The Acid Eaters (1967) User Reviews

Not quite the hippy/trippy film I expected

[Eegah Guy · 5/10 · 9 January 2001]

The ads claim this is "Hollywood's first underground movie." Just because this film uses subliminal/experimental editing does not make it "underground." The biggest problem with this movie is that most of its short running time is filled with sex fluff. The opening minutes is sped up footage of everyday people at work and subliminal flash-forward editing with a minimalist percussive soundtrack which segues into biker footage backed with groovy 60s instrumental rock. There's a long swimming scene and one of the group sinks in quicksand before they reach the pyramid of LSD. One of the group becomes the devil and were treated to various supposedly drug-induced sexual fantasies which all go on a bit too long. The fractured aimless narrative makes this movie a bore even at only 65 minutes. It is worth seeing as a relic of the 60s but I have to wonder if producer David F. Friedman screwed it up by demanding all the sex scenes be included.

A bad trip to nowhere

[Woodyanders · 3/10 · 23 April 2014]

A bunch of annoying and unappealing regular nine-to-five working stiffs let it all hang out on weekend biking expeditions. Things take a turn for the utterly bizarre after the group discovers a gigantic fifty foot pyramid made out of LSD that also serves as the entrance to Hell. While the loopy premise promises gloriously goofy and surreal wonders, this flick alas seriously fizzles due to Byron Mabe's slack (non)direction, stop'n'go pacing, an insufferably idiotic script by Carlos Monsoya, painfully dumb attempts at puerile humor, a meandering narrative, and, worst of all, uniformly obnoxious and unlikable jerky characters (these hateful oinks not only beat a guy up for his money, but also watch and laugh as a woman drowns in quicksand!). On the plus side, we've got plenty of bare boobs, David F. Friedman's vibrant color photography provides a few cool far-out trippy visuals, and big bust icon Pat Barrington does a nifty zonked-out topless dance. Moreover, there's some mild entertainment to be derived from such kitschy vintage 60's touches as go-go boots and body painting. But overall this clunker proves to be way too grating and tiresome to be nearly as enjoyable as it could and should have been. Just say no to this one.

Just Wow

[Mixxy_Mona · 3/10 · 29 August 2010]

I don't even know where to begin. This movie is like a series of vignettes of this drug fueled motorcycle gang of hipsters who like to frequently make stops to get high, make out, or kill people. Or all three. Nothing makes sense, but then again the central plot is that the gang is searching for a pyramid in the desert made out of giant lsd sugar cubes that is the entrance to hell. Yes seriously. Throw into the mix tons of nudity, make out sessions, motorcyle montages, racist depictions of native Americans, knife fights, robbing people, turning into the devil, coming back from the dead, and a strange opening sequence of clock sounds and people doing repetitive things and it's just too, too bizarre. Don't get me wrong, I love this kind of trash, but I'm not shy about what it is.

This film is an atrocity.

[Quag7 · 2/10 · 6 September 2008]

I like really good *bad* films. And for some reason I especially like really bad films from the 1960s. That includes the whole exploitation films thing.

This is cringe-inducing, and normally I like 60s kitsch psychedelia with its canned 60s psychedelic effects - kaleidoscopes, liquid slides, and so forth.

This film had precisely one decent scene (right near the end), where the letters LSD are hanging on one wall and STP (dude STP) are hanging on the other and all the characters are kinda sorta having an LSD orgy or something. I don't know, there's body painting which I don't get to this day, and some boobies, and some genuinely weird music and lighting. If you can fast-forward to it, do. It's nothing great but it was the most worthwhile few minutes of the film.

The rest of this is just really tasteless (by which I really mean asinine) failed attempts at humor.. This disappoints on every level that a movie like "The Trip" delivered on (well firstly, the presence of the mighty *ELECTRIC FLAG* alone, justifies the The Trip. The *ELECTRIC FLAG* can do stuff like pardon Original Sin. This film had no such advantage).

One of the writers went on to direct a FRANK STALLONE movie in the 1980s.

Two of these actors are actively (inexplicably) working today. I haven't seen them in anything but, they should thank God they survived the indignity of being in this.

