It’s clear that we at Dutch Smart aren’t averse to mind-altering substances. And we’re assuming that you, as a visitor to our website, also have an above-average interest in anything that expands the mind. But similar to psychoactive drugs, there is something else that can offer an almost psychedelic experience: movies. In this article, we take you into the world of psychedelic films that use cinematography, audio, and visual effects to create completely distorted and surreal worlds. Whether the film depicts drug-induced madness or presents a reality of existential confusion, each one challenges the viewer’s sensory perceptions.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Stanley Kubrick
What better way to kick off this list than with Stanley Kubrick’s definitive science fiction masterpiece? Just before the emergence of human life on Earth, a group of apes discovers a monolith. Four million years later, a similar object is discovered on the moon that transmits a signal to Jupiter. The stunning visuals in 2001: A Space Odyssey are combined with György Ligeti’s now-classic and almost eerie music. In the film, Kubrick explores the history and future of humanity in an unprecedented way, stimulating the viewer’s senses like almost no other film.
2. Blade Runner (1982) - Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?* is considered a subgenre unto itself within sci-fi. The film’s mesmerizing imagery of a dystopian future in Los Angeles is a feast for the eyes, and the sometimes intensely profound questions about what it means to be a sovereign human make this a perfect film for the psychedelic viewer. The film’s design and themes, and how they blend together, offer plenty of material for the most profound conversations during a truffle trip.
3. Requiem for a Dream (2000) - Darren Aronofsky
Aronofsky’s melodramatic tragedy is not for the faint of heart. The mountainous highs and devastating lows of drug use and addiction in Requiem for a Dream are laid bare in a raw way. Not only through distorted imagery, but also with the most epic music you’ll ever hear in a film. The characters in the film each encounter different types of drugs in their own way, accompanied by their own unique visual and auditory hallucinations. Because the more the characters try to grasp reality, the further they drift from it. Without a doubt, a masterful film.
4. Enter the Void (2010) - Gaspar Noé
If you’re looking for a thoroughly psychedelic film, then Enter the Void is an absolute must-see. With this film, Gaspar Noé created a completely new cinematic experience. A low-level drug dealer from Tokyo is murdered after smoking DMT and having a brief conversation about the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Then, as a viewer, you’re taken along with the protagonist to the trippy afterlife, where he sets out to investigate not only why he was murdered, but also why he was born in the first place. A visual and emotional masterpiece that’s not only filled with sex and drugs, but also with philosophical depth.
5. Easy Rider (1969) - Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider was one of the first American films to go against the grain of the culture of its time. It perfectly captured the lifestyle of the hippie movement and how it clashed with the mainstream. The film is not only historic in its portrayal of the counterculture but also in its realistic drug scenes—the actors actually used the drugs. The film is intense and disorienting, culminating in an LSD scene where nothing is what it seems. The psychedelic scenes are brilliantly blended with reality—a combination that perfectly documents the spirit of the times.
6. The Devils (1971) - Ken Russell
This list wouldn’t be complete without a film that caused quite a bit of controversy. The Devils is about an Order of Ursuline nuns who begin to exhibit wild and uncontrolled behavior. Russell’s film is packed with sexually explicit hallucinations with a rather dark and religious twist. The director boldly depicts the effects of sexual repression mixed with religious mania. How about, for example, a psychedelic orgy of naked nuns “raping” a statue of Christ and masturbating with a human bone? Yes, this movie is quite something!
7. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam’s 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s literary classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas takes the viewer on a psychedelic road trip in pursuit of the American Dream. It is well known that Thompson indulged in large amounts of alcohol and drugs while writing his acclaimed novel. Gilliam successfully translated Thompson’s words into distorted, often hallucination-filled imagery.
