Going to the movies and smoking pot go so well together that there's a subgenre of movies called "junkie comedies"—movies usually about drug addicts or those who get into trouble while looking for the next high. Surreal adventures happen along the way. (My favorite: Gregg Araki's Smiley , in which Anna Faris gives an Oscar-worthy junkie turn.)
Those movies are totally fine—there's nothing wrong with watching "Half Baked" while it's fully toasted—but sometimes you want to give your weed-addicted brain something a little more challenging. In the spirit of the hippies of the 1960s, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey became a stunning classic, here are 50 non-fiction movies Traditional movies for when you're high on drugs (and not in the mood for video games).
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Vampire (1932)
Danish director Carl Theodor Dreher's first talkie, which has almost no dialogue, is a disorienting, dark fable made at the same time as Tod Browning's Dracula but for Brother. Special fables provide a more creepy, creepy atmosphere. Shrouded in mist and dreamlike imagery, its appeal is hypnotic.
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel, ScreamBox
Pinocchio (1940)
The best movies from the classic Disney era are both heartwarming and harrowing; it's crazy how every frame is hand-drawn. It's also messier than you remember.
Where to stream: Disney+
His Girl Friday (1940)
The frenetic energy and tense dialogue of this screwball comedy subgenre make it perfect for giggle junkies, and this madcap drama about warring newspaper editors/ex-lovers, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell Romance is probably one of the fastest, wittiest comedies ever made on film.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Roku Channel, Tubi, basically everywhere
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Well, basically everything I said about vampires , but transferred to Beauty and the Beast . This 1946 gem from French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau follows the same basic story beats as the Disney cartoon, but is weirder, with impressionistic sets (the halls are lined with sculptural figures of real arms) candlesticks), lavish costumes and dreamy imagery.
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel, Tubi
Red Shoes (1948)
Co-directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, collectively known as The Archers, are often credited with making some of the most beautiful color films ever made, and this behind-the-scenes ballet The dance drama tells the story of a ballet prodigy and a man obsessed with power. The frenzied performers' drive for perfection drives her mad, and this is their crowning achievement - especially their 17-minute impressionistic ballet based on the fairy tale of the same name.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Shout TV, Freevee
Night of the Hunter (1955)
Speaking of dreamy imagery, the story of two kids on the run from a terrifying, self-styled "preacher" hunting down their criminal father's ill-gotten gains is the stuff of nightmares: Down a River And the journey down becomes more surreal with every turn treacherous (and their pursuers more ruthless). Audiences in 1955 didn't know what to make of it, but today it is rightly regarded as an expressionist masterpiece.
Where to play: Tubi
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Many stoners will tell you that Tarkovsky is your go-to, but movies like Up and Stalker aren't really psychedelic so much as... boring. Hypnotically boring, but still. Instead, I'll go with the Shakespeare- meets-Star Trek seriousness of Forbidden Planet , a reimagining of The Tempest set on Altair IV.
Where to play: Vudu Free, Tubi
Destructive Invention (1958)
Filmed in Czechoslovakia in 1958, this anachronistic and clever aquatic adventure showcases all the hottest tech from 1902's "A Trip to the Moon."
Where to watch: Criterion Channel
Black Orpheus (1959)
Set in a Brazilian favela during Carnival, this Palme d'Or-winning adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is packed with striking imagery and features a stunning Bossano tile rhythm as background.
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
No one has sex with Angela Lansbury in this psychedelic, hypnotic Cold War spy thriller.
Live broadcast location: Tubi, MGM+
Playtime (1967)
Jacques Tati's third and most famous film, featuring Monsieur Hulot, an affable everyman in the ubiquitous overcoat, Playtime is nothing more than a set in "modern" Paris circa 1967 A kaleidoscope of visions, the city becomes increasingly impersonal as technological innovation develops. Make life easier, not drive people apart. Shot in carefully choreographed long takes, the action unfolds in every corner and center of the screen, a bit like organizing Where's Waldo? 》 The painting comes alive. If you like high levels of concentration, it's sure to keep you busy.
Live broadcast location: The Criterion Channel, Kanopy
Fellini Satyricon (1969)
“I was looking at ancient Rome as if it were a documentary about Martian customs,” director Federico Fellini said of this visionary, hedonistic portrait of the past — which A nightmarish journey into a decadent republic, adapted from a novel set in the reign of Emperor Nero, unfolding as an episodic dream logic narrative. (Not recommended if you're prone to bad trips.)