OK also, there are a lot of boobies in this but the boobies are just UNINSPIRING. No one wants to hear UNINSIPIRING and boobies in the same sentence but there it is. I said it. The boobies themselves are not awful but their presence in such a cruddy, subtextless, one-dimensional, puerile film is highly disappointing and occasionally disturbing.

The filmmakers did not, in other words - in my opinion - did not respect boobies. And I am sure I speak for most of us when I say that this is something our civilization is right not to tolerate.

Anyway, then there's the instrumental, at times vaguely Ventures-like California-convertible-driving douchebag rock music that makes up the soundtrack. I cannot lie. I did like parts of it. Whether I liked it ironically or non-ironically, I haven't figured out yet.

Categorically, this is 99% a sexploitation film interlaced with crap humor. It is not a *psychedelic exploitation* film except for the aforementioned LSD/STP (dude STP) scene. It disrespects the 60s of course. It disrespects the counterculture. It disrespects comedy. It disrespects screen writing. It disrespects kitsch. And it disrespects boobies.

I give it the gas face.

I doubt even the most easily amused among us could get high enough to enjoy this film.

ALSO what was the deal in the 60s where cinematic motorcycle gangs are about as threatening as hall monitors? These bikers were more like BFFs with matching clothes than an evil horde of, you know, death riders.

The Acid Eaters

[Drago_Head_Tilt · 26 May 2011]

At the end of a working week (represented by close-ups of people eating, a toilet flushing and sped-up scenes of various people at work), four couples jump on their motorbikes for a weekend of sex and drugs. This includes body painting and topless swimming. Then things turn mean as a catfight ends with a girl drowning in quicksand (the others watch and laugh) and going to hell. She later re-appears though, after a comic-relief Indian ("me joke, um") does a dance. Some passing motorist gets beaten up for his money too. One of the gang (Buck Kartalain from PLEASE DON'T EAT MY MOTHER) also turns up as the Devil (complete with cute red outfit and pitchfork) inside "the white pyramid" (made from LSD). Trip sequences involve sexual encounters (one hints at incest), and there's lots of silly, surreal touches. One of the girls is Pat Barrington (from ORGY OF THE DEAD). They all go back to work at the end. This must have confused the hell out of adults-only audiences at the time, but there's plenty of tits so i'm sure no-one complained. Producer Friedman (who was the cinematographer) backed Mabe's SHE FREAK the same year.

Movie reviews at: spinegrinderweb.com

one of the worst of the 60's psychedelic "cash-in" films

[django-1 · 2/10 · 28 December 2004]

While most of the quickie "cash-in" psychedelic films of the late 1960's are not very good, many are very entertaining or fascinating period pieces. Even such bad films as THE WEIRD WORLD OF LSD, SKIDOO, THE BIG CUBE, or LIKE IT IS are fun to watch. THE ACID EATERS is just boring and stupid. It does start off well with a clever montage capturing the nine-to-five work world (and lunch hour!), and there is some good photography of the mountains outside of the greater L.A. area. Also, the music score is interesting, kind of like outtakes from a non-existent Sandy Nelson Goes Psychedelic album. Unfortunately, the cast does NOT look remotely psychedelic; they look like people who would be nuzzling mixed drinks in cocktail lounges looking to pick up an anonymous sex partner to take to a local motel. Perhaps the producers were so familiar with casting these type of people for their sex films that they did not think that the same people would not work here. Also, as the other reviews stated, this is mostly a topless groping film. There's no real drug content (the LSD tower is absurd--the devil routine is like a bad imitation of the tinted color sequence in Albert Zugsmith's PRIVATE LIVES OF ADAM AND EVE), and all the colored lights and hand-painted LSD signs on the wall do not make a psychedelic experience. The final sequences in the LSD tower remind me of Zugsmith's MOVIE STAR American STYLE OR LSD I HATE YOU, which was horrible but more interesting than anything in this film. I guess that since David Friedman made nude westerns and nude crime films and nude jungle films, he felt he had to make a nude psychedelic film too. Trust me, this film is NOT worth purchasing, even if you can get it for five dollars. If you want to see an obscure psychedelic cash-in film, find a copy of MARY JANE or THE LOVE-INS or THE American DREAMER or HALLUCINATION GENERATION or MICROSCOPIC LIQUID SUBWAY TO OBLIVION. Don't waste your time with this.

Apparently some people really will do anything to be in a movie....

