Customer Reviews
SEXY! 
2008-12-23
I have always been baffled by the anti-pot movies of the thirties. I feel like, perhaps, the message is percieved in backwards. The women in these things are always so sexy. And completely wild and out of control. Rawrrr.
The message in Reefer Madness is this; Take the classiest dames you can muster up, and give 'em a puff of that wacky weed. Soon they will be laughing and peeling clothes off left and right beyond all bounds. The more the merrier. Right?
Anyways... I love a good cult flick as much as the next, but in all truth, this movie is fun once, and then you'll probably never have any interest again. I wish there were more thirties girls wriggling around in smoke ecstacy, and possibly a few more crazed murderers... plus theres way too many feds involved, being all dead pan and whatnot. I'm just on board for the sexy aspect, you know... and maybe the laughs. However, this is still a good "deal" when you consider the Mystery Science Theater commentary features (bonus feature, Reefer Madness gets MST3K'd, yo!) and also the colorized option, which is so overly colorized, you may think that somebody laced your stuff when you're watching it. For the extras, I will give this DVD five tokes, and a chest cough. Check it out.
So full of un-truths, it's funny!!! 
2008-12-08
This movie is so full of un-truths, it's funny!!! In a serious tone, this movie comes on scene to some normal young American youths, that are being led astray by a slightly older group of young adults who know better. This movie is racy for the time period that it was made in. It is set to be a serious likely-hood of what will happen to teenagers who fall into the wrong crowd and start experimenting with drugs. In this case, it's reefer or marijuana that is the drug, and in this movie, it's the side effects that are so unbelievable. Teenagers who are in the know now about the side effects of reefer, will laugh through this serious, and boring way two teenagers find trouble, when they start hanging around a new group of hip smokers. Becoming more sexually active, and irresponsible in their judgement, the teens begin their downward spiral in society. Our main hero is asked to drive while intoxicated by the reefer stick, when he has an accident and every lie afterwards gets him deeper into trouble and deeper into the rugged rage of reefer. If you are able to watch your way to the end of this movie, you might be able to understand why another movie 'Reefer Madness' was made as a musical tribute to this one. The musical, mocks the original with great energy, music, and color. All of which are missing from the first movie. Yet, only after I managed to watch the original, was I able to fully fall in cult classic love with the musical.
Hilarious Nostalgia! 
2008-09-21
Reefer Madness In college, I saw this movie several times and it always mad me laugh - and it still does. It was created in 1936 to warn people about the dangers of marijuana, but they missed the boat. Way over-acted, ridiculous dialogue, but funny!
good stuff 2008-04-09
movie came fast and in great condition no problems what so ever
-hollywood
Entertaining propaganda 2008-03-28
Smoking marijuana will either kill you, drive you insane, turn you into a murderer, drive you to suicide, or at the very least, result in you having a very scary hairstyle. That is the message put forward by "Reefer Madness", an anti-marijuana propaganda movie from the 1930's. The film is heavy-handed to the point of being laughable and you will likely either find it boring, like my mother did (she kept on asking me when it was going to end, even though the running time is only 66 minutes), or so bad that it's funny, as I did.
The plot itself isn't all that bad. It's about a group of nice, clean-cut, high school students who fall in with a bad crowd and includes all sorts of exciting things like hit and run accidents and a court trial. I can see why this film was remade (as "Reefer Madness - the Musical"). However, at the same time I can also see why it was remade as a comedy.
Watch this film with a group of friends and rip it to shreds. After all, that's how this film because a cult classic.
Reefer disappointment 
2008-02-11
Although it was made in 1936,
Reefer Madness didn't become a cult hit until 1972 when the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) rescued it from the Library of Congress film archive. Thereafter, it was a mainstay on the midnight movie circuit. And it's easy to see why. The ostensible story involves a group of upstanding young high school students who succumb to the allure of the "killer weed." What follows, as if by natural progression, is a catalog of crimes that includes hit-and-run driving, loose morals, rape, murder, suicide, and my personal favorite,
permanent insanity! The action is at times so hysterical, in both senses, that you may forget to inhale. Honors go to the wild-eyed, cackling hophead David O'Brien; his performance reaches a raw intensity that is hard to imagine. One measure of this film's pervasive influence is the extent to which its title continues to be invoked in news stories about decriminalization and medical marijuana. Such posterity for unintentional humor must be rare. A great film to see stoned, man.
--Jim Gay
Oh, the misery. 2007-06-25
Reefer Madness (Louis J. Gasnier, 1936)
For some reason, this weekend, there was a treasure trove of old movies I've always wanted to see scattered across our television. I started Sunday night's Depression-era extravaganza with Reefer Madness. Now, I'm fond of saying of bad movies--those with a certain élan, anyway--that they're probably better watched through a haze of smoke that can only be generated by certain controlled substances referenced in the title of this film. This is the exact opposite; while I know it's grown to be a cult favorite among some of my, shall we say, more indulgent friends, I can't imagine a movie being any more of a buzz-kill than Reefer Madness.
