"Reefer Madness" describes marijuana as "the new drug menace, which is destroying the youth of America". And you would think that this might just be a hyperbolic tagline on an anti-drug poster, but the filmmakers back that up with an alarmingly earnest sense of paranoia and hysteria. They're serious.
As an unintentional comedy, "Reefer Madness" takes its time getting going. The dialogue of these unrelatable characters is peppered with the usual "swell"s, "gee"s, etc. of the time. The real fun occurs when the wretched mary jane rears its ugly head. Pretty soon, those evil pushers have gotten our upright moral youth speeding off after a vehicular homicide, raping young girls, shooting people, window-diving, and descending into general madness. And then they listen to that risqué jazz music!
It's not hard to see why this movie's a cult classic. It's absurd in its warnings, firebrand in its portrayals, and undeniably goofy. But that's how it comes off now. I really do wonder how effective this movie was in what seems like the original "Just Say No" campaign. Did people take this seriously? Judging from the continuation of such dire warning movies as "Boys Beware" [1961] (extolling the dangers of homosexuals), it'd be easy to conclude so.
And that just makes this all the more amusing.
A 7/10 on the ridiculous scale
As an unintentional comedy, "Reefer Madness" takes its time getting going. The dialogue of these unrelatable characters is peppered with the usual "swell"s, "gee"s, etc. of the time. The real fun occurs when the wretched mary jane rears its ugly head. Pretty soon, those evil pushers have gotten our upright moral youth speeding off after a vehicular homicide, raping young girls, shooting people, window-diving, and descending into general madness. And then they listen to that risqué jazz music!
It's not hard to see why this movie's a cult classic. It's absurd in its warnings, firebrand in its portrayals, and undeniably goofy. But that's how it comes off now. I really do wonder how effective this movie was in what seems like the original "Just Say No" campaign. Did people take this seriously? Judging from the continuation of such dire warning movies as "Boys Beware" [1961] (extolling the dangers of homosexuals), it'd be easy to conclude so.
And that just makes this all the more amusing.
A 7/10 on the ridiculous scale