[bukkiah-1 · 1/10 · 13 October 2009]

The poor ol' "Swingin' Sixties" haven't really aged terribly well, have they---at least not cinematically (for the most part). This Z-grade curiosity from the Something Weird vault comes off now as a cross between a wanna-be biker flick and an episode of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," complete with body painting. Determined to be "in your face" from the outset, it opens with close-ups of people's mouths messily chewing food--"fressing" would be the Yiddish term---inter cut with shots of a toilet---Hmmm, is there a "message" to be gleaned here? I doubt it. Then when we see some clean-cut white people at various jobs (tree climber, dance instructor, painter, bartender, office types); promptly at five per the Big Clock the four couples go strolling through the streets (inter cut with shots of a white pyramid in the desert) until they get to a warehouse, from which they duly emerge on motorcycles transformed into the Red T-Shirt Gang----uh-oh, better move over, Hell's Angels. Off they roar into the countryside for their weekend. After this, believe it or not, the movie goes downhill....

I'm trying to think of anything at all about this thing that might warrant an hour and change of your precious time (it feels longer than that... a lot longer). Nudity, simulated sex, chick-fights---you've seen it all before, and better. There are a few moments that hint at a kind of Godard-like nihilism, e.g. when one of the women falls into (obviously fake) quicksand and the others stand there watching and wisecracking---the dialog doesn't even match the actors' lip movements, like a badly dubbed kung fu flick. But the director chooses to turn this moment into another stupid joke by having the gang leave a sign behind as a kind of epitaph--HERE LIES GIRL WITH MUD IN HER EYES AND USELESS THIGHS---is that, like, funny? The one scene coming closest to some dramatic tension (the three surviving women are assigned to waylay a passing motorist so the men can rob him for drug money, although we never see any drug dealers) is similarly marred by another stupid sign at the end. I wish one of the gang had been shown whipping out the sign from behind his back, like a cartoon, which this movie essentially is. (The ambush scene has the best line though, about "sex-starved females.") The director even tosses in a stereotypical Native American ("How," "me no like-um") (who may also be bisexual for no particular reason) whose only apparent function is magically to bring the quicksand chick back to life. Eventually our heroes reach the white pyramid, the interior of which seems vastly larger than the exterior, where one of them becomes the Devil somehow and the others put on period costumes and have more simulated sex, etc. etc. In a bit lifted from the original "Bedazzled" one of the guys gets to realize his dream of seducing the boss's wife next door, but is put off when she proves to be the aggressor---Hmmm, is there "irony" to be gleaned here? I doubt it. Is there any point to the inserts of a square couple getting cozy in a wheat field or an elderly woman in a hat looking constipated? I doubt it...

The videocassette (available from Facets Rentals) follows "Acid Eaters" with some "psychedelic" scenes of nude women dancing and whatnot, which is visually more interesting than anything in the "feature." That reminds me, I did think of something from the latter maybe worth your time---a (mercifully) dialog-free sequence with Pat Barrington (the blonde "Chickie") gyrating accompanied by a black bongo drummer. Maybe Something Weird "On Demand" can include that in one of their "Retro Erotica" or "Striptease" segments or something... In case you were wondering, we never do see anyone actually taking drugs, unless you count the Devil shoving what looks like a big hunk of cheese at someone...

The poster is, at least, great

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 3 March 2021]

The poster for The Acid Eaters is, of course, a billion times better than the movie it's selling, but how many films have a bunch of people climbing a fifty-foot tower of LSD cubes? One that I can think of.

Under the name B. Ron Elliott, this film's director, Byron Mabe, made a nudie cutie with perhaps the best title ever, A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine. He also directed She Freak, The Lustful Turk, Nude Django, Mystic Mountain Massacre and Space Thing amongst others. In between making these berserk movies, he was an actor in Hollywood.

Writer Carl Monson would direct a few movies too, like A Scream in the Streets, Please Don't Eat My Mother!, Will to Die (AKA Legacy of Blood), The Takers and the x-rated Tarz and Jane and Cheeta, which had Devil In Ms. Jones star Georgina Spelvin, Talia Cochrane (Wham! Bam! Thank You Spaceman!, Devil's Ecstasy) and Patrick Wright (The Seven Minutes, Track of the Moon Beast) in it.