It's amazing how much influence Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will had already had a year later; compared to earlier propaganda films, at least, Reefer Madness is a triumph of subtlety and decorum. That said, it would probably have been pulled off a whole lot better (and, ultimately, been a whole lot more dangerous) had the people who put this film together decided to exercise the merest standards in casting for this movie. In a film in which my main outrage should be directed to the absolute idiocy of the "scientific studies" on which the movie's script is supposedly based, I can't find it in myself to get past the quality of these actors. The first scene where we meet Bill Harper (Kenneth Craig) and his girlfriend Mary (Dorothy Short) is so painfully acted that I almost choked. On my water. Uhhhh, yeah, water, that's it.
It only gets worse from there. Honestly, it really is one of those movies so bad you have to see it to believe it. A lot of people seem to think that it's bad enough to tip over the line into that sort of cheesy brilliance one associates with Night of the Lepus, but it didn't catch me that way. Well, at least I can say I've seen it now. *
You've fallen and you can't get up...but somehow you're still higher than a bunch of third graders on Ritalin... 2007-04-17
Reefer Madness remains a cult favorite to this day. Originally produced to scare parents into keeping their children away from the scourge of marijuana, the film faded into obscurity after a brief while. It was rediscovered during the 1960s when, of course, all types of experimentation and drug use spiked up much higher than ever before. People then found the film to be amusing--and they are right. Reefer Madness was produced with good intentions but quite frankly it's a hoot to watch and sometimes you just can't help but laugh.
This generous DVD offers us both the restored black and white version released in 1936 as well as a colorized version. You can also choose to listen to a commentary during the movie or you can simply watch it straight through on your own. Mike Nelson of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" does a great job with his running commentary. Either way, the film's scare tactics prove to be too lame for today's much more street wise people. If you want to scare kids away from drugs, Reefer Madness won't do the trick. The kids will probably be smart enough to just laugh at all the melodramatic scenes replete with over-the-top campy performances.
Reefer Madness tries its best to tell the story of the dangers of marijuana by showing us a few months in the lives of several high school students. In just this brief period of time they go from being the All-American Boys And Girls Club to being the horrific monsters who actually share intimacy before any wedding plans are announced--and they dance as if they're truly enjoying themselves! Of course, there's the obvious byproduct of playing the piano too fast, which in and of itself must be stamped out. The only truly serious scene in the movie--when someone gets bumped off--is probably the only time you'll experience a sense of sadness at the situation. Reefer Madness also points the finger at organized crime for distributing the drug.
Reefer Madness is best seen in its historical context as an outdated form of scare tactics meant to keep kids away from drugs; and it truly was produced with the best of intentions. However, with the passage of time and with new social mores and norms, the film plot becomes campy and hard to completely believe. The truth is most people laugh at it; and frankly it is pretty humorous, too.
The added short film entitled "Grandpa's Marijuana Handbook" by Evan Keliher is hysterical. Take a close look at that cat's eyes as the cat eats the leaves of the marijuana plant--man, is that cat stoned!
I highly recommend this DVD for fans of cult classic movies and people who want to take a look at how drug abuse was tackled in this country during the 1930s. The movie vacillates between true drama and mostly melodrama; so keep this in mind if you're looking for a truly dramatic flick.
Hilarious...because its horrible 2007-04-03
This "public service announcment" about the evils of marijuana is just laughable. The entire movie is based on false information made up by Robert J. Anslinger, the first head of the Bureau of Narcotics in the 1930's. Interesting, and a must have if your a drug buff, Reefer Madness is a small glimpse of the hysteria that gripped this country in the first half of the 20th century.
It's 10 o'clock. Do you know why your children are cackling insanely? 2007-03-16
"Reefer Madness" (originally "Tell Your Children") was created to teach parents that it's never too early to scare the holy crap out of your kids. Through this film we learn that the soul-destroying effects of Marihuana (Mike Nelson explains in the commentary that this film was made before the invention of the letter J) far surpass those of cocaine or heroin. We see firsthand that even teens who can quote Shakespeare like nobody's business cannot escape its evils.
Here are some of the symptoms of casual Marihuana use:
- laughing maniacally while running people down in the street
- playing the piano too fast
- having sexual relations with people you don't really like that much
- accidentally shooting people you do like pretty well
- having no recollection of being framed for murder
If your child has experienced any of these symptoms, he or she is a Marihuana addict. The solution is simple: force them to watch "Reefer Madness" because if we don't heed its warning, "Reefer Madness 2" will be coming to a theater near you or you... OR YOU!
