The best films to watch on drugs

So it’s a Friday night and you haven’t got the motivation to go out. You are in the house, alone or with friends, and you have a big bag of weed or a few drops of acid. So you get kinda mellow and decide to stick on a movie or two.

But which ones are the best for watching in a mind-altered state? Well you stoner types, follow me.

1.   Yellow Submarine.  Lets start as we mean to go on with one of the all time greats.  A psychedelic mind-fuck of the highest order, featuring a big blue villain with kaleidescope  eyes and an army of meanies taking on the best band in the world in their only animated adventure. The song will have you singing along and before you know it you will be standing on your couch, dancing like Bez.  It has a pretty sharp script full of wit and one-liners. Fact: The Beatles never wanted to do the film, but once they saw the finished article they agreed to do a live footage section at the end.

2.   Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I don’t know who picked this but it struck me as an odd choice. Of course it is all blue screen animation with an aging Bob Hoskins trying to keep up. But the slapstick sequences must be amusing to somebody after their second spliff. And you are bound to have that unusual debate about whether it is right to fancy a cartoon woman.  So, anyway,  Roger Rabbit hires this detective to find out who set him up for murder in this little cross-over world of animation. Very soon you will be looking along the wall for the portal to take you to the cartoon world. Numb nuts, sit down and have a cookie.

3.   Bakara.   Now this is a weird film in any frame of mind. Just don’t watch it on LSD, the police will be talking you down from your coffee table. Firstly it has no plot, but boy, it won’t stop you trying to see one, and then explain it to your mates.   It shows scenes of rainforests, nature, indigenous tribes of Indians and cuddly monkeys. Then it slowly adds scenes of deforestation, power stations, waste dumping, smoke, pollution… EEEEKKK!!! We’re all going to die, we have ruined the world!!  Calm down, for Dicken’s sake, man.  It’s only a movie…  Only it isn’t, it is going on, and we can’t stop it.  Cue two hours of sweaty paranoia and a long tearful conversation with a potted plant.

4.   Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.   Now you are talking.  A film about drugs, starring people on drugs, based on a book written by Hunter S Thompson, a man on lots of drugs.  It cannot fail to hit the spot, right from the off it sets the tone: ‘We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.  I remember saying something like: “I feel a bit lightheaded.  Maybe you should drive”   Suddenly, there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, and a voice was screaming:

“Holy Jesus. What are these goddamn animals?”

“ Did you say something?

Hm? Never mind. It’s your turn to drive. No point in mentioning these bats, I thought. Poor bastard will see them soon enough.

And one quote that is guaranteed to screw with your mind:

A drug person can learn to cope with things like seeing their dead grandmother crawling up their leg with a knife in her teeth. But no one should be asked to handle this trip.

And by the time you have sat through that lot you are readly for rehab,.  Lad, you are starting to look like Pete Doherty.  Did you leave me any cookies?  Thought not.

Disclaimer:  Nick Gilmartin does not approve of or promote recreational drug use in any way.  I’m just saying it is a lifestyle choice.