Alice in Acidland (1969)

Alice in Acidland is the sad tale of Alice Trenton, a college student and a perfectly normal example of fine young American womanhood until she is introduced to the world of drugs. Alice and her friend Kathy are invited to a pool party by one of their teachers, Frieda. Alice samples some booze and some pot which of course leads to the inevitable result. Frieda introduces her to some lesbo lovin’ and by that evening Alice’s transformation into a drug-crazed hippie is complete.

This is a typical Moral Panic movie, very much in the style of the classic exploitation era of the 1930s to the 1950s, complete with voiceover narration (by a guy who tells us he’s psychiatrist of the state no less although it’s actually the movie’s director) warning the audience that LSD will destroy the sense of moral responsibility of our young people. And like those classical exploitation movies it takes great delight in showing us all the titillating details of the resulting moral degradation.

Pretty soon Alice is recruiting other innocent coeds into the world of lesbianism and acid. And introducing them to Bob Fletcher, otherwise known as Animal, so they can be initiated into the joys of straight sex as well.

This leads to very lengthy orgy scenes, shot in a way that had me wondering if this movie was really made in 1969. The sex scenes are done in a style that suggests 1965 rather than 1969 - the guys never take their shorts off. And while there’s a bit of frontal nudity it all seems a bit tame for 1969.

Although we’re told that Alice has now become a hippie there are no actual hippies in the movie. The guys look like they’d be more at home in 1959 than 1969. They look more like accountants than hippies.

For most of its running time this is a standard sexploitation flick masquerading (in the style of much earlier exploitation flicks) as a serious warning of the dangers of booze, drugs and sex. It lacks the weirdness and goofiness of the best American 60s sexploitation and it’s all a bit dull although the bad acting and the narration (there’s no synchronised dialogue at all) are amusing at times.

Then Alice has her first acid trip and the movie switches gears. It also switches from black-and-white to colour. And, surprisingly, the acid trip scenes are moderately well done. Especially when you consider the very very low budget. These scenes don’t descend into mere silliness as is the case with a lot of 60s psychedelic movies. While these scenes don’t quite make it as artiness there is at least some visual inspiration here, something that is entirely lacking in the rest of the movie. The acid trip doesn’t quite redeem the movie but it’s not that bad.

And then we get the ending and we discover Alice’s awful fate.

Something Weird paired this one with another 60s drug movie, Smoke and Flesh, which I haven’t yet had time to watch. The most significant of the extras is a 42-minutes edited softcore version of a hardcore drug movie, Aphrodisiac! The Sexual Secret of Marijuana. This is an appropriate companion piece to Alice in Acidland in the sense that it’s filmed in the same quasi-documentary style (we’re told that it’s a “factual documentary” while of course it’s basically just a skin flick). Rather than purporting to be a solemn warning of the sexual horrors that weed will unleash it takes the line that while pot definitely will turn American youth into sex-fiends that’s a really good thing. And marijuana can save your marriage.

Something Weird have provided a fairly reasonable transfer of Alice in Acidland.

Alice in Acidland doesn’t quite make the grade. It’s a pity that the endearing ultra-low budget trippiness of the final colour segment wasn’t maintained throughout. Definitely one of the lesser sexploitation movies. Something Weird’s releases are always a bit hit or miss, which is what makes them fun. And this disc does offer three films. Whether Smoke and Flesh is good enough to make the disc worth buying I have yet to discover. Stay tuned.