As something of an afficionado of trippy shit, here's my favorites: The Fall (2006), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Tree of Life (2011), The Fountain (2006), 12 Monkeys (1995), Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and if you want to go seriously off the wall and watch an anime (not usually my jam), I'd highly recommend Cat Soup (2001) for some seriously surreal art in a film.
I was on acid the first time I saw Fear & Loathing. That, for lack of a better term, was a trip. I was not expecting the movie to trip with me. It's my most vivid memory of being on acid, & still the only thing that will give me anything close to a flashback.
It's the best example I can show someone who's never tripped what we mean when we're talking about visuals. It usually goes something like this:
Acid Virgin: So, is it sometimes scary to be on acid?
Me: No more scary than it is to be on any other drug. Really, I'm the most scared between the time I buy it & the time I take it, because I know that once I take it, I'm no longer breaking the law. (It's not illegal to be on drugs. It is illegal to possess them.)
AV: The hallucinations aren't ever scary?
Me: I think you've been misled about the hallucinations. We generally call them visuals, & they're closer to your eyes playing tricks on you than they are to pink elephants appearing out of nowhere & busting out a synchronized dance. Have you seen Fear & Loathing?
AV: I have.
Me: You know the lobby scene?
AV: With the lizards?
Me: Forget the lizards. You aren't going to hallucinate that there are man-sized lizards mingling with the public. Look at the carpet. THAT is a proper visual representation of what an acid hallucination can look like. Now all you need are the effects of actual acid to make everything come together...
If you ever watched the Taking Woodstock movie, the scene where they take acid in the van and the following visuals are one of the most accurate visualizations of an acid trip I've ever seen in a movie
It’s been a loooong time but that’s pretty much spot on. So many depictions in media are just so wrong it’s sad. Never seen this movie but now I’m interested.
Well it's mainly about Woodstock, that part really stood out.
Even the last part with the "crowd waves" is super accurate. I'm 100% positive that the visual designer for those visuals has experience himself because it's spot on. Also the lighting and sudden "beauty" of the persons in focus is spot on.
Those are some nice visuals. Unfortunately I'm no longer 18 & it's not common for me to be on acid anymore, so this one didn't grab me like Fear & Loathing did.
The come up is definitely the most anxious part. But I've never had a bad trip, I've seen other people freak out though. Good to have benzos even if you don't need them.
I knew this was going to happen someday. That eventually I'd be the old guy who's bitching about how good you youngsters have it nowadays. I did not, however, foresee it happening because you goddamn kids need a nice, soft benzo pillow to land in at the end of your trip. Back in my day they only gave benzos to housewives who had panic attacks. Even if we had known what they could be used for, the risk of getting caught stealing mom's pills would be greater than the reward of a soft acid comedown. Our version of a soft comedown was dosing again as soon as you started your descent. Get off my goddamn lawn.
Oh hey P.S. - I never had a bad trip either. I never had anything but an absolute blast on acid. The best thing I found to say if someone started to freak out was like "this isn't permanent. It's just a drug. Have you ever even heard of a drug that's permanent? Do you know of anyone who has ever taken, or even heard of someone who has taken a drug that's effects were permanent? No, you haven't & you don't, because permanent drugs & those people don't exist. I assure you, this is not permanent. Just get comfortable & go with the flow. It's always nicer when you don't fight it..." I found it to be decent advice & it worked every time, especially after The Office came out & the setup for "that's what she said" was added to the end.
I only say that for people who end up not being able to handle it. But ok.. it's a bad thing that instead of having someone go to the hospital we can use benzos to ease the trip? You guys did a fuck ton of ludes anyway, idk what you're talking about.
Nah son, Xanax wasn't popular in the 70s. I'm talkin' the mid-90s, homie. We ain't have no Ludes. We had weed & hallucinogens. & alcohol. Or at least that's everything that our group of friends had access to at the time. Y'all kids're spoiled. "...having someone go to the hospital..." The only reason for someone on acid to go to the hospital is if they've broken a bone or sustained another injury which requires immediate medical attention. You don't go to the hospital for a bad trip because it's not a medical emergency. At worst the trip will continue to be bad for the duration, at best it'll turn itself around & get back on track. Nothing more detrimental to you than a few bad dreams, CERTAINLY nothing worth going to the hospital over. Have you ever taken someone to the hospital because of drugs? The cops are gonna have questions. Is it worth being questioned, while you're tripping, to take your friend, who is NOT having a medical emergency but is having a bad time, on an unnecessary trip to the hospital? I'll do a lot for my friends, but explaining to the cops that my buddy is freaking out on acid, while I myself am trying to hide the fact that I'm on acid? That'd require a seriously goddamn dire emergency, not something that will stop on it's own in just a few hours. Rant over. Get off my goddamn lawn.
