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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nowhere_1997.jpg]]

->''"L.A. is like... [[TitleDrop nowhere]]. Everybody who lives here is lost."''
-->-- '''Dark Smith'''

''Nowhere'' is a 1997 movie written and directed by Gregg Araki as the third part of his "[[ThematicSeries Teen Apocalypse Trilogy]]", following ''Totally ***ed Up'' and ''Film/TheDoomGeneration''.

It's a bizarre, surreal and sex-saturated black comedy set in a vaguely futuristic and apocalyptic UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, filled with petty, pretty, vacuous, bisexual, drug-addled teen friends. Throughout the movie, they get abducted by aliens, killed, or commit suicide amidst lots of SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll as they try to get to an exclusive, rave-type party for more of the same. It is described as "[[Series/BeverlyHills90210 90210]] [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on acid]]" on the VHS cover box, which is apt.

The film was remastered in 2023 with scenes removed from the original release reinstated.

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!!Tropes:

* AddledAddict: Bart's heroin use threatens his music career and relationship with Cowboy, who threatens to break up with him if he doesn't get clean. After using, he spends considerable time slumped on top of a billboard, barely able to talk.
* AggressiveSubmissive: Elvis is a hyper macho, murderous jerk but loves being slapped and tied up in bed.
* AlienAbduction: A man in a big green rubber lizard suit uses his RayGun to zap multiple teens.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Alyssa is deeply in love with Elvis, a violent, murderous asshole. Her friends don't get what she sees in him, but he fits the bad boy archetype of a leather clad motorcycle rider.
* AutoErotica: Shad and his girlfriend not only have sex in an old convertible, he starts driving it in the middle of sex.
-->'''Shad:''' "I want to die!"
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Inverted. Several scenes, such as the AutoErotica scene and Handjob's death scene had to be trimmed in order to receive an R rating. The 2023 remaster reinstates these scenes.
* BigNo: After the credits, there's a shot of Dark screaming "noooo" in anguish, [[spoiler: covered in blood after Montgomery turned into a space alien.]]
* BisexualLoveTriangle: The emotional heart of the film comes from Dark being torn between his desire for a more old-fashioned, romantic relationship with his girlfriend Mel (their relationship is anything but) and his yearning for mysterious twink Montgomery.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The sets are filled with hyper-saturated colors and patterns that give the film a very surreal, trippy feel. Dark's room has a 20 ft ceiling and no apparent doors, and is covered with a giant mural of him shooting himself in the head. Bart's wall is entirely covered in giant printed text, while every surface in Egg's room is covered in multicolored flowers.
* BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill: Dingbat has enormous braces.
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[{{Twincest}} Twins]] Alyssa and Shad's DirtyMindReading as they think of their ParentalIncest.
* ButNotTooGay: The film has a number of bi and gay characters, but only heterosexual sex is shown. There is a lot of male nudity, though.
* CassetteCraze: A variant. Dark carries a camera with him everywhere and does a video diary where he talks about his feelings.
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Egg meets the TeenIdol when he opens the door on her in a bathroom stall.
* ChestBurster: At the end of the film, [[spoiler: Dark and Montgomery are in bed together when a giant cockroach alien emerges from Montgomery's chest, presumably killing him.]] This explains why he'd been feeling off the whole movie.
%%* ClubKid: Just about everyone.
* CoincidentalBroadcast: A random news broadcast provides foreshadowing about the Atari Gang, who later show up to jack Zero's mom's car.
* CreepyCrossdresser: Zero gets his car jacked by the Atari Gang, a band of violent, gun-toting, and sexually-ambigous nihilists.
