Behold, some alternative drug-themed horror movie viewing to get you in the spooky spirit this Halloweed season. Warning, this list is spooktacular!
Horror movies are like drugs, they are stimulating and have a sensory-impact. There is a catharsis associated with horror viewing, releasing emotions by exploring different themes like trauma and grief, and depression.
Watching movies while high gives you a deeper view of the material. Whether that is making what your viewing more hilarious or giving you a deeper insight.
The War on Drugs
For thousands of years, drugs have been used for medical and recreational purposes. Societies have deemed some drugs as evil, less for health reasons, and more for the culture associated with certain drugs. In North America during the 1960s, drugs became a symbol of youth rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent.
Horror and Weed
Horror and weed are countercultural. They both attract a following of the alternative misfits and outcasts of society.
As early as the 1930’s, propaganda campaigns against marijuana have attempted to use scare tactics to keep the youth unenlightened.
If you feel like some alternative viewing this Halloweed then grab your cannabis of choice and consider these drug-horror gems to watch this spooky season.
Reefer Madness (1936)
Reefer Madness is an anti-marijuana film made by an American church group in 1936. The film shows a series of melodramatic events that happen when high school students use marijuana. There is a hit and run accident, manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, hallucinations, and descent into madness from marijuana. The film suggests that evil drug dealers lurk in schools, ready to prey on the nation’s children. The film was ‘rediscovered’ in the 1970s and gained cult status as unintentional satire. “Reefer Madness” is ridiculous and hilarious.
Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986) a horror comedy
Class of Nuke ‘Em High is a 1986 American science-fiction horror-comedy. The film centers around high school students in the town of Tromoville as toxic waste leaking into the water supply turns them into green-goo oozing, flesh-hungry freaks. The gore is over the top, the dialogue is cheesy and the no-good punk kids have the craziest character design, even for the ’80s.
John Dies at the End (2012)
John Dies at the End is a 2012 American dark fantasy science fiction comedy horror film by Don Coscarelli, based on a novel of the same name by David Wong. The film follows the zany antics of two college drop-outs as they try to save humanity from a new street drug that gives users out of body experiences and grisly, bizarre deaths.
Naked Lunch (1991)
Naked Lunch is a 1991 hallucinatory science fiction drama film by David Cronenberg, based on William S. Burrough’s 1959 book of the same name. The film focuses on an exterminator (Paul Weller) who develops an addiction to consuming the pesticide he uses to kill bugs before accidentally killing his wife and becoming involved in a secret government plot that is being orchestrated by giant bugs. The film has alternative humor and is surreal and grotesque.
Mandy (2018) a must-watch horror movie
Mandy is a 2018 fantasy horror by Panos Comatos. Mandy stars Nicolas Cage as he goes on a revenge rampage after a drug-fueled evil hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen shatter his whole existence. The coloring in the film is incredible and surreal. There is a motorbike duel and amazing face melting animation!
Do you like to get high and watch drug-themed horror movies? Comment below, my kindred weirdos.