Where to watch: Not officially, but you can find the full movie (with subtitles) on YouTube
Donkey Skin (1970)
French director Jacques Demy has created a number of rainbow-colored musical delights you'll enjoy sipping on while drunk, but I'm aiming for this sensational adaptation of Charles Perrault's fairy tale , about a king who wants to marry his own daughter (probably because she's played by Catherine Deneuve). The visual design itself is something to be taken aback by - look at this dress, made from the same material as a movie screen, with a cloud-filled sky projected onto it.
Where to watch: Criterion Channel
Fantastic Planet (1973)
This French/Czech experimental animated art film is set on an alien world inhabited by giants who treat humans like mindless animals. The plot feels a bit like an afterthought, but the animation is neat, weird, surreal, and unforgettable—especially when your brain is soaked in THC.
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel, The Roku Channel
Blood of Dracula (1974)
I'm not a fan of watching horror movies when I'm drunk, but this gorgeous, gory farce from pop artist Andy Warhol follows an aging succubus (Udo Kier) in search of a virgin The story of blood to maintain immortality is closer to comedy. In Italy at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a shortage of virgins. The stilted acting and low-budget charm are doubly lovely when baked.
Where to watch: The Criterion Channel, Vudu Free, Night Flight Plus, Tubi
Zadoz (1975)
This legendary misfire is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi fable inspired by The Wizard of Oz, in which an orange-nappy-wearing Sean Connery is eaten by a giant floating stone. Or something else. Director John Boorman cashed his Deliverance blank check to make this movie, and it's hard to figure out why, but you'll never tire of watching it (or trying to parse its confusing messages).
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Before Brian De Palma delved into modern Hitchcockian thrillers like "Sisters" and "The Stand," he made this super-weird rock-opera knockoff based on "The Phantom of the Opera ," but with 70s glam Rock as an understudy and add a hearty "Picture of Dorian" gray.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Tommy (1975)
Who and Ken Russell's "Tommy" Is a Rock Opera with a Weed...
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
...but if you don't like The Who's music, go ahead and watch Rocky Horror. Best used in a crowd, but if there are no crowds, some THC will do.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Mansion (1977)
I'd like to say that I don't want to say anything that will spoil the inexplicable surprises offered in this Japanese cult classic, but I don't know how to describe this movie. Not to mention "the legendary spooky Japanese haunted house movie" only scratches the surface.
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel
The Shining (1980)
It seems like it’s really hard to choose just one Kubrick, okay? This is where I landed.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Koyanisika (1982)
There's no story to tell here, just slow-motion and time-lapse shots of American cities and natural landscapes, and a brilliant score by Philip Glass. You should probably be warned not to watch it while operating heavy machinery.
Where to watch: Roku Channel, Kanopy, Hoopla
Stop Making Sense (1984)
It’s great to listen to music when you’re in the mood. Watching a movie while drunk is great. So it was doubly great to watch what is widely regarded as the best concert film ever made—Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme's recording of the "Speaking in Tongues" -era Talking Heads tour. It's just math. (If you can't watch it this year, you can at least get ready for A24's upcoming 4K re-release.)
Where to stream: Digital purchase
After Hours (1985)
Griffin Dunne has a very strange night in this mid-career Martin Scorsese comedy, which, if that tells you anything, was originally going to be directed by Tim Burton. Dunne plays an office drone who encounters the strangest nightlife in 1985 Manhattan as he tries to get home from SoHo. New York used to be cool.
Where to watch: Roku Channel, Criterion Channel, Tubi
Tampopo (1985)
Juzo Itami's "Ramen Western" transforms familiar gangster and hero tropes into the story of a woman who can't cook but is searching for the perfect noodle recipe to keep her struggling restaurant afloat. It's a dazzling, action-packed, fourth-wall-breaking satire that caters to a junkie's attention span, and every scene on screen features a delicious-looking meal, so have your snacks ready. (But pay attention to the part with raw eggs.)
