saw it--in waves...it scared me a bit.  When I was about 18 I watched it all the way through.  I realized that although I don't identify with the character of Margaret, I look almost EXACTLY like her.  Especially in the montage of pictures from her youth.  I was extremely thin as a teenager, and those photos are identical with mine.
Maybe that's why this movie has a place among my favorites of The Third Man, and Annie Hall.  Maybe it's because I'm an artist.  Whatever the reason, I see this as a subtle masterpiece and I'm glad to find my comrades here.  ;)

    I like this movie a lot but then again I have very minority opinions on a lot of SF/fantasy movies, for example I think Blade runner is MASSIVELY overrated.

I also really, really like 'Liquid Sky.' I also was prompted to cybersearch "where is she now?" info on Anne Carlisle without success. I liked Adrian's impromptu "You're Going to Hell" ("your lies, your lies") number even more than "Rhythm Box." I also liked the sound morphing of the reporter's questions. The movie is one of my favorites!

I'll never EVER understand how anyone can like this.  This was so painful, stupid, cheap, pointless, annoying, trashy, garbage.  The music was the worst.  A waste of perfectly good film, time, and money.  500,000$?!? 500,000$ to make this stuff?!?  That money could have helped starving children.  But no, instead, some cheap independent filmmakers decided to get high and film this trash.

The worst is all of the positive comments.  Hey, you Liquid Sky lovers, why don't you justify why you liked this garbage for a change, hein?  You keep telling us haters that we're totally wrong without giving any reasons.  Why don't you backup your sh*t, because I'm 100% positive that this is a complete waste, from start to finish.

Part of me thinks that Liquid Sky lovers aren't even serious.  They're just saying they liked it to disagree, or to be different (or to annoy).  Honestly, I can't imagine anyone liking this.  It's like the visual equivalent to Reed's Metal Machine Music (which was by the way, highly drug-influenced as well).  Drugs = bad work.  Everyone knows that. 

Unless someone can precisely explain the significance of this film, let's all try to keep it with all the other trashy bad movies on this site, where it belongs.  No one is ever going to resurrect this b*tch.  THIS SH*T IS AWFUL DEAD.

Used to watch this movie years ago. Used to have the album too. Don't know what made me think of it the other day.  Googled it & found way more than I thought I ever would.  I think the cool thing about this movie was that it was just very different.  Weird - yes, obviously.  Bad - yeah, bad at times, from what I remember.  Annoying synth music - sure, but, for me, at least, as this was not a genre of music I was accustomed to, it was also gratifyingly.....well, different.  Made me step outside my box, so to speak (no pun intended to the memorable Rhythm Box song)  Sometimes, you just have to do/see/listen to something different.  Would love to be able to walk into Blockbuster like I used to and get a copy off the shelf & watch it for old times sake, but I bet I can't (heck, our local Blockbusters didn't even have a copy of Somewhere In Time when I checked a few weeks back.....guess I've been walking down movie memory lane lately....and, oh what different ends of the street those two movies are on, eh?!).  Anyway, I just think it is such an 80's statement.  Do you want these characters as your children's role models?  No, you might not even want your children to EVER see it   :teddyr:  But, hey, what's a little warped voyueristic 80's fun once in  a while among the  adults who were there firsthand.....it's just a movie (or, as we are teaching my daughter about what she sees on TV/movies.....they are all just playing dress up).
Enjoy - don't take it so seriously.....do you think the people who made it or were in it did?

Whenever I see people reviewing this movie I have to wonder........what drugs were you on when you saw this movie and LIKED it? My ex-wife's step-sister (Brenda Hutchenson) did most of the soundtrack. Even after years at the Exploratorium, her music hasn't changed much. At least her CD of her playing a didjeridoo didn't make my ears bleed like the "sounds" in this movie. I actually bought it just to subject unsuspecting friends to hell on earth and an excruciating headache. :hatred:

I saw Liquid Sky back in it's theatrical release back in 1982.  I was speeding at the time, and I thought it was pretty bad then...I watched it again this morning, it's even worse when your clean and sober.... :buggedout:

Hmmmm. Worst Movie ever? I'm so glad I was in it. Filming it was quite interesting. There was a blackout from 12th Street south the first day of shooting at a niteclub called Heat. I was one of the very few extras who returned the following day. Hey, that's me in the opening sequence. I'm the first HUMAN face on screen! My very cool, vintage rhinestone sunglasses are still fabulous today. Needless to say, I never continued with my "acting" career. Tattoo anyone?

Pat Sinatra
www.patsinatra.com

perhaps im not well in the head, i dont know!!!
this is my fav movie ever,as it stands today im 40,first saw it at the age of 20.if you like surrealism,this is for you. i can recite it word for word.would love to start a fan club of people who also love this movie,but no one else has even heard of it!
i can relate to margaret.the whole "you can beat me if i do it wrong baby" line came in very handy once!long story! if perchance you love this movie as i do and wanna starta fan club you could contact me  phelvcat@paradise.net.nz.this movie is one of  kind..would love to talk to the people who made it too if their reading this!!

I love this movie! Sure it's low budget, thin on plot, with barely tolerable acting and not a single character you can really like. Strangely, that may be what makes it so likable.
Even though you are up close and personable with every character you still wish you weren't. It's similar to early John Waters films only the humor is completely different. This is a dryer humor, but it's definitely a comedy film.