Pat Harrington, who was in plenty of Harry Novak movies and Mantis In Lace, is in this, billed as Camille Grant and dancing to bongo drums. So are former pro wrestler Buck Kartalian, who you may know as The Khan from Gymkata, and Sharon Carr, who was in the aforementioned A Smell of Honey is on hand.

There's a drone soundtrack, David F. Friedman serving as the cinematographer and the devil poking people in the butt while they're all trying to kiss in the nude. Look, I've never done LSD, but I would hope that it is not as boring as this movie and totally as sensational as the poster for this one.

A crazy trip it is not...

[davidrbarber-13476 · 3/10 · 8 April 2018]

The primary interest in visiting these psychedelic 1960's movies, it to get a glimpse into a now bygone era of experimental music, art, drugs, and counterculture. Even the roughest rock can usually be polished - alas, this one was a total squib. First - I applaud the women for their effort. They gave it their all despite their lack of anything to work with. Their primary role was to nakedly writhe on the ground, floor, stairs, pyramid, water, etc... and keep from looking bored. There are a few times in the movie when some reflection of serious social commentary began to coalesce; but it seemed like the writers/producers just could not put the drugs down long enough to figure out the punch-line. The problem is, that the punchline had already been done a thousand times before The Acid Eaters, and a thousand times after, so it really shouldn't be that hard. You work a soul killing, monotonous job every single day, and your big payoff is two days off and no money in your pocket.

The Film Equivalent Of A "Bad Trip!"

[Celluloid_Fiend · 1/10 · 12 February 2019]

Films that focus on the psychedelic side of the 60's are always something that will leave most people scratching their heads at some point, with linear thought not a major concern of the film-makers. But this sexploitation attempt at doing so will more likely leave you bored out of your skull!

The basic plot, if you can call it such, is about a group of 9-to-5 workers, who spend their weekends getting high on LSD and having body-painting sex orgies at the lake. That is, when they don't go looking for a giant white pyramid of LSD and end up trapped inside by "the devil." No, really. That's the story here.

Director Byron Mabe is no stranger to the sexploitation genre. His work on films like "A Smell of Honey, A Swallow of Brine" and "The Head Mistress," while certainly not award-winning material, at least had some of the sleazy and entertaining charms one expects of this brand of film. With this one he over-reaches his bounds, as the attempts to marry the drug culture to soft-core porn is a mix that just does work here.

None of the characters ever really get developed. You don't really learn enough about anyone to care or understand what's going on with them. In fact, only the script seems to outdo them in the underdevelopment department. If there was some kind of coherent plot here, I surely missed it. Nothing in this film gels together. One scene we're watching them get high and frolic at the beach, then someone is killed, and then we go to the white pyramid. There's no rhyme or reason to any of it. The camera work isn't all that great, as we get "treated" to an over use of looped segments of the gang riding on motorcycles and scenes that just drag on way too long, or pathetic attempts at being psychedelic, with some swirling colors and the like. Really, it's like they just took every tired cliché of these kinds of films, slapped in some boobies jiggling around, and called it good. At just around an hour long, it easily feels four time that in length as you are watching it. Even the ample curves of the delicious Pat Barrington can do nothing to make this piece of garbage watchable. The fact half the cast of this film never did any others after it, I think pretty much says all that needs to be said about the quality and worthwhile value of this bomb. Heck, I don't even think getting stoned could help you to enjoy this pointless and pandering mess.

It is possible to make an interesting and entertaining psychedelic film. "The Acid Eaters," however, will never be one of them. It is a blatant and obvious cash-in on the drug culture of the times, that does nothing to advance any insights into it and only insults the intelligence of the audience that watches it. I really can't say enough about how horrible this movie is. It really gives stoners a bad name... even worse than the one they already have. Avoid this turkey at all costs, as I'm pretty sure it'll do more to damage your brain cells than actual LSD will.

Completely daft.

[Hey_Sweden · 4/10 · 16 August 2016]

From exploitation legend David F. Friedman (the producer and cinematographer here) comes this moronic entry into the psychedelia craze of the 1960s. It's probably not a trip that many will want to take, even if they favor this genre. The movie doesn't really have a story to tell, but it deals with a group of office drones who get wild on the weekends. These sexy ladies and their color coordinated boyfriends hop on their bikes and have a series of misadventures. Among other things, the group stand around and mock one of their number while she sinks into quicksand.

