Liquid Sky (1982)

UFOs, androgyny, sex, death and drugs in New York City’s fashion and art world, circa the New Wave era. In the 1960s, this would be called a “head movie”. It’s a film about bohemians made by bohemians for bohemians. It reserves the right to be outrageous and abstract. The shoestring production values add to the effect. Come hang out with these painted-up freaks and watch what happens when aliens land because they want heroin, but become fixated on human orgasm. Somehow that leads to an ultra-jaded fashion model acquiring a condition in which anyone who has sex with her instantly dies. We never see the aliens—they’re said to be invisible in a spaceship the size of a pie plate—but enough outrageous characters populate this neon-lit world to make up for that. It’s a slimy good time with a strong whiff of Warhol. These characters are “superstars”, even when being raped, poked and prodded. As of 2014, the fashion sense here remains influential and some electronic musicians still grope at the effect of this film’s evil carnival minimal synth score.

Ann Carlisle plays the female model, as well as a David Bowie-damaged male model. Naturally, director Slava Tsukerman couldn’t resist a scene where she gives herself a blowjob.