* CringeComedy: Lots of talk about bodily functions and diseases.
-->'''Cowboy''': Did you hear about Marcus? His butt hole fell out and he has to have surgery!
-->'''Dark''': Oh, Henry.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: [[spoiler: Dingbat manages to revive near-drowned Ducky]] with only a couple of mouth-to-mouth breaths, no chest compressions, and no side effects. This somehow causes him to spit out water.
* DepravedBisexual: Played with. Everyone is too vapid and concerned with having sex to notice the space aliens taking over or really care about one another. On the other hand, Dark's determination to find true love and emotion with Montgomery makes him sympathetic and something of the OnlySaneMan in the bleak world of the film.
* DrivenToSuicide: Egg and Bart kill themselves rather violently after becoming hypnotized by a televangelist. In Egg's case, it's probably also a response to her [[spoiler: violent rape by the Teen Idol]].
%%* DrugsAreBad: The world is going to end because everyone is a bisexual drug user.
* EnterStageWindow: Nobody ever uses their bedroom door. Dark's room seems only accessible through a chest-height hole in the wall, or through the outside window.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Exaggerated. Most of the characters get a sex scene and everyone who doesn't is implied to have an active sex life.
%%-->'''Dingbat''': Have you ever like - I know it's none of my business or anything but - I kinda heard this rumor %%that you're kinda like waiting for the right person?
%%-->'''Ducky''': That is not true. Kay? I've done it. I'm so sure.
%%-->'''Dingbat''': With who?!
%%-->'''Ducky''': Lots of people a bunch of different times. Okay?
%%-->'''Dingbat''': Oh.
* EveryoneIsBi: Most of the characters seem to be.
** If you listen closely to the gossip being passed by the {{Valley Girl}}s at the bus stop, everyone in their social circle is sleeping with everyone else, regardless of gender.
** Mel and Dark stand out in particular, as they both have same-sex love interests while dating each other.
* EvilLaugh: Elvis, after [[spoiler:beating Handjob's face in]].
* {{Fetish}}: BDSM, armpit licking, threeways, and hermaphrodite porn stars that can ScrewYourself and other ConvenientlyCommonKink.
* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: While in bed with Dark, Montgomery turns out to have been an alien cockroach, who immediately leaves.]]
* GayCowboy: Referenced with a gay character known as Cowboy.
* ICallHimMisterHappy:
--> '''Zero''': "I missed you."
--> '''Zoe''' (Zero's girlfriend): "You mean Gilligan here missed me?"
* HollywoodAtheist: "You have to believe in something!" "No I don't. Tie me up."
%%* IdealizedSex: [[ModestyBedsheet No breasts allowed.]]
* KickTheDog: Multiple times, but especially [[spoiler: the affable Handjob's Warhol soupcan-to-the-head murder]], and also when [[spoiler: the TeenIdol beats Egg and says IHaveYouNowMyPretty before [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping]] her]].
* LipstickLesbian: Lucifer seems only attracted to women, and has a feminine appearance that includes makeup, a well-coiffed blue bob, and dresses.
%%* {{Lust}}: Shad and Lilith.
* MindScrew: Has its moments, such as the alien sub-plot that goes on in the background.
* MomentKiller: Alyssa decides to interrupt Shad while he's having sex on the dance floor at Jujyfruit's party in order to ask him something mundane about mowing the lawn.
* MoodWhiplash: The whole damn movie. Jumps from amusingly awkward dialog to erotic sex scenes to brooding sad moments to sudden, over-the-top violence to space aliens.
* MrFanservice: James Duval's character spends a lot of time naked, and a number of shots linger on his nude butt.
* MyGirlIsASlut: Played with with Mel, who ReallyGetsAround. Dark is accepting of her dalliances, but longs for a deeper relationship.
* MysteriousWaif: Montgomery is a male example. He's a blonde, skinny, and waifish [[TheTwink twink]] with heterochromia and a perpetually lost expression. He seems to suffer from amnesia and has a strange spiritual connection with Dark. In the end [[spoiler: it turns out he's a host for an alien cockroach]].
