Flying Lotus’s new film provokes mass walkouts at Sundance

It looks like the sick, surreal trailer for flying Lotus' film Kuso was only a horrifying taster of what was to come. According to reports, members of the audience were so grossed out that they walked out en masse at its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this week.

The film centres around the “lives of the mutated women, men, and children of LA, following the earthquake to end all earthquakes”. Developed from Royal – the short film that Flying Lotus debuted at the Sundance NEXT festival in LA – it apparently features cockroaches, bodily fluids, and a man having sex with a talking boil. It stars Parliament-Funkadelic’s George Clinton, absurdist comic Tim Heidecker of Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and features music from Aphex Twin, FlyLo’s Captain Murphy alter-ego and his frequent collaborator Thundercat.

Aside from all the grotesque and stomach-churning horror, some have applauded Kuso’s racially diverse cast, with roles played by comedian Hannibal Buress and newcomer Oumi Zumi. During the premiere’s Q&A, FlyLo talked about the “need to feature different faces and different voices” in genre cinema.