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
A penchant for highly dramatic plots and candy-colored visuals makes almost any of Pedro Almodóvar's films an enjoyable experience, so I've chosen one of his craziest and funniest: A quirky romantic farce filled with broad characters who make one really bad decision after another.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Slacker (1990)
In his plotless, endearingly aimless philosophical debut, Richard Linklater tells the story of a unique group of esoteric people in 1991 who are doing their best to keep Austin weird. (Or, if you prefer, the cartoon "Sluggard." )
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel
Chungking Express (1990)
Like Almodovar, Wong Kar-Wai is a director whose filmography is a junkie's paradise, and my pick from his stellar body of work is this quirky romantic comedy about two cops looking for love , the story takes place around an all-night diner in Hong Kong. You'll laugh; you'll cry; you'll faint; The Cranberry's Cantonese version of "Dreams" will be stuck in your head for days.
Live broadcast location: Max, The Criterion Channel
Dick Tracy (1990)
Warren Beatty's gimmicky ode to a comic strip that no one even cared about 33 years ago, Dick Tracy is ridiculously over-the-top in every way, from film noir to Hollywood Judging from the musical tone (Stephen Fucking Sondheim's score), the performances (Al Pacino won an Oscar for playing the villain Big Boy as he does whatever he wants), the ridiculous prosthetics, the cinematography Torrio Storaro's four-color visuals, former Beatty playboy Madonna's appearance in "Jessica Rabbit." This is definitely the weirdest movie ever made with McDonald's.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Agent Hades (1994)
The Coen brothers' most underrated film is a parody of a screwball comedy (no mean feat) about a kind-hearted inventor who in his quixotic quest invents the hula hoop ( You know, for the kids! ), only to lead to his own failure. I chose this one over the more obvious The Big Lebowski because I'm just that cool.
Where to watch: Roku Channel, Kanopy
Existence (1999)
There's nothing like drugs to get you picking at the cracks in reality, and video games are great, so what better choice than this Matrix -era David Cronenberg thriller? A slimy, fleshy video game?
Where to stream: Kanopy, Pluto TV
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Many people would include Sofia Coppola's award-winning film "Lost in Translation" on this list. But not me. I loved this sun-drenched, slow-burning nostalgic thriller about a group of doomed sisters and the boys who grow up with their memories. The summer-gloomy score (by dream-pop duo Air) will leave you mesmerized.
Where to watch: The Criterion Channel, Pluto TV
Mulholland Drive (2001)
I have to put a David Lynch movie in here. I picked this one because it's my favorite: an L.A. noir where nothing makes sense and nothing can be trusted, because that's Hollywood, baby.
Where to watch: Criterion Channel
Spirited Away (2001)
Everyone has a favorite Ghibli, and this is mine.
Where to stream: Max
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The saddest music in the world (2003)
Canadian director Guy Martin's film is full of anachronistic techniques from silent films, visually psychedelic and narratively strange. Take, for example, this melancholic comedy about an international competition to determine which country has the most depressing music — a bit like a Eurovision version of a suicide hotline. The competition is judged by widowed beer baroness Helen Port-Huntley, who lost her legs in a pornographic car accident (take my word for it) and now uses a bottle full of beer Glass prosthetics move around.
Where to stream: AMC+
Control (2003)
Even if I'm not drunk, I love twisty tales of broken hearts, but this Hungarian comedy-thriller follows a group of conductors who patrol Budapest's maze-like subway system after dark and must contend with a man who pushes his victims onto the tracks. The story of the mysterious killer. You play better when all of your senses are heightened.
Where to watch: Tubi, Pluto TV, Shout TV, Fandor
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
I've seen this movie four times and never sobered up, which probably explains why I can never quite remember the plot. This is somewhat appropriate, considering it takes place inside the mind of a man who is erasing his memories of a bad relationship through dubious scientific means.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Lady Revenge (2005)
I almost picked the Korean cult classic Oldboy, but decided to focus on another film in director Park Chan-wook's so-called revenge trilogy. Lady Vengeance (aka Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) tells the story of Kim-ja Lee, a wrongfully accused ex-convict who, after being released from prison, plays the role of Amélie in front of a group of grieving parents. characters, bringing them together to arrange the kidnapping and murder of the man who did something terrible to their child (for which Lee Jin-ja takes responsibility). It's a razor-sharp, brooding revenge thriller shot with the precision of a tiered wedding cake crafted by a master baker.
