Terminal Bliss (1990)

Two adolescent children of wealthy parents deal with the emotional travails of spoiled youth by indulging in self destructive behaviour including but not limited to drugs, parties and teen ... See full summary »

Director:

Jordan Alan

Writer:

Jordan Alan

Stars:

Tim Owen, Luke Perry, Estee Chandler

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tim Owen	...	Alex Golden
Luke Perry	...	John Hunter
Estee Chandler	...	Stevie Bradley
Sonia Curtis	...	Kirsten Davis
Micah Grant	...	Bucky O'Connell
Alexis Arquette	...	Craig Murphy
Heather Jones Challenge	...	Tanya Bradley
Susan Nichols	...	Judy Golden
Bruce Taylor	...	Jack Hunter
Susan Satoris	...	Lynn Hunter
Ann Pierce	...	Mrs. Highton
George Grey	...	Guidance Counselor
Roy Lind	...	Andrew Hillier
Scott Kerr	...	Republican
Peter Syrett	...	Maitre'd

Storyline

Two adolescent children of wealthy parents deal with the emotional travails of spoiled youth by indulging in self destructive behaviour including but not limited to drugs, parties and teen sex. Friends John (Luke Perry) and Alex (Timothy Owen) deal with issues of betrayal involving Alex'a girlfriend Stevie (Estee Chandler).

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Plot Keywords:

wealthy | rape | independent film | 

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Taglines:

He had everything, but nothing was enough

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug use, language, sex and violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Az utolsó nyár

Filming Locations:

Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$215,500

Company Credits

Production Co:

Distant Horizon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In order to break out of his teen heartthrob typecast, Perry accepted this role amidst, his hiatus during the first season he appeared in 90210.

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Soundtracks

Talk It Out
Written by Robbie Evans
Performed by The Believers
Published by Big Idea Promotions

User Reviews

not that bad

I watched this movie recently on cable and don't understand all the negative criticism. This movie got a 3 by IMDB voters. Even an arcade game style movie totally devoid of any substance or character (or screenplay) such as Armagaedon or Pearl Harbor has a higher rating.

This movie is at least 7 years ahead of it's time. Back in the years around the time this movie was released in theatres and video, Republican values and general complacency people were experiencing (in the US at least) were causing them to not see the problems related to by many young people. Blind to many problems experienced by a large number of people in this country; blind to the problems many experienced within themselves even.

After highly publicized high school shootings, an increased voice in media reflecting violence and anguish among young people, and generally a change in societal thinking more toward humanistic (or important; opposite of mater ialistic) values/perspective, now in 2002 this movie may fully be understood and seen with an empathy or not attacked with a gut/knee jerk reaction as I see a lot of these criticisms of this movie to be. The low budget production values of this movie will cause a lot of people to hate it anyway though.

I think the main problem with this movie is people see the characters in this movie as an endorsement by the screenwriter/director. That the characters are an indulgent reflection of the screenwriter/director; they have a tendancy to see the repugnant myopicism of the characters and their actions and fail to see the larger picture of the movie. Many of the characters in Terminal Bliss are similiar to the people I went to high school with: Rich, arrogant, spoiled and shallow. This is a criticism and satire of upper middle class suburban high school life; it is a criticism and satire just by showing them, there does not need to be a tone that says we should hate them. It takes a small amount of genius to recreate any type of people or characters in a movie with such clarity and realism. The movie is a criticism and/or reflection of environments lacking in perspective and basic humanistic values such as kindness, honesty, dignity, self respect, etc (but not lacking in things such as financial security, leisure time, Nintendo game consoles or strip mall: franchises, culture, materialism); or more bluntly put a reflection of the crappy, bored, blind, cultureless and sheltered lives many upper class people live. His showing the characters in this movie being as*holes doesn't mean he is asking for people to like to be an as*hole; or better yet to hate this movie because you hate people who are as*holes. You are supposed to hate these characters. You are supposed to feel as if this life is purposeless, apathetic, boring, and indulgent (not to mention evil for creative reasons, I would not say upper middle class people are generally any more evil than any other segment of the population).

Many of the problems I think Todd Solondz is now encountering or recently did encounter with his movies (especially Happiness) are similiar to the problems/criticism this movie must have/does encounter. Solondz wonders if his characters are a reflection of meanness or actual meanness being expressed by the creator of these characters. I think the difference is pretty significant. People tend to react negatively toward things or people in movies that are bad or a reflection of badness. This does not negate the truth of this badness; nor does it mean that this movie is trash. It simply means the traditional idea of what a movie is must be modified a little bit. This brings up greater issues than just the movie being bad. Issues that are probably too far removed from a general review of this movie to get into.

Terminal Bliss is not a great movie, but a pretty solid low budget first movie by an inexperienced director/writer(especially considering the writer/director was in his teens when he wrote/directed it). I hope people may someday see Terminal Bliss for what it is; a critical satire through the basic recreation or enviroment being shown. I am not saying you have to enjoy it but I'm saying you should see it for what it is reflecting and the truth in that reflection.

(Now reading back over this, I realize what is probably the main fault with this movie; it is unadulterated meanness with no redemption or purpose; cruelty with no kindness or no representation of another world or a redemption of any of these characters). Conflict with no resolution. But not without truth. It's worth a viewing.