A group of normal folks work and live a dreary 9-to-5 existence, their lives boring and tedious, their work nothing but endless repetition. But when the weekend comes, a select group of them gather together and jump on their motorcycles and head out of Los Angeles and into the hills. Out there somewhere is a mysterious white pyramid made of pure LSD. They are seeking to find it and climb its great heights. In the meantime, they entertain themselves by cavorting around naked, doing some body painting, swimming, making love, and riding around on motorcycles. One of the buxom ladies of the group falls into a mire of quicksand. Her friends do nothing to save her; instead they laugh and wish her on her merry way. She goes under, raising a middle finger in defiance. She descends into an underworld where she meets a very white Indian and an old man playing chess. She gets reborn as an Indian maid and once again ends up with her original boyfriend in the regular world. Oh, and the group eventually finds the pyramid of LSD, and with one taste, they are off on their mega-trip…
Acid Eaters is one of those fly-by-night, made-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, cheaply-filmed little movies where a small group of marginally attractive men and large-busted women cavort around like the nudie films of the early 60s, with all the attendant bad humor, and, in the case of the “Indian,” racially ugly stereotypes. Only this is the late-60s, so they have “something to say,” which is basically, LSD is groovy, man. Filmed at times to simulate an acid trip, or to jiggle the minds of those who might be tripping and peaking while watching, the movie is fairly incoherent. The plot is pretty simple—they’re looking for the magic LSD pyramid, they find it, they trip balls—and the acting is pretty awful. These people weren’t hired to turn in Oscar-level performances, but they do the best with what they have. Mostly its half-naked girls (and men; to be fair, the dudes are shirtless most of the time, too) doing “zany” things and getting a “howl” out of the audience. In other words, for the majority of the one hour running time, nothing much happens other than some softcore TNA and dumb humor. Then they make it to the pyramid and things gets a little strange, to say the least. The Devil pops up and tempts them with trips that will fulfill their wildest dreams (all of which are actually pretty dull, just like the characters). This fabulous world is filled with the kind of color scheme that would make Suspiria-era Argento jealous, what with all the red and green gels. So the last ten to fifteen minutes are pretty fun, if inconsequential.
This kind of movie wasn’t made to blow minds or win awards; it’s a quickie designed to cash in on some timely fad (LSD) and go home. It is a perfect drive-in kind of feature, one that plays right before the final film of the night. I can’t really recommend it too much, but I can’t crap on it, either. It is what it is, and the last few minutes almost redeem it. Almost.
★★☆☆
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