This World, Then the Fireworks

This World, Then the Fireworks is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Michael Oblowitz and starring Billy Zane, Gina Gershon, and Sheryl Lee. The screenplay is based on a short story of the same name by Jim Thompson.

Plot
As children, Marty and Carol Lakewood, fraternal twins, witness a brutal murder involving their father. They grow up to become depraved and incestuous adults, living in coastal California in the mid-1950s.

Marty is a skillful journalist, but grows bored with every new job and is easily distracted. When he seduces a young police officer, Lois Archer, and discovers she owns a beach house, Marty sets out to double-cross her and make the property his own.

Carol is a heartless prostitute, willing to go to any lengths to con men out of their money, or make them pay in other ways. Powerless to stop them is Mrs. Lakewood, a weak-willed woman who suspects the terrible truth in her children's relationship, but knows no way to stop it.

Cast

 * Billy Zane as Marty
 * Christopher Jones as Young Marty
 * Christian Durango as Little Marty
 * Gina Gershon as Carol
 * Megan Leigh Brown as Young Carol
 * Sloan Cobb as Little Carol
 * Sheryl Lee as Lois
 * Rue McClanahan as Mrs. Lakewood
 * Roberta Hanley as Young Mrs. Lakewood
 * Seymour Cassel as Detective Harris
 * Will Patton as Lieutenant Morgan
 * Richard Edson as Joe
 * Tom Keeley as Lyle
 * William Hootkins as Jake Krutz
 * Philip Loch as Marty Lakewood's Father
 * Elis Imboden as neighbor's Wife
 * Mark Jeffrey Miller as Lloyd
 * Marianna Alacchi as Glenda
 * Robert Pentz as Lou
 * Orson Oblowitz as Eugene
 * Thad Mace as Tim
 * Jonathan Taylor Luthren as Ben
 * Stephanie Fisher as Claire
 * Lou Criscuolo as McCloud
 * Jeffrey Pillars as Galloway
 * John Bennes as Griffith
 * Barry Bell as Barnett Gibons
 * David Lenthall as Doctor
 * Terry Nienhuis as Minister
 * Valentin de Vargas as Mexican Doctor
 * Dean Mumford as Marine
 * Willy Cobbs as Blues Musician
 * Brian Keith Gamble as Spindly Man
 * Mert Hatfield as Bus Driver
 * Matt O'Toole as Thug 1
 * Norman Max Maxwell as Thug 2

Release
This World, Then the Fireworks was released on July 11, 1997 in only five U.S. theaters, grossing US$51,618 in total. It was released on videocassette on June 30, 1998, and on Blu-ray (through Kino Lorber) on November 14, 2017.

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 38% approval rating based on 8 reviews, with an average ranking of 3.9/10.

Emanuel Levy of Variety wrote "In the hands of filmmaker Michael Oblowitz, novelist Jim Thompson's story 'This World, Then the Fireworks' gets an elegantly stylish, highly erotic, intentionally over-the-top rendition". Total Film called the film "sexy, stylized, deliberately overheated slice of noir".