I saw this film about 8 years ago, and just watched it again last night. There was a lot more structure to it than I remember. The first time I was kind of in disbelieve that something so bizarre would have ended up on my television. In the most recent viewing however, it really started to make a lot more sense. The acting was still hokey, but I certainly have more respect for the art direction and general themes than I did before.

The early part of the film jumps from scene to scene, and I think it could easily have a revised edit with a modernized soundtrack. There's nothing that could be done to help that 'Me and My Rhythmbox' song.

Okay, to start out... I've never saw this movie until just a while ago tonight... The start was rather long and after a while kind of got annoying. The transitions were rather bad also. But as the movie went on, I found there actually was some what of a plot...

I do love the some of the music and the "Me and My Rythum Box" I thought it was pretty creative and sweet... Also, I liked the part were she had the glow in the dark make-up on. It added a nice touch to what she was saying.  :smile:

I guess, over all... It was okay, something I'd watch maybe once in a while and then put it back on the shelf for a long time...

I finally aquired Liquid Sky on DVD. I watched it once and forgot I still have it! Reading these reviews makes me want to dig it out and watch it again. Like I said in my post a few years back - there's just something about this movie......

I've given this movie three times to impress me.

-I started getting bored roughly halfway through. I thought it was amusing that a bunch of samples that Industrial bands use (you're nothing you're nobody you're nothing you're nothing, et cetera) were from this movie, but overall I found the "acting" to be stiff and emotionless. I have an affinity for crazy, non-linear and otherwise "odd" plots-- but Liquid Sky doesn't really have much of a plot to stick to in the first place. It's as if it was trying to be a cinematic version of Burroughs' Naked Lunch, but utterly fails. Self-indulgent, emotionless and badly acted. Maybe this is a metaphor for the 80s?

-I had explained my gripes with this film to a friend of mine who absolutely adores it. She assured me that it would be "better" when high, so I took her up on the offer. Two bowls of Jack Herer later, I was in the middle of this psychedelic, melting film that-- while looking very nice-- was a MAJOR BUMMER. Major turnoffs: Margaret's rape scene; I couldn't decide whether she was insulting whats-his-name to make him lose his erection or insulting him to turn him on. Adrian's singing. Margaret's "you're nothing" line. Pretty much every scene with Margaret. For whatever reason, the scenes with the German researcher were transcendentally hilarious and glorious to behold, but that may have been a combination of the weed and the relative awfulness of the rest of the film. I don't remember much else after that (I was taking notes and I think I started drawing near the end). We put on Heavy Metal afterward and had our minds thoroughly BLOWN.

-I figured I'd give Liquid Sky another chance without mind-altering substances, so I watched it again last night. Nothing much in my assessments has changed, except that I'm more-or-less convinced that this is little more than a group of New Wave friends who wanted to make a movie about themselves snorting tons of heroin and cocaine while wearing cutting edge fashion. In that regard, Liquid Sky can be considered a fantastic film that documents the state of the early 80's New Wave scene, but it's no more a science fiction film than Buckaroo Banzai is a serious documentary about brain surgery.

The film itself is odd, which was also what the new wave movement was like. What nobody has touched on as I see this, is the film was a pre-Aides movie. The porn acting and surreal context made the movie entertaining. I wondered if the director was losing his  drug addicted friends and tried explaining the phenomenom by equating it with space aliens opposed to a virus, that in 1982, nobody knew existed. Transgender people and bisexual or gay people were rarely protrayed in film at that time, so its safe to assume getting a budget was likely difficult. Its one of my favorite cult pictures just for the melodrama and mildly sadistic approach to sex, in a juvenile manner. And when watching "Liquid Sky" one can imagine what heroin addicts would act like if on smack....it wouldnt be "pretty" which is why I enjoy the fashionable intent of the movie.  Nobody has really pinpointed its timelyness or import but actually this film is historical and unassuming.
(MikeAlike-independent recording artist)

Has it been 30 years already? I saw LS when it first came out and I'll never forget what a disturbing experience it was for me. The technical aspects of the movie were disappointing even back then; the cheap UFO/aliens FX, the supposedly avant-garde use of the Fairlight synthesizer (I've been a synth geek since the early 70s), the grating slow pace of the first half of the movie before the aliens actually do anything (what little THAT is), the outdated punk look that had been out of fashion years before, etc.

What made it disturbing to me was that, though I knew a number of people who were into the subculture and heavy drug abuse, I was still embarrassingly naive in my early 20s, and the cold, cruel indifference towards one another as depicted by the characters in the movie was somewhat of a shock. I found it hard to believe that in that modern day and age (HA!) some people were so shallow and self absorbed that they would do anything to anyone just to satisfy their twisted little needs. Then 2 weeks after I'd seen the movie it's weird reality hit home when I discovered that the 2 girls I'd been "dating" (though not at the same time, unfortunately) were 2 lesbian lovers who had broken up and had decided to use me to get back at one another. That was quite a wake up call.

So yeah, the movie is far from being great, even in a so-bad-it's-good sense. Still, I'd recommend watching it, especially if you're a bad movie masochist. For me, it's just a "trip" down memory lane.

Could someone here please reassure me that Professor Owen was not Kurt Vonnegut? I'm trying to write an entry for the "So It Goes" literary magazine and I need that image out of my head ASAP. Thanks.