Alice in Acidland / Smoke and Flesh

On time I really enjoyed this great dvd moive if you like films from Something Weird Video this dvd would highly recommened.

I own a VHS copy of ALICE IN ACIDLAND, purchased from Something Weird years ago. I am a big fan of 60's exploitation / drug trip flicks and ALICE IN ACIDLAND has always been one of my favorites.I finally upgraded to DVD and I was completely disappointed.This DVD of ALICE is a cut, censored version of the film. Ten to fifteen second chunks have been lifted here and there, leaving jarring jump cuts in their places. And near the end of the film, an entire scene has been eliminated. The cut footage is all shots containing full frontal nudity and/or the more brutal violence.The cuts are obvious - no attempt was made to make them flow with the movie... the music and voice over narration cut awkwardly with each instance of trimmed footage.The run time info on the box is even wrong... on the box, the original run time of ALICE is listed: 62 minutes. But the version on the DVD only runs 53 minutes with all the cuts.I have been a Something Weird fan for years... But now I am disappointed in the company. They used to be a haven for unfiltered, non-PC, full-on-raunchy exploitation, horror, psycodelic, and just downright odd cinema... stuff the masses wouldn't care for. So why CUT a movie to (presumably) appeal to the masses???I'll hesitate before I buy another Something Weird DVD.I give this DVD 2 stars instead of one because the other material on this DVD is quite good. But I don't think this DVD is worth your money.

A+++

classic midnight movie and as most of these type movies they go over the top

pretty good

The first thing you need to know about this particular Something Weird DVD is that it definitely puts its worst foot forward. I cannot speak to how badly "Alice in Acidland" has been edited/censored, but any additional footage would have to be an improvement. The title character is Alice Trenton (Colleen Murphy), who is turned on to drugs and sex by her college French teacher, a lesbian who appears to be actively recruiting. Before long Alice, in the words of the narrator, "proves she belongs in the sex for pleasure inner circle."This 1968 sexploitation film is one of those where the main point of the plot is to show naked women, by which I mean that eventually the women end up entirely naked, the men are down to boxers (or boxers and black sox for one unfortunate guy), and what ever they end up doing the key thing is not to obscure the camera's view of the naked breasts. After a lot of slapstick foreplay it becomes clear that writhing is a big thing in this movie. Then, remembering that the point here is supposedly drug more than sex, the film shifts to a lot of pot smoking and then Alice goes on her acid trip. Suddenly the movie is in color (I guess Alice is over the rainbow rather than down the rabbit hole) and what follows is a lot of stretching, lots of eye makeup, and a whole lot of writhing against music that is not particular psychadelic before the movie ends with a heavy handed moral lesson and the word "END" written on a drawing of a bikini bottom."Smoke and Flesh" is easily twice as good, mainly because first time writer-director Joseph Mangine is really a cinematographer who would go on to shoot "The Lords of Flashbush." There is actually some decent example of montage in this 1968 film, working in shots of goldfish and other items around the house with what is happening on the bed as seen through an aquarium. Mangine knows that he cannot go too far in showing things, so he makes a concerted effort to suggest more than he can actually show. At one point a husband is going to watch his wife with another man, but Mangine shoots the first part of the scene, in which the pair undress, from underneath the bed. It might not be particularly sexy, but it certainly qualifies for art (especially compared to "Alice in Acidland")."The Man" shows up at a party bearing gifts and the fun begins. We then learn that using a sifter and the tube from a roll of paper towels you can create a bong, which takes forever to be passed around. A haze of smoke fills the room while in another part of town some bikers are playing pool. Eventually they crash the part where the chief sources of entertainment are arguing the preference of Butter Brickle ice cream over whipped cream, and racing models cars as a substitute for strip poker. Drugs come into play when the host of the party decides to send one of the bikers on an acid trip, which is this film consists of negative images and close-ups of eye balls. This is one of the few sexploitation films you will ever see where what the director does with the camera and in editing the film is a whole better than whatever is happening in front of it. There is a point where one of the intruding bikers attacks one of the girls at the party when he finds her in the attic. The scene is shot light by a wildly swinging light and given that I am not interested in watching a woman being assaulted Mangine's approach provides a sense of distance from the event that decidedly works against the voyeuristic goals of the genre. No wonder he did not direct another film for almost twenty years (1986's "Neon Maniacs"). But, hey, Vilmos Zsigmond shot lots of exploitation films and he went on to win an Oscar for shooting "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."Now, the short for this Something Weird DVD, "Aphrodisiac! The Sexual Secret of Marijuana" is way better than the first feature. This "factual documentary dramatization" mixes sections on the history of marijuana (e.g., doctors in China first gave it to surgery patients, George Washington grew hemp as a cash crop) with street interviews with ordinary folk who talk about their drug experiences and sequences where actors show how marijuana has spiced up people's sex lives (e.g., David marries a virgin and after their first night of hell he learns how marijuana makes things better; he is told this by a psychiatrist at a go-go bar and the next thing we know his wife is dancing naked with the lights on). There is even a token attempt to present the other side (it does not work for everybody), but clearly the thesis here is that an aphrodisiac like marijuana is a lot better for your sex life than a depressant like alcohol. All things considered this is a rather fascinating little documentary that certainly makes a prima facie case for its argumentative position.The other extras are the "Gallery of Underground Sexploitation Movie-Magazine Covers with Audio Oddities," and a whole bunch of trailers. Besides "Smoke and Flesh," this includes other exploitation favorites "The Pusher," "Devil's Harvest, and the "Hard Road." There is also the Vincent Price film "Confessions of an Opium Eater," and studio anti-drug films such as "The Narcotics Story" and Cameron Mitchell in "Monkey on My Back." Then we have trailers for "Hopped-Up," the 1930s semi-classic "Marihuana," and "The Acid Eaters" ("a film of anti-social significance"). So, two stars for "Alice," four for "Smoke and Flesh" because of Mangine's cinematography, and three-and-a-half for "Aphrodisiac!" I substitute the short for the bad first feature, throw the trailers into the mix to justify rounding up, and end up with four stars.

