Comeuppance Reviews
This review does contain spoilers! Haphazard, half-assed and wholly hilarious, "Death Drug" is a classic for the ages. After witnessing this barely-feature-length PSA, you'll never touch "wack" (the name of the evil drug in the movie) again! Jesse (Thomas) is a good-natured L.A. plumber with big dreams of making it in the music industry. One day he is at home with his wife and he gets a letter informing him he was accepted to a prestigious musical conservatory (he must have sent them a copy of his composition "Just the Way I Planned It"). Coincidentally, he also gets a letter saying a record label wants to sign him. Obviously, Jesse is ecstatic, so he does what any sane, rational person would do at the time: he takes his wife out to a club to see The Gap Band (and then, unexplained, he plays a few songs with the band).While there, Jesse decides to take a bathroom break from four songs worth (The Gap Band is great, but this does pose some pacing issues for the movie) of getting' down with his bad self. After washing up, Jesse runs into an insidious, but very slick drug dealer. His rhyming salesmanship convinces Jesse to try the latest craze of the drug world, "wack". Not wanting to be a "jive turkey", Jesse gives it a shot. Later in the film, we see that the drug dealer plays tennis and keeps his "wack" in a secret compartment in his tennis racket.Pretty much instantly, Jesse is seeing snakes instead of plumbing pipes, little alligators instead of hairbrushes, rats in the oranges at the grocery store, and screaming at everyone, claiming they are against him. It even costs him his hard-fought record deal, and thus, his millions of dollars.After his epic grocery-store freakout (definitely a movie highlight), Jesse meets an untimely demise. But his wife was pregnant, and five years after Jesse's death, His wife and Jesse Jr. visit his grave. Jesse Jr. looks across the street and sees his dad's drug dealer, still wheeling and dealing, while his daddy is six feet under. Will this travesty of justice cause Jesse Jr. to take up a life of wack-taking, or will he eventually walk the straight and narrow? "Death Drug" is simply a hodgepodge of out-of-place scenes, plot inaccuracies, inconsistencies, holes, and even film stocks. That's why it's so awesome!Even with Philip Michael Thomas's seemingly-improvised intro and outro to the movie, and stopping the proceedings midway through for the ENTIRE music video of "Just the Way I Planned It", which is hysterical in its own right, what with its lasers and superimposing PMT's head on a pregnant woman's stomach and all (although it is puzzling whether the song is by PMT, as it appears on his album "Living the Book of My Life", or is it by Jesse from the movie, as we are led to believe? The VHS box art touts that it includes the video for the song…it doesn't say that it's in the MIDDLE of the movie, or who it's supposed to be by).In the movie, this video is preceded by two things: One, a newscast proclaiming "Local Man Makes Record." (When talking about the local man, in the box next to the newscaster, they use a freeze frame from later in the movie. How did they get that?) Surely this is an uncommon newsbreak in Los Angeles. Secondly, it is stated that Jesse's record company is trying an all new, revolutionary idea called "music clips". Seeing as most of "Death Drug" preceded MTV, this is was pretty ahead of its time.The last quarter of the movie is a shot of a TV showing a very weird newscast. The anchorman looks like Don Cornelius and he is standing in front of a curtain. He interviews some white woman we haven't seen before, she talks about how Jesse made many albums and won a couple Grammys. As we saw earlier in the movie, Jesse never had a chance to make his first album, because he was fired for taking too much "wack", and he thought the Gap Band was making weird faces at him.Honestly, we can spend a lot of time, talking about the padding and plot holes, but that is missing the point. "Death Drug" is a funny and one of a kind experience that everyone should see. Don't get high on "wack" and watch this movie tonight! For more insanity.
Brian Washington
When I first saw this film, it was when I was 13 and it was shown under the alternate title "Whack Attack". This was supposed to be one of those films with a strong anti-drug message. Unfortunately, this comes off more like one of those films that would get released straight to high school health classes to warn of the dangers of drugs. The acting in it was marginal at best and it relied very heavily on scare tactics, which it didn't need since anyone with half a brain knows that PCP is one of the most dangerous drugs that has ever been unleashed. No wonder Phillip Michael Thomas had to wait five more years before his star making role in Miami Vice. If I were a young actor, I wouldn't put this film on my resume. To me, a straight documentary would have been more effective rather than have a bunch of actors act out a very predictable story with a predictable ending. However, the ending with the addict's son witnessing someone selling whack while visiting the grave of his father who was killed as a result of the drug. That probably was the most effective part of an ineffective movie.
tristanb-1
There are movies/works of art that are *about* drugs, movies/works of art that make you *wish you were on* drugs, and then there are movies/works of art that make you feel like you *are on* drugs. Of the last (extremely rare) variety I can for certain put the following:-early Butthole Surfers music -artwork of Jim Woodring -Hindu chanting -artwork of Renee French -early WeenTo this short list must go go "Death Drug". Why or how this film achieves this level or pure, blissed-out, dementia-soaked, head-spinning weirdness is beyond me. How they managed to make this movie so simultaneously lame that it nearly defies categorization and so other-worldly weird that it nearly achieves freak-out level is something one needs to see to experience. Put simply - Philip Michael Thomas (of Miami Vice fame) made this crappy anti-PCP movie in the late 70s. Then, in the mid-80s, apparently as a way to make a buck, he dug the thing up and inserted footage (clearly from 80s) that is supposedly part of the movie. He also puts in intro and outro's of himself (dressed in his flashy Miami Vice duds) talking about how proud he is of the movie. but he appears to be improvising what he's saying and he takes this HUGE pauses while talking. IT's just weeeeiiiiiiirrrrrrrrd. Anyway, you must see this movie. Find it and watch it and experience. You must experience Death Drug now. It's the wack, baby!!!
B.H.I.B.
Death Drug is without a doubt, the best film of all time. Not only does it directly rip-off two classics- Disco Godfather (the anti PCP theme) and Slithis (the coke bottle vision during the hallucination), it shows Phillip Micheal Thomas at his all time best(worst). The music video will have you rollin! Watch for PMT's head superimposed over a pregnant woman's belly. Pure genius in B-movie glory!! The supplements on the video release are even better. Phillip Micheal intros and outros the film, and his ramblings make you wonder if he has indeed succumbed to the "sherm" himself. A must see!
