The very best drug movies
The quintessential movies of the downward spiral and depravity of drugs. Anyone who believes that the drugs are their own character needs to see these.
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- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPeter WellerJudy DavisIan HolmAfter developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.Drug: heroin and metaphorical substances.
- DirectorJonas ÅkerlundStarsJason SchwartzmanJohn LeguizamoPatrick FugitA drug dealer introduces one of his customers, a 'speed freak', to the man who runs the meth lab. A crazy three-day adventure ensues.Drug: meth
- DirectorScott KalvertStarsLeonardo DiCaprioLorraine BraccoMarilyn SokolA teenager finds his dreams of becoming a basketball star threatened after he free falls into the harrowing world of drug addiction.Drug: heroin
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsEwan McGregorEwen BremnerJonny Lee MillerRenton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Drug: heroin
- DirectorClark GreggStarsSam RockwellAnjelica HustonKelly MacdonaldA sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.Drug: sex
- DirectorRoger AvaryStarsJames Van Der BeekIan SomerhalderShannyn SossamonThe incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.Drug: alcohol and vanity
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsTom HardyKelly AdamsLuing AndrewsA young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.Drugs: Self destruction
- DirectorMark NeveldineBrian TaylorStarsJason StathamAmy SmartCarlos SanzProfessional assassin Chev Chelios learns his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops.Drug: Adrenaline as a metaphor for meth. (See the german extended version otherwise don't bother.)
- DirectorMark NeveldineBrian TaylorStarsJason StathamAmy SmartClifton Collins Jr.Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker which requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.Drug: Electricity as a metaphor for meth, acid.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJohnny DeppBenicio Del ToroTobey MaguireAn oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.Drug: everything!
- DirectorArt LinsonStarsPeter BoyleBill MurrayBruno KirbySemi-biographical film based on the experiences of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.Drug: Alcohol and weed.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsJennifer Jason LeighStephen LangBurt YoungSet in Brooklyn during the 1950s against a backdrop of union corruption and violence. A prostitute falls in love with one of her customers. Also a disturbed man discovers that he is homosexual.Drug: alcohol, heroin
- DirectorJames MerendinoStarsMatthew LillardMichael A. GoorjianAnnabeth GishIn the early 1980s Stevo, and Heroin Bob are the only two dedicated punks in conservative Salt Lake City.drug:Alchohol acid
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsMark WahlbergJulianne MooreBurt ReynoldsBack when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, an idealistic porn producer aspires to elevate his craft to an art when he discovers a hot young talent.drug: sex, speed
- DirectorFloria SigismondiStarsKristen StewartDakota FanningMichael ShannonA coming-of-age biographical film about the 1970s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways. The relationship between band members Cherie Currie and Joan Jett is also explored.Drug: Pills
- DirectorNeil ArmfieldStarsHeath LedgerAbbie CornishGeoffrey RushA poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.Drug: heroin
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsNicolas CageEva MendesRussell M. HaeuserTerence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.Drug: cocaine, heroin
- DirectorFenton BaileyRandy BarbatoStarsMacaulay CulkinWilson CruzSeth GreenBased on the true story of Michael Alig, a Club Kid party organizer whose life was sent spiraling down when he bragged on television about killing his drug dealer and roommate.Drug: Crack, ketamine, ecstasy
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsDenzel WashingtonNadine VelazquezDon CheadleTroubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.Drug: Coke, alchohol
- DirectorBruce RobinsonStarsJohnny DeppGiovanni RibisiAaron EckhartAmerican journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1960s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.Drug: Look at the title
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsVal KilmerMeg RyanKyle MacLachlanThe story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison, from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.Drug: hallucinagins and others
- DirectorNeil BurgerStarsBradley CooperAnna FrielAbbie CornishA mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100% of his brain's abilities transforms a struggling writer into a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with many dangers.Drug: unknown but has the characteristic qualities and effects of methamphetamines.
- CreatorRob McElhenneyGlenn HowertonStarsCharlie DayGlenn HowertonRob McElhenneyFive friends with big egos and small brains are the proprietors of an Irish pub in Philadelphia.Drug: Alcohol and anything that crosses their path.
- DirectorMarek KanievskaStarsAndrew McCarthyJami GertzRobert Downey Jr.A college freshman returns to L.A. for the holidays at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit.Drug: Crack
- DirectorAlison MacleanStarsBilly CrudupRobert Michael KellyTorben BrooksA young man, often high on drugs and alcohol, careens through life and makes his way toward recovery and redemption.Drugs: Heroin and pills