Though it’s a sledgehammer moral tale, ‘Kids’ was the one to grab a pirate copy of before its eventual official UK DVD and VHS release in 1999. Remember the swiftly made up distributor (Shining Excalibur Films) made to make some scrilla for Miramax despite mounting controversy, including some extensive Daily Mail coverage? Freeze framing some Supreme and Zoo York (note the same same blink-an-you’ll-miss-the-box-logo frames in the ‘Supreme: Downtown New York Skate Culture’ book)? Folk Implosion’s minor hit with a track that wasn’t in the actual film? The lack of Fat Beats endorsed classics on the soundtrack – and who was Lo-Down, contributing the mysterious ‘Mad Fright Night’? Wanting a Shorty’s tee as much as any of the aforementioned skate brands? Classic movie. Seeing Rosario for the first time? It needs a double disc reissue with commentary.
There’s evidently a lot of stories behind that film. It’s notable just how linear that narrative was. Harmony must’ve made some compromises. ‘Gummo’ took it further, but just as Larry Clark’s brilliantly grim adaptation of Eddie Little’s ‘Another Day in Paradise'(good to see Vincent Kartheiser getting his long deserved dues in ‘Mad Men’ – Natasha Gregson Wagner deserves hers) warrants reappraisal, folk still sleep on the delirious masterpiece that is ‘Julien Donkey-Boy’. It’s still odd that ‘Ken Park’ still remains unreleased in the UK after 8 years following Clark’s punch up with the distributor.
‘Mister Lonely’ was hard work, but nothing was as hard-to-enjoy as Clark’s crappy ‘Teenage Caveman’ remake – though you need to see his short film ‘Impaled’ from the ‘Destricted’ anthology, the anti-porn porno, and an expose of the clinical nature of today’s digitally filmed cheap thrills. Larry’s still flirting with the mainstream – he’s attached to a ‘Mona Lisa’ remake for 2011 at the moment, though that’s subject to change. And Harmony? He just seems to get odder.
Ti West’s ‘House Of The Devil’ was a noble attempt to emulate the video chills a generation grew up with, but Harmony Korine’s ‘Trash Humpers’ is the stuff of nightmares. A shrieking, murderous, distorted act of transgressive art, it gets the look of a discarded VHS depicting freeform oddities just right. That Korine dabbled with the idea of leaving it on a roadside is a testament to his welcome indulgence at a time when we’re assailed with calculated viral campaigns to bring the independent approach to the big screen. The notion of a “found film” is a strong one, but you can’t blame the director for sending it to the festivals. The trailer is appropriately disturbing, and those lo-fi, home edit fonts are always a winner.
It’s interesting that the following part of Korine’s ‘Kids’ script was never filmed – it’s a curious flashback scene that would throw the feel of the film in a major way. Maybe that’s what the writer wanted. It’s best that it was never included, and occurs just after the amassed teens hurl abuse at the gay couple in Washington Square Park. It’s not dissimilar to the carnage that opens Romano Scavolini’s deranged ‘Nightmare In a Damaged Brain.’ From heavy-handed social realism to pseudo-slasher – that’s quite a leap. R.I.P. Harold Hunter and Justin Pierce.
Telly is sitting away on the cement benches under the tree. He is talking to Misha.
MISHA
How can you hang out with Casper? He’s such a jerk.
TELLY
You think so?
MISHA
Yeah. I’ve always hated that kid. He used to eat glue in like seventh grade.
TELLY
He still does.
MISHA
I hate ’em.
TELLY
It’s not his fault. He had a hard life.
MISHA
Yeah?
TELLY
You’ve heard the stories right?
MISHA
No.
EXT. NEW YORK SIDEWALK – DAY
Back in time. Casper is a little boy, age 11. He is walking down the sidewalk with a lunch box and a “Casper the Friendly Ghost” T-shirt. He is wearing his hat on backwards.
Music accompanies this entire episode.
TELLY (V.O.)
Well, one day Casper had a stomachache and he got permission from his teacher to leave school early and go home.
Casper walks up to a nice middle-class home, it could be in Queens or Brooklyn, it doesn’t matter. He pulls out a key and opens the door. He enters his home.
