After the credits roll and the lights come up, the older man sitting next to me says “So what’s for dinner?” and had we not just seen “The Neon Demon,” I may have said something like spaghetti and meatballs, but all I can muster up now is a slight chuckle while trying not be sick.

Days later, I find that I’m still trying to ‘digest’ the visual rollercoaster that is “The Neon Demon.” Elle Fanning plays Jesse, a small town girl with big dreams of making it as a top model in Los Angeles. Her doe-eyed innocence and all around aura seem that of a porcelain doll, and at sixteen, she is quickly becoming the industry’s next “It Girl.”

Her sudden rise to fame doesn’t come without dangerous consequences. Jesse befriends the well-intentioned makeup artist Ruby (Jena Malone) but is met with thinly veiled jealousy by the other genetically gifted blonde beauties, Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee). Playing into the cattiness of the fashion world and its unattainable ideal of beauty, the girls’ relationship with Jesse is a mix between “Heathers” meets “Mean Girls,” but far darker. We’re talking necrophilia, physical torture, and other bizarre abstractions.

At one point, Jesse is pressured by the famed yet creepy photographer Jack (Desmond Harrington) to strip naked while he rubs gold paint over her body in the name of “art.” Sure it is evocative, but also quite disturbing. Not only is she underage, but instructed by her agent Jan– played by Christina Hendricks– to tell everyone she is 19 “because 18 is too on the nose.” She is fragile, literally a blank canvas slowly being stained by the industry and everything it stands for before our very eyes. It is at this point that we see Jesse’s transformation. Humility turns into confidence, that turns into entitlement, and the light that once illuminated her, fades.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest cinematic experience (just saying ‘film’ seems to downplay his work) is more twisted and bizarre than others in his repertoire. He does again, however, manage to capture in his characters that unique feeling of emptiness within chaos, which made “Drive” and “Only God Forgives” memorable, for better or for worse.

The performances from everyone involved, including Keanu Reeves as a sketchy motel owner and Alessandro Nivola as a major fashion designer, play well against Refn’s aesthetically ambitious vision. As the title suggests, neon hues are present in almost every scene, often a moving gradient like the screensaver of a 95 Macintosh computer. I also feel obligated to mention that there are also multiple scenes with bright, unrelenting flashing lights that may cause seizures (now you’ve been warned!). And for as much as fashion and beauty are eroticized by the actions of the characters, Natasha Braier’s artfully realistic cinematography adds sophistication and unpredictability to the film.

While visually inspiring, there is not much of a narrative to follow, so those looking for a story in the traditional sense may find this film as vapid as the fashion industry it sartorially mocks. Any attempt to fully critique or even make sense of what is going on in the narrative can cause even more confusion. The result is that the audience just needs to go along for the ride in order to enjoy it. Perhaps this a case of style over substance? But you’ve got to hand it to Refn, he is certainly far more than a typical “director,” he is a creator of cinematic worlds. Although I’m not speaking from experience, one could safely assume that “The Neon Demon” may best be enjoyed on an empty stomach and with some type of hallucinogenic?

‘The Neon Demon’ is rated R for disturbing violent content, bloody images, graphic nudity, a scene of aberrant sexuality, and language. In theaters on Friday, 6/24.