Richard Kern

Directing

Richard Kern

Born

1954-12-20 (71)

Place of birth

Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

66 titles

Richard Kern is a New York underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to underground prominence as part of the underground cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films featuring underground personalities of the time such as Lydia Lunch, David Wojnarowicz, Sonic Youth, Kembra Pfahler, and Henry Rollins. Like many of the musicians around him, Kern had a deep interest in the aesthetics of extreme sex, violence, and perversion. He was one of the leading lights of the Cinema of Transgression movement.

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 6 titles

Blank City poster
6.9

In the years before Ronald Reagan took office, Manhattan was in ruins. But true art has never come from comfort, and it was precisely those dire circumstances that inspired artists like Jim Jarmusch, Lizzy Borden, and Amos Poe to produce some of their best works. Taking their cues from punk rock and new wave music, these young maverick filmmakers confronted viewers with a stark reality that stood in powerful contrast to the escapist product being churned out by Hollywood.

Blank City

2011

Diary of a Deadbeat: The Story of Jim VanBebber poster
7.2

A documentary of uncompromising, outlaw, cult underground filmmaker Jim Van Bebber, covering his life from 2010-2015 while he tries to make a comeback and make a new exploitation film after years of struggling to work.

Diary of a Deadbeat: The Story of Jim VanBebber

2015

Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over poster
7.0

The first career-spanning documentary retrospective of Lydia Lunch's confrontational, acerbic and always electric artistry. As New York City's preeminent No Wave icon from the late 70's, Lunch has forged a lifetime of music and spoken word performance devoted to the utter right of any woman to indulge, seek pleasure, and to say "fuck you!" as loud as any man. In this time of endless attacks on women this is a rallying cry to acknowledge the only thing that is going to bring us together - ART...as the universal salve to all of our traumas.

Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over

2019

The Advocate for Fagdom poster
6.0

The Advocate for Fagdom unites the puzzle pieces one by one. Testimonies are combined with rare archive images. Art galeries present movie extracts that are succeeded by images shot on location. And the other way round. Writers, film makers, art galeries owners, actors and actresses, photographers, producers, friends and loved ones all join in a game of interpretation, analysis or simple anecdotes. John Waters, Bruce Benderson, Harmony Korine, Gus Van Sant, Richard Kern, Rick Castro and others deliver their impressions, theories and confessions. Everything blends into the fascinating portrait of a singular person blessed with singular talents. A complex personality at war not with a system but all systems. The portrait of a man constantly moving between his punk attitude and extreme sensibility.

The Advocate for Fagdom

2011

Shot by Kern poster
NR

Seasoned photographer Richard Kern, best known for his images of scantily-clad, amateur models, travels around the globe to interview and shoot hundreds of women in their homes and apartments, capturing them even during their most intimate moments, including everything from brushing their teeth topless to lying naked in bed.

Shot by Kern

2013

The Hardcore Collection poster
7.7

This DVD features 13 provocative short films by Richard Kern. Color & B&W film shorts with Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins and more. Includes Death Valley 69 , The Right Side Of My Brain, You Killed Me First, The Bitches, The Sewing Circle, X is Y, Fingered, Horoscope, Submit to Me Now, My Nightmare, Manhattan Loves Suicides, Submit to Me, and Evil Cameraman. Music from Sonic Youth, Cop Shoot Cop, J.G. Thirwell, Butthole Surfers.

The Hardcore Collection

2012

2000s · 7 titles

1990s · 8 titles

IDn4 poster
NR

I am so endlessly alone. Whats my illusions, whats my odds, and illusions have to be killed, I don't have more time to destroy. Is my loneliness real and is my longing about what? Then who are this people?

IDn4

1991

Super 8½ poster
6.0

A down-on-his-luck adult film star sees a chance to make a comeback via a lesbian documentary film-maker, but she is exploiting him to get financial backing for her pet project.

Super 8½

1994

American Nightmare poster
2.3

A video full of swastikas, human skulls on American flag backdrops, girls frenching on department store mannequins and burning themselves with candles, military helmets and clomping boots, dudes masturbating under crucifixes, and a bunch of crotches.

American Nightmare

1991

My Nightmare poster
6.6

Director Richard Kern and model Susan McNamara engage in a chaotic fast-cut blend of fantasy and reality. A satire of some of Kern's own early work.

My Nightmare

1993

Bullet on a Wire poster
7.0

An unattractive social outcast (Jeff Strong) visits a stranger (Lara Phillips) in prison after setting off the events that landed her there.

Bullet on a Wire

1998

No artwork available
8.0

A scattershot documentary about punk rock film makers in New York, with contributions from Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, Richard Kern, Beth B, Nick Zedd and many others. A love letter to the New York Underground.

