Reviews

Reefer Madness

Reefer MadnessHoods are luring naive teens from the local soda shop, back to a house where folks REALLY seem to be having a good time — thanks to some funny-smelling cigarettes. Soon, these kids are DANCING and listening to LOUD MUSIC — worst of all, they LAUGH and get affectionate with each other.

Now these potheads must be of a different variety than my college buddies, as those fellas barely had the energy to tip the Domino’s dude. Regardless, this marijuana stuff is TERRIBLE — and as the bespectacled principal tells concerned parents — it’s far more prevalent and insidious than some other stuff called heroine and opium. Uh huh.

The plot never really reveals how the kids are paying for their "grass," and it seems the older, mobster-type pushers are mostly just interested in coaxing hot young girls back to their smoking lounge to laugh maniacally and listen to dance records. Toward the end — out of his mind on the pot — a kid looses his virginity to an older woman.

Well, his bow tie was undone, but that just screams, "THEY HAD SEX." Wondering how he’s going to explain his indulgence to his Sunday school teacher, or golly, his GIRLFRIEND — he finds her being groped by one of the tittering pushers. It’s then that the story spirals out of control, adding a few exclamation points to the mantra, "DRUGS ARE BAD!!!!!"

Notables: No breasts. Four corpses. Soggy Romeo in fountain. One yard monster. Wild driving (with hit and run). Gratuitous soda jerk. Sobering court scene. Swirling newspaper headlines. Really fast piano playing. Fireplace poker attack. Interrogation montage.

Quotables: A crabby pusher snaps at his dame, "Oh, why don’t you button your lip! You’re always squawking about something. You’ve got more static than the radio!" Even your great-grand pappy faced peer pressure, "If you want a GOOD smoke, try one of these."

Time codes: Lingering shot of starlet adjusting stockings (8:40). The first toke (14:50). Hedonism in full swing (20:25). Promiscuous sex (33:05). Weird-ass, hangman’s noose optical effect (52:08).