I hated Firecracker, fyi.
Really hated it.
Firecracker is his best film, easily. It's an acquired taste. When I was a GTA at K-State, Steve was a student of mine. Nice guy, but his artistic vision takes awhile to get used to.
Pep Squad is interesting, but only if you have watched kabuki and understand it. I told Steve that was how I was able to watch the film, and he said I was pretty much dead on, at least in theory, although the kabuki angle had not crossed his mind.
A few months ago, I drove to Lawrence to see a screening of Watch Out. Probably the most indigestible of his films. I was a bit annoyed by this one, but the rest of the audience seemed to love it, laughing at scenes that made me cringe (in the opening scene, an abusive father beats his daughter with a club on his front porch, all for laughs; later, the hero has anal sex with an inflatible male doll with his own picture taped to the face).
I like Steve a lot, and he's a talented guy. But I will be the first to admit that I don't quite "get" his vision.