INT. CASPER’S HOUSE – DAY
The house is dark. Plastic on all the furniture. A velvet picture of Christ is hanging on the wall in the hallway. Very simple and plain, a generic adobe.
Casper enters his house and flips on a lightswitch.
TELLY (V.O.)
So he walks into his house and hears some strange noises.
The sounds of his mother screaming from upstairs.
CASPER’S MOM
(screaming from upstairs)
Get away! Get away! Help! You monster! Please help!
Casper puts his lunch box down and walks to the first stair to listen to his mother’s screams.
TELLY (V.O.)
The noises were coming from upstairs. In his parents room.
Casper’s mom continues to scream from upstairs.
TELLY (V.O.)
So, this freaked the hell out of Casper. He was just a little kid and he wasn’t sure what to do.
Casper moves off the step and runs into the kitchen.
TELLY (V.O.)
So he ran and got a big knife. The same knife his pops used to cut the turkey on Thanksgiving with.
He opens a drawer full of silverware and pulls out a humongous glistening knife. He picks it up, and it shines on his face.
As his mother screams he looks up at the ceiling with the knife in his hand.
CASPER’S MOM
(screaming from upstairs)
Stop! Please stop! Oooh help!
Casper runs up the stairs, he is holding the knife straight out.
TELLY (V.O.)
So he heard his mom’s screams, and knew that she was in trouble. It sounded like she was getting ready to be killed. Like someone was kicking her in the head.
Casper runs down the hall and opens the door to his parents room.
What he sees is very shocking. His face becomes extremely animated.
Casper’s mom is on the bed. She is completely naked except for a pair of bright red high heel shoes. In between her legs is a man wearing all black, including a black ski mask and motorcycle boots. He is having sex with Casper’s mom. He has her arms pinned down on the bed. He is grunting like a pig.
Casper watches for a moment in awe.
MAN IN BLACK
Bitch. You fuckin bitch. Fuckin bitch. Slutty whore.
The man in black slaps Casper’s mom hard on her naked ass.
CASPER’S MOM
(screaming)
No! Stop! Get off me!
She is struggling to get loose.
TELLY (V.O.)
So Casper opened the door and he saw some big guy with a ski mask fucking his mother. What a sight for an 11 year old kid.
Casper runs up to the bed. He climbs on top of the bed with the big knife in the air, all the while the man in black is having sex with his mother. And they don’t even notice Casper at first.
TELLY (V.O.)
And he goes and jumps on his parent’s bed. And for a second he just looks and watches.
Casper takes his knife and starts stabbing the guy in black, over and over. His mother is kicking and trying to stop him. All the while, she is screaming outrageously and blood is pouring out.
TELLY (V.O.)
And you know. Casper loved his mom, he didn’t want anything to happen to her. So he started stabbing this guy, over and over. But it was a mistake.
Casper’s mom is kicking Casper as he stabs the man.
Casper is biting his tongue as he stabs the man.
The man falls off the bed and onto the floor.
Casper’s mom is going totally nuts. She is completely naked, with blood all over her body. There is blood all over the sheets. His mom is clawing her face in complete hysterics.
CASPER’S MOM
You fuck!!! It’s your father!!! We were playing a game you fuck!!! That’s your father!!! We were just playing!!!
Casper looks very confused as he looks at his naked mother. He has the knife in his hand, and a little blood on his T-shirt and cheek.
Casper’s mom continues to yell at him.
CASPER’S MOM
Casper, you fucker!!! Oh, my god!!! Help me God!!!
Casper looks at his mother, then he looks at the dead guy on the floor. He bends down and takes off the mask. It’s his father.
CASPER
(calmly)
That’s my dad.
CASPER’S MOM
(crying)
You fuck. You killed your father!
TELLY (V.O.)
So Casper killed his father. He came home with a stomachache and ended up murdering his pops. It was a very embarrassing thing.
EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK – ON A CEMENT BENCH – DAY
Telly is in the same spot talking to Misha.
TELLY
So that’s why Casper is how he is.
MISHA
Oh god. That’s horrible.
A quick shot of Casper smoking a blunt and laughing with his friends.
TELLY
Yep.
MISHA
Holy shit. That’s all true?
TELLY
No. I was just kidding.
MISHA
(outraged)
What?!
TELLY
I lied. His dad is still alive. He works for the post office.
GWARIZM 