VENICE: Former Disney Channel favourites Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens star alongside James Franco in the bizarre new “Spring Breakers” which premiered at the Venice film festival on Wednesday.

A concoction of deliberately trashy visuals and dream-like sequences, the film directed by Harmony Korine is bound to raise more than a few eyebrows for the pornographically-shot nudity and lesbian frolicking of its young actresses.

The plot revolves around four hedonistic girls who go to Florida for their spring break university holiday - a binge of drink, drugs and flesh.

Their fortunes take a turn for the worse when they are arrested and are bailed out by Franco's creepy gold-toothed gangster character Alien.

At this point Gomez as Faith - a name that carries weight in what at times appears a parable of an American Dream gone wrong - leaves and the three remaining members of the gang embark on a law-breaking spree with Alien.

The film builds up to a gory and garish conclusion - an inevitability that viewers are reminded of by the sound of a gun being cocked that is repeated throughout the flick as well as by bloody flash-forward scenes.

The film is one of 18 competing for the Golden Lion prize to be announced on Saturday. It is due to go on general release next year.