* NightAndDayDuo: Mel's two main love interests have this in their theme-naming. She's interested in both Lucifer (light) and Dark.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Most of the characters goes by strange and seemingly symbolic nicknames.
-->'''Egg''': Well, I mean my real name's Polly, but my friends all call me Egg. Dweeby, I know. But it just kinda stuck.
* OnlySaneMan: While Dark is angsty and self-absorbed, he's the only character (except for maybe Montgomery) that seems interested in deeper meaning beyond sex, and is also the only person who's remotely aware of all the space aliens kidnapping people.
* PaintTheTownRed: After [[spoiler: Egg kills herself and after Montgomery's chest burster incident]], the walls end up splattered with lots of blood in both cases.
* PeopleInRubberSuits: The space aliens are humanoid lizard monsters that are the same size as humans and are clearly played by someone in a rubber suit.
* RandomEventsPlot: Most of the movie is a series of vignettes of the characters bumming around and trying to make it to a crazy party, while space aliens menace the town in the background.
* ReallyGetsAround: Mel, who's in an open relationship with Dark and Lucifer, sleeps with almost anyone and says that people aren't meant to be monogamous.
* RuleOfPool: Dark leaves the party to brood by the pool alone. A few minutes later, Ducky comes along and tries to drown himself in it, and Alyssa has to save him.
* SexIsCool: "Your tongue is cool!"
* SexMontage: Full of them. One scene cuts between a bunch of different characters having sex, juxtaposing kinky sex with [[spoiler: Egg's violent rape]] and then ending with Dark and Mel's tender post-coital moment for a large helping of MoodWhiplash.
* ShowerScene: The first scene, which features Dark masturbating in the shower.
* SinisterMinister: The televangelist that makes teens commit suicide.
* SkewedPriorities: Ignoring a car wreck and talking about zits.
* SorryImGay: Lucifer's fist when a drunk guy asks, "Can I jizz on your face?"
* TheStoner: Bart and Handjob mostly, but everyone else too.
* SuddenMorbidMonologue: Happens constantly in a minor way in the way that characters constantly bring death and disease into everyday, snarky conversation, but there are a couple of instances of more extensive monologues on dark subjects, delivered with unnerving enthusiasm:
** While a bunch of friends are casually hanging out at a coffee shop, Alyssa suddenly gets a dreamy look on her face, and starts talking rapturously about how the day is Armageddon Day, and how the world is about to end.
** Shad decides to tell a disturbing story about a woman who got her face eaten off by a dog in the middle of sex. His partner's response?
--> ''Dogs eating people's faces is cool''
* SymbolicBlood: Played with. Elvis beats [[spoiler: Handjob]] to death with a can of Campbell's tomato soup, which splatters the red soup and actual blood everywhere in equal measure.
* TeenIdol: The, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin teen idol]] that Egg encounters. Deconstructed in that he resents his status and exploits his allure to get revenge on the fans he resents, [[spoiler: raping and [[DrivenToSuicide driving Egg to suicide]].]]
* TerrorAtMakeoutPoint: The overarching plot of the film is that space aliens arrive on Earth amidst a bunch of drug-addled teenagers who are too busy having sex to notice. Throughout the film, vapid teens have sex in cars and get offed by the aliens.
* ThematicSeries: With ''Film/TheDoomGeneration'' and ''Totally F***ed Up''.
* TheTwink: Bart and Montgomery are both young, skinny gay men.
* TwinTelepathy: Alyssa and her twin brother Shad seem to have a telepathic link, as her palms itch when Shad is getting his palm read.
* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Mel seems pretty into sleeping with both Surf and Ski, two blond identical twins, at the same time, though neither Dark nor Lucifer are happy about it.
* ValleyGirl: Applies to all the female characters to some extent, as they're all vapid Angelinos, but in particular Rose [=McGowan=] has a cameo as a sunglasses-clad fashionista who spends the whole scene gossiping in an exaggerated Valley Girl accent, before promptly getting killed.
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