The Acid House

"The Acid House" is a series of three short stories penned by "Trainspotting" novelist Irvine Welsh, and true to his style, it is inspired by a terribly bad acid trip. Being a huge fan of Irvine Welsh, I had high hopes for this film, but I was also aware that it would most likely not be as good as Trainspotting. It wasn't, but a good movie all the same.

The first story is about a 23 year old soccer player who is booted out by his mates, gets kicked out of his parents house, looses his girlfriend, and looses his job all in the space of a few hours. After all this, he "meets God". The second concerns a very disturbed couple with a newborn baby, and their wacky neighbor who moves into the flat above them. And the third, and best, of them is about a young man who is struck by lightning after taking a hit of acid and his soul is transfered into the body of a newborn baby. Very strange stories, only Irvine Welsh could have done these.

As a movie, it has all the basic ingredients, save for a few dodgy dialogue bits here and there. All the actors involve give their best, and it was a pretty satisfying and mind boggling experience. It isn't as well laid out as "Trainspotting", though, so people expecting a new "Trainspotting" might not get what they expect.

The Acid House: 8/10: A collection of three films strung together with wildly different results.

The first film (The Granton Star Cause 8/10) is a pleasant surprise and high comedy. It is a take on Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis mixed with God, elderly S and M, and a football team. Outrageous and funny it is great black comedy involving a bloke named Boab who is having a very bad day indeed. And as God lovingly points out it is his own lazy incompetence that is basically responsible for his troubles.

The second film (The Soft Touch 10/10) is a top-notch drama that, for me at least, hit close to home. Kevin McKidd portrays a get along cuckolded husband with perfection while Gary McCormick, as Larry is stunning as the upstairs neighbor. American audiences are not used to seeing their protagonists pushed this far without pushing back but to this ear it rang realistic and very sadly true. The third film

(The Acid House 2/10) is a very overlong train wreck that may have worked on paper but fails miserably in film. It includes such Trainspotting regulars as that horrible mechanical baby (Like a demented Chucky) and brainless Coco who amuses for about five minutes before becoming tiresome. Add horrendous dialog, endless poop jokes and an acid trip left over from a Peter Fonda film and you have one great mess. As a five-minute bit it could have worked but time seems to stand still while it drags its bloated carcass on the screen.

God (who appears in all 3 segments wonderfully played by Maurice Roeves) may seem vengeful in the first film and carelessly sadistic in the second, but this viewer was praying to him during the third segment to make the pain go away.

Movies nowadays don' t have imagination. Only F.X. I qualified the movie with 7. But it's great in imagination, it has suspense, good sex, crazy people, a good joke of a pregnant woman, rare relationships between parents and sons, and good music. I really enjoyed watching it.

A nice movie. Not Great but fun to watch. Just don't compare to Trainspotting and don't have high expectations.

The movie poster states that this makes Trainspotting looking like a mild-mannered youth comedy. I can see some resemblance here and there, the trippy way of filming, both movies based on novels by Irvine Welsh, or having Ewen Bremner acting in both, but Danny Boyle's trainspotting is just a bit better in my opinion. The Acid House is fun to watch though, who doesn't like to watch some white Scottish ghetto trash in their daily habitat? The Acid House is three different stories (segments), The Granton Star Cause, A Soft Touch, and The Acid House. Each story has his moments, some are better than others, The Acid House was the most trippy and crazy to watch, with an excellent Ewen Bremner (playing a junkie character is apparently what he does the best). The movie is a bit graphic, just the way I like it, but I can see some people (nerds and/or bible thumpers) getting offended. Anyway if you liked Trainspotting there is no doubt in my mind you will like this one as well.