CULT FILM ABOUT HOT DOGS, PUNK ROCK AND COFFEE >>>

There's a certain "what the fuck" grandeur to Straight to Hell Returns. Absolutely nothing beyond the first couple minutes (in which some greasy gangsters hide out in the desert after robbing a bank) makes one lick of sense, but that's all right. The vague notion of a story is present, as is the misty sense that the plot is moving forward, but every scene succeeds in upending every expectation and leaving the viewer with the sensation of having just woken up from one seriously whacked dream.

Some elements involved in Straight to Hell Returns that you might find interesting: Joe Strummer; pre-Cobain-acquainted Courtney Love; coffee; absurd bloodshed; Dennis Hopper; Jim Jarmusch; a beautiful woman washing a motorcycle; coffee; Elvis Costello; combing hair with gasoline; The Pogues as cowboys; Grace Jones; a drunken group-singing of "Danny Boy"; and more coffee.

To describe what happens in Straight to Hell Returns (an extended director's cut of Straight to Hell) would be an exercise in futility. Like many cult films, it mostly just amounts to watching a bunch of cool people having a great time in the desert. Unlike many cult films, Straight to Hell Returns also functions well as a time capsule of that period in the ‘80s when American independent film directors were going fucking nuts. People like Straight to Hell's Alex Cox and Jim Jarmusch were bringing a punk aesthetic to the screen in a way that hasn't quite happened since.

When Straight to Hell Returns screens at the Grand Cinema tonight, director Alex Cox will be in attendance. Stand near him and soak in the punk rock aura.

[The Grand Cinema, Straight to Hell Returns with director Alex Cox, 7 p.m., $5 -- $ 8.50, 606 S. Fawcett, Tacoma, 253.593.4474]