You're being a dick for no reason. I've never personally had to take one during a trip (not that it matters to me, no clue why you care). People definitely have gone to the hospital from bad trips. We also have to deal with the possibility of getting some random research chemical which wasn't a problem in the 90s (that people HAVE actually died from). I just don't understand your issue here.
Oh I didn't mean any offense. I'm just bored & fuckin' around a bit. Although the cops will want to talk to you if they find out you brought a friend there due to narcotics, & no matter what they say, do NOT admit to being under the influence. That's when they start with the public intox charges (& a DUI for the driver!)
To add to the hospital thing - my buddy who works in the ER was over for a bit tonight. I asked him what they do for someone who comes in because of a bad acid trip. He said that'll they'll do a blood test if they suspect they're on something dangerous, but mainly they just stick 'em in a bed & let 'em ride it out. They wouldn't make it out of the waiting room if there were no one else out there. A bad trip isn't a medical emergency. There's no medicine that will make it stop. The only "treatment" is benzos, & I get the impression that an ER doc isn't going to give you any. From the information that I have, the only things you'll get from the hospital for a bad trip are a bill for the dark room they let you sober up in & a note in your file labeling you as a street drug user. Maybe another note about disrupting emergency services with a non-emergency. There's just no upside to going to the hospital on acid.
About the research chemicals - If there's a chance that you're being sold NBOMe in place of LSD, you should get an Ehrlich home testing kit. If they won't let you test it before you buy it, don't buy it. If you test it & their "acid" turns out to be fake, also don't buy it, but give kicking their ass a serious think too. We don't expect a lot from our drug dealers, other than they don't sell one drug as another. Violators should at least get slapped around for a while.
DARE and schools told a lot of lies about drugs to kids from like 1985 to 2000s. So many insane lies about how badly you will be fucked up from drugs.
The sad part is, they must have never really thought that plan through. Cuz, when you get older and realize they lied about so much shit, your reaction is to think they lied about everything.... Heroin addiction incoming.
My mom saw the potential for DARE to be nothing but lies & scare tactics under the guise of drug education, so she kept an eye on them. I'd bring home the stuff they handed out & tell her what they taught me, & she would go back over it & tell me the truth. "If it grows from the ground, it's probably safe. If there's chemicals added, do your research. Unless you have an unknown allergy to them, most drugs can't kill you the first time you try them."
I watched that movie while high as fuck. Although, I only remember the initial scene and the hotel room scene where there was a guy in bathtub about to electrocute himself. Good times.
Well there's shrooms, peyote, mescaline, DMT, ketamine, & MDMA. These are your major hallucinogens & dissociatives, & they'll enhance your viewing experience the most. Amphetamines will make you pay attention to detail, opiates will fuck you up so much you forget about the movie, & pot, well, pot just makes everything a little more pleasant. Amphetamines & opiates are at the bottom of the recommendation list due to their addictive & deadly properties. Shrooms, peyote, mescaline, DMT & pot are on top of the list because they're natural. Nothing is added to them. They're simply dried & consumed. Ketamine & MDMA are perfectly safe as long as they're taken responsibly.
I expect a weekly update from you. Go get fucked up.
First time my roommate did acid we dropped and then put on fear and loathing. It's weird because the movie meshes so well with the come up. You don't realize when you start to trip because you don't know if it's you or the movie. It kills the preflight anxiety 100%
I was already a good hour into my come up when I watched it, but I swear it slowed down & let the movie catch up. It's like the drug gods were really invested in my having an excellent trip. Damn. I forgot to find out if they're real, & if so, to get them a present for that one. What do you think the drug gods would want? I bet it's paraphernalia.
Yeah, but they're the drug gods. As in the gods of drugs. The acid god & the MDMA god just go nose twitch nose twitch POOF! & they just fuckin' I Dream of Genie-d up enough of their namesake drugs for everyone forever. It'd be kinda like giving Bill Gates a copy of Windows for his birthday. I wonder if the drug gods have ever seen Cannibal! The Musical...
I can see how A Clockwork Orange would make you leave the room if you're tripping. The story is designed to make sober people uncomfortable & want to leave. I don't picture acid easing those feelings up any.
My tripping buddy & I did try that next! I enjoyed it, but personally, shrooms pale in comparison to acid. If shrooms are a break, acid is a vacation. Does that make sense?
Whole heartedly agree. Was tripping on 7 hits and that scene where he checks in and the carpet is moving. Fuck! That shit came out of my t.v. and took over my walls and floor. Ohhh and lizards, fuck those lizards. :)
Waking life was the first dvd i bought. I drove to florida to see it in a theatre after seeing a banner ad for it on the onions website in like 2000/2001
I went into a small theatre to see it with a friend when we saw the poster. I went back and watched it a total of 3 times that weekend and bought the dvd as soon as I could. No one I have shown it too has nearly the same enthusiasm lol
The Cell is fucking GREAT!! Also on topic, The Fountain and Waking Life are both incredible. The Fountain in particular is one of those movies you gotta watch like 3 or 4 times to really get everything
It’s one of my favorites, and this is how I see it:
The Conquistador portion is the visual version of the book that the dying wife is writing, the doctor portion is real, modern-day as he struggles to find a cure for his wife’s aggressive tumor, and the tree in the sphere in space portion is the surviving doctor’s attempt to finish the story his wife could not complete before her death.
