# Totally F***ed Up
**Totally F***ed Up** is a 1993 American independent comedy-drama written, directed, shot, and edited by [Gregg Araki](https://www.edgepedia.org/gregg-araki), following a group of queer, disaffected Los Angeles teenagers who form a makeshift family while navigating desire, rejection, and the alienation of growing up gay in the early 1990s[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up). It is the first film in Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, followed by *[The Doom Generation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-doom-generation)* (1995) and *[Nowhere](https://www.edgepedia.org/nowhere-1997-film)* (1997)[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director, writer, cinematographer, editor | Gregg Araki; produced by Araki and Andrea Sperling[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268) |
| Year and country | United States, 1993 (AFI lists a 1994 release date)[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268) |
| Structure | Fifteen jagged episodes, punctuated by video interviews conducted by Steven (Gilbert Luna), the group's budding filmmaker[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up) • [3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6316) |
| Principal cast | James Duval (Andy), Roko Belic (Tommy), Susan Behshid (Michele), Jenee Gill (Patricia), Gilbert Luna (Steven), Lance May (Deric), Alan Boyce (Ian)[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up) |
| Production | Desperate Pictures and Blurco; shot on location with super 8 video and 16mm film, with a minimal crew[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268) • [4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1994/films/totally-fed-up) |
| Distribution | Strand Releasing; New York Film Festival screening 9 October 1993, New York opening 7 October 1994, Los Angeles opening 2 November 1994[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268) |
| Running time | Reported variously as 97 minutes (AFI), 85 minutes (IFFR), 79 minutes (Criterion), and 78 minutes (MoMA)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268) • [4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1994/films/totally-fed-up) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up) • [3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6316) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The film follows six queer teenagers in Los Angeles as they come to terms with relationships, their sexuality, and what ACMI's catalog description calls the sense of hopelessness that envelops them[5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/87149--totally-fed-up-d/). MoMA's synopsis describes a close-knit group of restless teenagers whose story unfolds through fifteen vignettes, interspersed with direct-to-camera video interviews conducted by Steven, a budding filmmaker within the group[3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6316). The film opens on an article about the disproportionately high suicide rate among gay teenagers[5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/87149--totally-fed-up-d/).
The film is divided into chapter headings such as "Lifestyles of the bored and disenfranchised", which ACMI describes as giving the film's sense of impending doom and nihilism a shot of irony and humor, and it is littered with popular culture references[5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/87149--totally-fed-up-d/). One character's line on homosexuality, quoted by ACMI, states the film's stance against mainstream gay culture: "Everything that homos are supposed to like, disco music, drag shows, Joan Crawford, I hate"[5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/87149--totally-fed-up-d/).
## Araki's stated intentions
Araki described the film as "a kinda twisted cross between avant-garde experimental cinema and a queer John Hughes flick" and called it his most challenging, high-risk, and heartfelt movie at that point[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1994/films/totally-fed-up). In a MoMA program note he listed the serious problems confronting young queer people that the film explores: AIDS, alienation, suicide, drugs, fag-bashing violence, and not having a date on a Saturday night[3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6316).
He cited several inspirations: the article on gay teen suicides that opens the film, a news item about a troubled gay man who killed himself by drinking caustic soda and drowning in his family's swimming pool, a need to respond to what he called the endless barrage of institutionalized homophobia from the media, politicians, and cultural "watchdogs", and his admiration for [Jean-Luc Godard](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-luc-godard), most especially *Masculin féminin*, which the film pays homage to and which he called its primary influence[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1994/films/totally-fed-up). He also described wanting to portray a sub-subculture ignored by both the mainstream and conventional gay media, saying he consciously avoided sanitizing or moralizing the subject of young gay people[3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6316).
## Production
Araki shot the film on location with super 8 video material and 16mm film, with a minimal crew; according to the International Film Festival Rotterdam catalog, he shot it more or less at the same time as *The Living End* (1992), but post-production was delayed for two years[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1994/films/totally-fed-up). In a 2024 interview with Slant Magazine, Araki said he made the film with all non-actors aged 18 to 20, who were full of teenage energy on set[6](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/gregg-araki-interview-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/). The production companies were Desperate Pictures and Blurco[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268).
The film premiered at the [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival) on 9 October 1993, opened in New York on 7 October 1994, and opened in Los Angeles on 2 November 1994, distributed by Strand Releasing[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268). Rotten Tomatoes lists a United States gross of $13.9K and a DVD release on June 28, 2005[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/totally).
## Place in Araki's career and New Queer Cinema
*Totally F***ed Up* followed three micro-budget features Araki made in the late 1980s and *The Living End* (1992), and it moved him into the teen genre[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/the-weirdos-and-the-outsiders-gregg-araki-on-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy). The trilogy it began helped establish his place at the vanguard of the loosely organized New Queer Cinema of the 1990s[6](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/gregg-araki-interview-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/). Slant's interview notes that the three films were not originally mapped out as a trilogy; when the lo-fi charms of *Totally F***ed Up* struck a chord with festival audiences, new creative possibilities opened up, leading to the bigger-budgeted *The Doom Generation*[6](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/gregg-araki-interview-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/).
The trilogy has been read as a course correction to the sanitized teenage rebellion of 1980s John Hughes cinema[6](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/gregg-araki-interview-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/). BFI's introduction to Araki's work describes the film as brutally addressing moral panic over AIDS, youth alienation, and the high suicide rate among gay teens[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-gregg-araki).
## Reception and restoration
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer based on 10 critic reviews, with an audience score of 62% from more than 2,500 ratings[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/totally). Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Araki speaks his mind without being preachy and uses color and direct sound without losing the grit of his earliest pictures[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/totally). AFI FEST's 1994 program called it Araki's most mature film to date[10](https://fest.afi.com/1994/u-s-independents-fiction-1994/totally-fed-up-2/).
In 2024 the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy joined the Criterion Collection, available as a 4K UHD and Blu-ray combo box set[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up). Araki told Filmmaker Magazine in 2023 that it was disturbing to him how relevant the films remained[11](https://filmmakermagazine.com/122873-gregg-araki-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/).
## References
1. [Totally F***ed Up (1994), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60268)
2. [Totally F***ed Up (1993), The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/30138-totally-f-ed-up)
3. [Totally Fucked Up. 1993. Written and directed by Gregg Araki, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6316)
4. [Totally f***ed up, International Film Festival Rotterdam 1994](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1994/films/totally-fed-up)
5. [Totally f***ed up (D), ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/87149--totally-fed-up-d/)
6. [Interview: Gregg Araki on the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy's Generation-Defying Sense of Doom, Slant Magazine (2024)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/gregg-araki-interview-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/)
7. [Totally F... ed Up, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/totally)
8. [The Weirdos and the Outsiders: Gregg Araki on "The Teen Apocalypse Trilogy", RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/the-weirdos-and-the-outsiders-gregg-araki-on-the-teen-apocalypse-trilogy)
9. [Where to begin with Gregg Araki, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-gregg-araki)
10. [TOTALLY F***ED UP, AFI FEST 1994](https://fest.afi.com/1994/u-s-independents-fiction-1994/totally-fed-up-2/)
11. ["It's Disturbing to Me How Relevant They Are": Gregg Araki on New Restorations and His Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, Filmmaker Magazine (2023)](https://filmmakermagazine.com/122873-gregg-araki-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Coming-of-age films › Coming-of-age films released before 2000*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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