Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Shrooming and Films that Don't Mix Well!


I've been watching a lot of films lately in my free time. Films that I'm either rediscovering or discovering for the first time. I especially like foreign films that are as far away from the American "Hollywood" film mold as possible. But there is something that I discovered that I wanted to share. There are certain films that have been released in the past that should NEVER, and I repeat NEVER be viewed while taking any "mind altering drugs" shall we say? So I've compiled this list that I like to called:
FILMS THAT SHOULD NEVER BE VIEWED WHILE DOING MUSHROOMS!
(These films are in no particular order as to strangeness)
  1. Barbet Schroeder's "Maitresse" (1976) Okay I admit I thought GĂ©rard Depardieu was in his bubble-butt goodness in this one, however the horse visceration scene ALONE, is enough to send ANYBODY over the edge. PETA should have been consulted!
  2. Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of The Dolls" (1970) Yes, this was the one that was co-written by critic Roger Ebert. What were they smoking (or dropping) when they made this?
  3. Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow Up" (1966) I will never look at a mime the same way again!
  4. Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Teorema" (1968) Strange, indeed!
  5. Donald Cammel & Nicolas Roeg's "Performance"(1970) Has to be seen to be believed. Mick Jagger first film!
  6. Dario Argento's "Suspiria" (1977) As a matter of fact, although I enjoy his films, I would avoid ALL of his films while high!
  7. Jean-Luc Godard's "Week End" (1967) I love French New Wave, but this one was truly a head trip!
  8. Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1940) A definite head trip if ever there was one!
  9. Michael Heneke's "Funny Games" (1997) All I can say after viewing this one, was: WTF? The director made an American remake recently that I'm scared to see after watching the original
  10. John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" (1972) See note for #5. Same holds true here. However don't get me wrong I LOVE his films (must say a lot about me, huh?)and I've seen this one over 30 times already!
  11. Tim Burton's "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" (2005) See note for #9.
  12. Hideo Nakata's "Ringu" (1998) This one kept me up for DAYS (and I wasn't on anything. I swear!)
Honorable Mention:
The Omega Man (1971) & the remake "I Am Legend" (2007). I was scared as a child watching this sober, you can imagine what the remake did to me with all the advances in computer effects!
Although it's not technically a theatrical release, but a episode from a popular guilty pleasure television series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 4, Episode 10) "Hush"-- I had nightmares after watching this particular episode and couldn't sleep for days after watching it. What were the creators on when they wrote this? This episode was NO JOKE! It worked me better than a laxative. In other words, it STSOOM ;-)

Now although I wouldn't advocate taking any hallucinate drugs (As Mr. Mackey from "South Park says,"um, because drugs are bad, m'kay?") while doing ANYTHING, sometimes prescription medication can mess with your brain just like any illegal or control substance. That being said, if you like films then these films SHOULD be viewed (sober or otherwise). So hope you enjoy these films but maybe put down the blunt before you put them in you DVD player.