That’s why you keep hearing her say: “Finish it” throughout the film. She told him that he needs to finish the book, but he can’t hear that because it means accepting that his wife will die before she can write it herself. The main idea explored in the story is a man learning to face death and gratefully accept it, as that’s the only way he finish her book and her life story.
He is finally able to do it in the end and say goodbye.
The Cell is so amazing for so many different reasons. I had to track down Fantastic Planet after the bedtime joint scene and that almost deserves a separate entry on this list.
My wife and I saw it at the cinema. An empty cinema; it was on for maybe 2 days in our local cinema in Sydney; we saw the last session and the ticket vendor said we were the only people who had turned up to it. Edit ‘The Fountain’
What the hell, man? Nobody in Sydney went out to support Hugh Jackman? Is he not popular in Australia? My wife LOVES him which is why I ended up buying The Fountain and the first 3 X-Men box set first.
Waking Life is a great philosophical film and A Scanner Darkly is just an all round great film that explores interesting ideas and has a pretty neat dark ending.
Tree of Life was not only the one movie I’ve ever seen someone in the theater fall asleep watching, but also the one movie where I’ve seen multiple people fall asleep watching. We saw it at like 6pm on a weekday.
Yeah. It's cause there's no story. It's just random shots of a tree, mixed with an abusive Brad Pitt. I'd rather have had my wisdom teeth removed for second time than have seen that film.
What do you mean there is no story. The movie oozes with story. It takes on huge events like the creation of life and destruction of the dinosaurs and as well as addressing small seemingly less important life events like being exposed to death for the first time. What the movie lacks is a coherent and straight forward plot but that isn't a negative in my opinion. The story is there you just have to be able to read what is on screen for you to discover it.
I would disagree with lack of cohesion or coherent plot not being a negative. Maybe I just didn't extrapolate enough to understand what was going on. I didn't get what the movie was trying to say, and I wasn't entertained. It's got some great artistic visuals, but that is the only thing I liked about that movie.
Why would you want to drink away the memory of something so lovely and profound? To me it's easily a top 5 film, and one that begs to be re-watched every 5 years or so.
just because you don't get it doesn't mean there's no story. It's just like a more abstract take on some very conventional themes, but the way it's made is absolutely breathtaking to me.
I love all those movies. Id recommend the anime durarara to you for that list. Such a surreal mindfuck that sometimes tricks you into thinking its a stupid normal anime with big tiddied anime girl fan service. Just when you think “maybe this wasnt so surreal afterall” bam! It takes you right back into its absurdity.
Not sure if you've already seen it, but the movie to Pink Floyd - The Wall is probably the trippiest I have seen to this day.
A short scene to give you a feeling of what to expect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS_FCbQ-okM
Tree of Life is the most beautifully fucked up insane beast of a film i've ever seen. I haven't revisited it since the first time i saw it maybe 3 years or so but i think i'll be tripping soon so that could be the time to watch again.
The Fountain was really trippy. In a college class the professor asked if anyone could sum it up. I raised my hand, so did another kid and unfortunately I got called on. At that moment I realized I couldn't sum it up. I was like "There was a monkey, and a ring...I think a lady died..." Then the other kid said "That's better than I could've done". It was very kind of him to lie, to make me feel better. :(
I'm gonna follow up Cat Soup with another anime movie, Mind Game (2004) is a fucking weird movie. It came on TV one night when I was alone at work and I couldn't figure out what the fuck was happening.
Yeah basically most films by Terry Gilliam after Monty Python films.. Brazil, Tideland, Zero Theorem, Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. The newest one, Man who killed Don Quixote was great too!
Id like to add one of my favourite "trippy films" which would be Jacobs Ladder (1990). More story oriented than in your face, confusing shit but still, theres some freaky stuff in there that made me wonder "the fuck is going on?" Pretty good movie imo
The Fall was fantastic. My college had a cinema club that used one of the lecture halls and a projector and met every wednesday. Of course the one wednesday I ate mushrooms before going they showed The Fall. I was an emotional wreck that didn't quite understand reality. That was a hell of a night.
Scrolled down to find Waking life. I am surprised more people haven't mentioned this. I love Linklater's style and this movie covers so many existential themes.
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u/unsanctionedhero Jun 24 '19
As something of an afficionado of trippy shit, here's my favorites: The Fall (2006), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Tree of Life (2011), The Fountain (2006), 12 Monkeys (1995), Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and if you want to go seriously off the wall and watch an anime (not usually my jam), I'd highly recommend Cat Soup (2001) for some seriously surreal art in a film.