This dark, depressing hodgepodge has the lead mistakenly thinking he can find satisfaction by filling his own existence with new and untried experiences. He even drinks an animal’s blood! (There’s nothing like drinking the blood of a snake to show rebellion against the establishment.) The group he eventually settles with attempts to escape the hypocrisies of society, but without a spiritual leading, they fall into the same traps as those who try to fill their life with possessions or conquests. Like Hemingway’s Lost Generation, this group thinks they will find fulfillment through narcissism. The film echoes many of the sinister, dispiriting elements found in “Lord of the Flies,” “The Deer Hunter,” and “Apocalypse Now.” But, where those films could arguably be said to contain insight, “The Beach” is simply a bad travelogue, peopled by one-dimensional, uninteresting characters.