The Acid Eaters (1968)

Director:

Byron Mabe

Writers:

Tim Kearns (writer)
Carl Monson (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Hollywood's first underground movie!.

Plot:

A group of office workers go every Friday afternoon to the White Pyramid, a 50-foot tower of LSD. |

Plot Keywords:

LSD | Sex | Surrealism | Sexuality | Motorcycle

Cast

Buck Kartalian	...	Artie / The Devil (as Buckie Buck)
Ernie F. Orsatti	...	Ollie (as Brick Wahl)
Bob Wren	...	Smiley
John McCloud	...	Big Jack
Pat Barrington	...	Chickie (as Camille Grant)
Judy Wood	...	Genna
Sharon Carr	...	Girl
Bambi Allen	...	Fran (as LiLa Lamont)
Sam Greenwood	...	Miner
Chico Vespa	...	John
Dianne Curtis	...	Marsha

Also Known As:

The Acid People (USA) (bowdlerized title)

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Quotes:

[singsong, waving to his girlfriend as she sinks in quicksand]
Artie: Goodbye, girl, I guess I'll paint you dead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)

The much used question: "What were they on?" could hardly be any more fitting

Labelled as "Hollywood's first underground movie", though in reality it was the profilic producer Dave Friedman's shameless attempts to cash in on the counter culture. 'The Acid Eaters' makes absolutely no sense, but therefor also manage to be quite trippy and "out-there" all the same. After a strangely edited sequence of people working and having lunch-breaks, a small gang of biker dorks in matching red t-shirts hit the road with their girlfriends. Following is endless escapades of skinny-dipping, body-paint, cat-fighting, and hilarious "hip" lingo. One of the bikers are Buck Kartalian, whom the previous year was to be seen in 'Cool Hand Luke'! He provides the comedic element and takes off his shirt a lot! Also noteworthy is Pat Barrington (Mondo Topless), for whom the "plot" takes a break so she can provide a topless dance with a Bongo Joe character. Much is just too weird to explain. Once Buck takes a shower in the middle of the wood, and is disturbed by a native chief, who also is seen in a 'Seventh Seal' chess-game with a hobo! And it still gets freakier when they find the pyramid of LSD sugarcubes (or styrofoam blokes, according to your imagination) where Buck suddenly makes a double as the devil himself! Phew! I don't know. The movie is actually pretty funny in a complete braindead manner. And it's short and painless too. For "underground" and psychedelic movies, there is definitely worse to be found.