Where to watch: Tubi, Kanopy, Pluto TV
Fountain (2006)
Director Darren Aronofsky's mind-bending sci-fi drama follows a man (Hugh Jackman) as he searches for the source of immortality across lifetimes, centuries and time, with gorgeous cinematography and metaphysical The narrative is enough to keep you excited even when you're awake.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Short distance bus (2006)
This romantic ode to sex positivity and New York City from John Cameron Mitchell ( Hedwig and the Angry Inch ) includes real sex; it's like watching porn and Miranda Jolie at the same time The same movie.
Where to watch: Mubi, Pluto TV, Night Flight
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Is this a dream? A nightmare? Or fantasy? The story of a girl's struggle to escape her abusive father in fascist-era Spain plays like a surreal fairy tale, filled with terrifying and charming monsters. This may be writer-director Guillermo del Toro's most captivating and beautiful film, and it works even better when you slow down to savor the details.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Sunshine (2007)
Danny Boyle's Trainspotting is always fun, but if you're in a more brooding, existential mood, try this overlooked sci-fi flop from the pre-Oppenheimer era Cillian Murphy plays the crew of a ship making a last-ditch effort. A bomb crashes into our dying sun, reigniting it and saving humanity. The plot is a mix of strictly pseudo-science and space thriller, but the atmosphere - an elegiac score by electronic band Underworld and composer John Murphy, psychedelic sun-bleached visuals - will keep you entertained brain melting.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Critics like to say that Wes Anderson treats his actors like puppets, but what about movies in which they are actually puppets ? You'll be mesmerized watching the way George Clooney's fur ripples in every scene in his stop-motion animation.
Where to stream: Max
Panic City (2009)
This stop-motion marvel is a bit like if you fed your 9-year-old nephew a pound of Pixy Stix, had him release the contents of an old-fashioned toy box, and then filmed the result. A cowboy and an "Indian" (named "Cowboys and Indians") realize they've forgotten the birthday of their friend Ma (name: Horse) and embark on a series of slapstick adventures in an attempt to create the perfect gift for him .
Live broadcast location: Kanopy, OVID.tv
Tree of Life (2011)
Terrence Malick is known for making films that eschew plot and focus on image. He had never seen a drop of dew collect on a sunlit blade of grass, and he found it more mesmerizing than a standard dialogue scene. It's this quality that makes his films especially popular when you're turned on, because you don't have to pay too close attention to what's going on when essentially nothing is happening (and, well, everything is happening - there's a very The long sequence depicts the dawn of creation through the fall of the dinosaurs, like someone slipping into the scrolls of Fantasia ).
Where to play: Hulu
Holy Motors (2012)
I don't want to say anything about this. You know what, not even watching the trailer. Just drop a food item and light it on fire.
Where to stream: Roku, Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy, basically everywhere
Innately Evil (2014)
Paul Thomas Anderson was the only person foolish enough to try to adapt Thomas Pynchon's novel to the screen (twice?), and you can probably see why. Joaquin Phoenix plays a drug-addled private eye trying to find his missing ex-girlfriend in the Los Angeles underworld. He spends most of the movie wandering around in a drunken haze with no idea what's going on, so you might as well stick with him - you couldn't possibly follow the plot any better sober.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Suspiria (2018)
I almost put Black Swan here, but I already have a Darren Aronofsky film on my list, Luca Guadagnino's remake of 1977's Dario Aronofsky Dario Argento's original novel (also well worth a read) will make you even more uncomfortable. Dakota Johnson stars as an American dancer who attends an exclusive dance academy in Berlin, which happens to be run by a group of murderous witches who are looking for the next human vessel for an ancient queen. This description actually sounds much more normal than it actually appears!
Where to stream: Prime Video, Freevee
Green Knight (2021)
One of the dullest, most understated fantasy epics ever made, director David Lowery's visual marvel is a winding, chaotic exploration of a medieval landscape populated by immortal warriors, wandering giants, and fairies. Talking fox. The slow pace will give you plenty of time to enjoy the visuals.
Where to stream: Max
Everything happens at once (2022)
I can honestly say that watching this improbable Best Picture winner in a theater while being gently toasted was an experience like no other. Who wouldn’t want to watch Michelle Yeoh and Kai-fai Kwan jump around an infinite, increasingly bizarre universe while too drunk to keep up?
Where to stream: Netflix