No Age New York

1993

Red Spirit Lake poster
5.7

After a vengeful sorceress is tortured and killed by a corrupt industrialist looking to harness the spectral powers of Red Spirit Lake, her niece arrives in snow covered Angel Falls to settle her aunt's estate.

Red Spirit Lake

1993

Richard Kern - Portrait: Live From New York poster
NR

Haxan Films-produced documentary on Richard Kern's work around 1997. Footage from his photo sessions, interviews with Kern and his models, etc. Features associates such as Lydia Lunch, Beth B and more.

Richard Kern - Portrait: Live From New York

1997

1980s · 4 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Horoscope poster
4.8

Holly Adams plays an attractive but rather repressed young woman. She checks her horoscope, shambles homeward from her dull office job and promptly falls asleep in front of the TV. Two naked young men appear in her living room and begin dancing around for her pleasure.

Horoscope

1991

Horoscope poster
4.8

Holly Adams plays an attractive but rather repressed young woman. She checks her horoscope, shambles homeward from her dull office job and promptly falls asleep in front of the TV. Two naked young men appear in her living room and begin dancing around for her pleasure.

Horoscope

1991

Marilyn Manson: Lest We Forget poster
8.8

A collection of Marilyn Manson's music videos.

Marilyn Manson: Lest We Forget

2004

Submit to Me Now poster
5.0

Oddballs dancing, leering at camera, guy shaving a nontraditional part of his body and man ripping his own throat out, woman stabbing herself to death.

Submit to Me Now

1987

Submit to Me Now poster
5.0

Oddballs dancing, leering at camera, guy shaving a nontraditional part of his body and man ripping his own throat out, woman stabbing herself to death.

Submit to Me Now

1987

Submit to Me Now poster
5.0

Oddballs dancing, leering at camera, guy shaving a nontraditional part of his body and man ripping his own throat out, woman stabbing herself to death.

Submit to Me Now

1987

Submit to Me poster
5.2

Cinema of Transgression pioneers and participants (Lydia Lunch, Lung Leg, Nick Zedd, etc.) perform a series of acts as they submit to director Richard Kern's camera. Originally created for DTNY acid parties; Submit to Me was eventually edited down to 10 minutes and given an accompanying score.

Submit to Me

1985

Submit to Me poster
5.2

Cinema of Transgression pioneers and participants (Lydia Lunch, Lung Leg, Nick Zedd, etc.) perform a series of acts as they submit to director Richard Kern's camera. Originally created for DTNY acid parties; Submit to Me was eventually edited down to 10 minutes and given an accompanying score.

Submit to Me

1985

Submit to Me poster
5.2

Cinema of Transgression pioneers and participants (Lydia Lunch, Lung Leg, Nick Zedd, etc.) perform a series of acts as they submit to director Richard Kern's camera. Originally created for DTNY acid parties; Submit to Me was eventually edited down to 10 minutes and given an accompanying score.

Submit to Me

1985

Russian Kiss poster
NR

Norwegian singer Annie and Norwegian visual artist Bjarne Melgaard’s “Russian Kiss” is their protest song and short film, directed by Richard Kern, aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and its anti-gay laws.

Russian Kiss

2014

Catholic poster
6.0

Catholic is a b/w Super-8 short written, produced and directed by Richard Kern. A Catholic student has a crisis of faith.

Catholic

1991

Catholic poster
6.0

Catholic is a b/w Super-8 short written, produced and directed by Richard Kern. A Catholic student has a crisis of faith.

Catholic

1991

Woman at the Wheel poster
6.7

A woman takes each of her boyfriends - one poor and one rich- for a drive in her new car. Each argues with her and insists on taking the wheel. She beats one of them up, before crashing into a group of youths and, finally, a wall.

Woman at the Wheel

1985

Woman at the Wheel poster
6.7

A woman takes each of her boyfriends - one poor and one rich- for a drive in her new car. Each argues with her and insists on taking the wheel. She beats one of them up, before crashing into a group of youths and, finally, a wall.

Woman at the Wheel

1985

Zombie Hunger poster
9.0

Zombie Hunger is an experimental short film depicting a group of people shooting up and then vomiting.

Zombie Hunger

1984

Zombie Hunger poster
9.0

Zombie Hunger is an experimental short film depicting a group of people shooting up and then vomiting.

Zombie Hunger

1984

Zombie Hunger poster
9.0

Zombie Hunger is an experimental short film depicting a group of people shooting up and then vomiting.

Zombie Hunger

1984

No artwork available
NR

Part showcase for the fashion label Atelier E. B., part infomercial for a particular brand of menstrual cup, "The Girl who follows Marple" envelopes it's commercial underpinnings in the familiarity of a made-for-TV thriller and the complicit voyeurism that a collaboration with Kern entails.