This viewer couldn't really bring himself to hate this one, as it's sufficiently and amusingly absurd for a while. But, at some point, it becomes merely tiresome. Basically, the whole thing is 62 minutes worth of padding! Especially embarrassing is when the character Artie prances around under a tree where a cold shower has been set up (!). Some viewers might find the politically incorrect humor here hard to stomach. Everything builds to a sequence set inside a pyramid made of LSD sugar cubes, where Artie has turned into The Devil and presides over an orgy. The direction (by Byron Mabe) and performances are truly insipid. Taking center stage are bombshell Pat Barrington ("Mantis in Lace") as Chickie and noted character actor Buck Kartalian (who definitely looks too old to be hanging out with this bunch) as Artie. The music by William Allen Castleman is most groovy and everything is colorfully, gorgeously shot by Mr. Friedman.

There's some passable nonsense here, if one isn't very demanding.

Four out of 10.

LSD biker sleaze

[Jens-28 · 10/10 · 11 February 2000]

This David F. Friedman-produced flick starts out with some surreal images and editing that sorta caught me off guard, but then "conventional" story gets rollin'. Some "bikers" and babes take a trip in the country. Nudeswimmin', fights, Indians, and acid trippin' then follows. They even go to hell?!? There's also a lot of slapsticks goin' on provided by Burt ("Please Don't Eat My Mother") Kartalian. Lots of nudity and infantile insanity - high quality trash entertainment!

Johnny Ramone must've seen this since The Ramones named a cover album after this flick.

Naked Women, LSD and a Pot Smoking Satan

[Michael_Elliott · 3 August 2015]

The Acid Eaters (1968)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

After a montage showing the routine of a 9 to 5 worker, we see a group of office people going out for a good time, which includes some drugs and sex. After one woman is killed after pulling out a knife, the group ends up partying with Satan where there's more sex, nudity and drugs to come.

If you're looking for the high art of Kurosawa, Bunuel and Bergman then it might be best that you stay away from THE ACID EATERS. This film clocks in at just 62 minutes, which is probably the highlight of the film because even at just over a hour the thing drags in spots. Obviously if you're walking into a film like this it's best that you don't expect too much and as long as you don't take this too serious you'll be happy that there are a few campy moments that makes it worth sitting through.

The real highlight of the picture is the fight that happens towards the start. One woman pulls out a knife and attacks another before falling into some quicksand. I won't ruin what the woman does as she's going down but it's quite hilarious as is the special effect of her sinking. Another highlight is the Satan figure smoking weed. Technically speaking there's nothing great about this scene but it did make me laugh. And yes, there's plenty of nudity including a striptease by Pat Barrington who some might remember from ORGY OF THE DEAD among other sexploitation pictures.

THE ACID EATERS is an awful movie but there are enough campy moments to make it worth sitting through. Of course, if you're actually on acid it would probably be even better.

far out., freakout from the 60s

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 16 October 2009]

This thing is so campy, ya gotta love it. i wish the filming locations were listed on IMDb... looks like it was filmed in the parks of L.A. and maybe Idyllwild ? It's got something for everyone.... Boobs, lots of em, muscle-guys, motorcycles, Indians, and a mountain made out of ###%% LSD! Bad sound, bad editing, shoe-string budget. Ah, the good ol days when motorcycle helmets weren't mandatory in California..... when was that changed, 1996 or so ? Looks like the director, Byron Mabe, was king of the big busty chicks, boobs-out B movies, like a wacky combination of Russ Meyers, and John Waters. The first ten minutes just show everyday workers doing their thing 9-5, lots of repetition and subliminal images, but then after that it kind of gets going for this 63 minute shortie. Lots of motorcycle riding to the next scene. Left turns, and lots of them. Crawling on the LSD mountain, then a weird scene in Hell, which isn't so bad in this film...then one guy gets his wish granted, but confusion when/why it doesn't really happen. Some guy drumming on the bongos, which doesn't match the sound track at all, and his drums even get knocked over, but they must be magic drums, because the beat goes on anyway. Some of the actors actually have had a pretty prolific career, but no big names in this one. If you like wacko/freakie indie films from the 60s & 70s, then you gotta check this out! Rad, dude!