Another interesting title in the Something Weird series, but interesting mostly only as a late-night curio of sleazy 60's weirdness."Alice," a low-budget skin flick, is about an ordinary L.A. teen and her swift descent to the looney-bin once she's lured by her seductive female teacher into the world of drink, drugs, sun and sex.That description makes it sound much more engaging than it actually is: Alice is... to put it delicately... not overly attractive and not excessively talented as an actress. The film quality is sketchy (lots of jump-cuts and segments without audio) and the action is glacially paced. We're talking slow going and most of the sex involves Alice writhing and making spastic "oh!" faces in response to simply being held by her lovers (no touching, basically).A sequence in which Alice drops acid is presented in color and it's so slow and dull it makes you wonder if the filmmakers mistook Ny-Quil Liqui-Gels for LSD.If you're looking for funny sound-bites or want a wacky, unseen film to project on the wall of a loft-party, this is all you. It's not good for much else."Smoke and Flesh" is actually a lot more interesting. Editor, director, cinematographer Joseph Mangine had clearly seen, and been influenced by the French New Wave and also movies like "Touch of Evil." The story (one hipster's swingin' party is interrupted by volatile bikers on acid) ain't much but visually there's style to spare. The opening motorcycle ride through New York is so cool and atmospheric it could've been filmed by some video wunderkind circa 1998 and there are other highlights as well -- a "Pulp Fiction"-esque joint rolling, a spooky attack in an attic and a nicely-shot sequence in which whip cream is applied to the body of a young party girl. Scriptwise, they got nothing but compared to "Alice" it's practically Godard.A hidden feature about the aphrodesiac effects of weed is a hoot, though it grows boring.The best part is a collection of about 10 previews for similar movies ("The Pusher," "The Acid Eaters" and "Confessions of an Opium Eater"). That alone makes it worth netflixing or buying used at a low, low price.

This Release From,"Something Weird",Has,"To My Knowladge" Not Been Released In The Uk.It Consits Of 2,"Nudie/Drugsploitation" Films Masquerading as,"Serious" Comments On TheDangers Of Drugs,The First appears To Be a,"Mocumentary" About a Girl Who After TryingGrass Eventually Falls In With Some Heavy,"Druggies" Experiences With L.S.D Then EndsUp Permanantly In,"Happyland" In a Mental Institution,While All This Is Happening We areGuided Through The Story By Somone Providing a,"Serious" Commentary On The Dangersof Hallucanegenics,The Second Film Tells The Tale Of a Girl Who Gets Invited To a Party,"Through a Friend" Where TheGuests All Get High On Grass and Have a Good Time,Untill The Party,s Gatecrashed By SomeLocal Bad Guys,"Trying To Get Hold of Said Grass" and The Films Tone Changes To The Dangers OfDrugs,"Paticuarly When One Of The Thugs Is Given L.S.D,Experiecnces a,"Bad Trip" and ConfrontsHis Worst Nightmares.,Released Around The Time Of Roger Cormans,"Psych Out" and,"The Trip",The 2nd Film Is More a Tail Of the Dangers Of,"Weed" Though The First Film On That SubjectWas,"Reefer" Madness,"The Film That Got Mariguana Banned",Both Films Have Quite a Bit Of Nudity,"Though The First Is More Explicit" and Both Have a Very GoodMid 60s Sountrack,"Though Wheres Incense and Peppermints By The Strawberry Alarm Clock",Picture Has a Few,"Ticks and Pops" Though Sound Quality Is Good,The First Film Is ReportedlyTo Some Reviews a,"CUT" Version,also Included Is a Short,"Mockumentary" On The Veiws OfThe,"Sexual Potency" Of Smoking Grass,"I Just Couldn't Stop Laughing Its Hilarious" Yet,"Again"The,"Voiceover" Does Try To Put The Film across as a,"Serious" Documentary.Overall These 2,"Nudies" Do Try To Deliver a,"Serious" Message On The Dangers Of Drugsand Saying That Look What Happened To Both Peter Greene Of Fleetwood Mac"Who Had a Breakdown Following A Bad Trip" and Original Pink Floyd Lead Man Syd Barret Who Tragically Ended Up a Virtual Paranoid Recluce after,(Doing To Much acid),It Can Literally"Fry Your Brain" Regards Barry.J/GB/UK