The Girl Who Followed Marple

2014

House Sitter poster
NR

House Sitter is one of many new short films on the 2013 DVD Extra Shot by Kern.

House Sitter

2013

Clean poster
NR

Clean is an experimental short film by NY filmmaker Richard Kern.

Clean

2011

Goo poster
5.7

In 1991, a long-form music video version of Goo was released on VHS and LaserDisc. A music video for each song from the album was included; the track listing was identical to that of the original album.

Goo

1991

Goo poster
5.7

In 1991, a long-form music video version of Goo was released on VHS and LaserDisc. A music video for each song from the album was included; the track listing was identical to that of the original album.

Goo

1991

Goodbye 42nd Street poster
7.0

Shots of walking down 42nd Street showing storefronts including everything from Texas Fried Chicken to 25¢ porn arcades.

Goodbye 42nd Street

1983

My Nightmare poster
6.6

Director Richard Kern and model Susan McNamara engage in a chaotic fast-cut blend of fantasy and reality. A satire of some of Kern's own early work.

My Nightmare

1993

My Nightmare poster
6.6

Director Richard Kern and model Susan McNamara engage in a chaotic fast-cut blend of fantasy and reality. A satire of some of Kern's own early work.

My Nightmare

1993

Tumble poster
7.3

Tumble demonstrates Richard Kern’s departure from narrative filmmaking in the early nineties. He was clearly more interested now in photography, and specially in the merging of documentary and model photography.

Tumble

1991

Tumble poster
7.3

Tumble demonstrates Richard Kern’s departure from narrative filmmaking in the early nineties. He was clearly more interested now in photography, and specially in the merging of documentary and model photography.

Tumble

1991

Destruction poster
NR

The aftermath of an experience with Heroin causes a man to destroy anything within his path.

Destruction

1984

Destruction poster
NR

The aftermath of an experience with Heroin causes a man to destroy anything within his path.

Destruction

1984

Bathtub poster
NR

Richard Kern 2019.

Bathtub

2019

You Killed Me First poster
4.7

Elizabeth bristles at the religious directives of her parents, asserting her right to personhood outside demure hairstyles and turkey dinners, constructing voodoo dolls and entertaining other manners of dark drawing in her dank emo-den. When confronted with the humanity and hypocrisy of her tormentors, the young antihero vanquishes their belief systems (and bodies) asserting, "You killed me first!"

You Killed Me First

1985

You Killed Me First poster
4.7

Elizabeth bristles at the religious directives of her parents, asserting her right to personhood outside demure hairstyles and turkey dinners, constructing voodoo dolls and entertaining other manners of dark drawing in her dank emo-den. When confronted with the humanity and hypocrisy of her tormentors, the young antihero vanquishes their belief systems (and bodies) asserting, "You killed me first!"

You Killed Me First

1985

You Killed Me First poster
4.7

Elizabeth bristles at the religious directives of her parents, asserting her right to personhood outside demure hairstyles and turkey dinners, constructing voodoo dolls and entertaining other manners of dark drawing in her dank emo-den. When confronted with the humanity and hypocrisy of her tormentors, the young antihero vanquishes their belief systems (and bodies) asserting, "You killed me first!"

You Killed Me First

1985

Divine Hammer poster
6.0

The alternate Richard Kern version.

Divine Hammer

1993

Pierce poster
6.4

Pierce is a documentary showing Richard Kern's girlfriend having her nipples pierced.

Pierce

1990

Marilyn Manson: God Is In the TV poster
8.9

God Is in the T.V. is the second video album by Marilyn Manson. It features all 13 music videos Marilyn Manson spawned between July 1994 and November 1999, as well as uncensored bonus footage from the production of "The Dope Show" music video and nearly an hour of live and backstage footage from the Rock Is Dead tour.

Marilyn Manson: God Is In the TV

1999

Manhattan Love Suicides poster
5.7

A series of short films by Richard Kern: Stray Dogs, Woman At The Wheel, Thrust In Me, & I Hate You Now.

Manhattan Love Suicides

1985

Manhattan Love Suicides poster
5.7

A series of short films by Richard Kern: Stray Dogs, Woman At The Wheel, Thrust In Me, & I Hate You Now.

Manhattan Love Suicides

1985

Nazi poster
6.6

Nazi is a short film by underground film-maker and photographer Richard Kern, featuring Annabelle Lee. This movie came from his Death Trip collection.

Nazi

1991

Nazi poster
6.6

Nazi is a short film by underground film-maker and photographer Richard Kern, featuring Annabelle Lee. This movie came from his Death Trip collection.

Nazi

1991