The phenomenology of a psychedelic trip is difficult to put into words. But with the help of a camera, a talented cast, and special effects, what typically exists only in our minds can come to life in front of our eyes.
Depictions of psychedelics on screen tend to reflect the ethos of the time, along with some of the universal effects these substances can have. True to the range of psychedelic experiences, some are light, and some are dark. Here are a few of the most creative, thought-provoking, and well-known movie scenes featuring psychedelics.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
This film’s scene where the protagonist Raoul Duke tries to check into a hotel on acid effectively serves as a PSA against tripping in public, or whenever you have anything to accomplish. Unless you want to end up in a bar full of lizards.
Midsommar
When the group of friends in this movie trips on mushrooms for the first time in a field, the breathing trees and growing grass are enough to make the viewer trip along with them.
Almost Famous
Take it from this movie: If someone declares themselves a “golden god,” it’s probably a sign that they’re not in a sound enough mental state to make wise decisions. While jumping off a roof into a pool works out for Jeff Bebe, it is not advised.
Alice in Wonderland
Though this cartoon’s abstractness makes it child-friendly, the potions and treats Alice consumes to warp the sizes of different parts of her body certainly mirror psychedelics and the visual distortions they create.
Black Swan
When Nina the ballerina takes MDMA at a club, her wild side is unleashed, creating a turning point in the film that lets her play the black swan in the Swan Lake production just as well as the white swan. From that point on, the line between Nina’s psyche and reality blurs to the point that the audience can’t tell what is real.
Enter the Void
This Gaspar Noe film gives you a front seat to multiple drug trips, some entertaining and some unsettling. In one scene, you see the shapes and colors the protagonist encounters on DMT before his phone pulls him and the audience out of the journey.
The Matrix
As Neo’s struggling to make sense of his reality, he asks Choi: “You ever have that feeling where you’re not sure if you’re awake or still dreaming?” He responds, unhelpfully although perhaps accurately, “All the time. It’s called mescaline, it’s the only way to fly.”
Easy Rider
Set in the late 1960s U.S. with the hippie movement in full swing, Easy Rider features an eerie acid trip in a cemetery full of haunting religious iconography. What a way to bring back the dead.
