The Scare Film Archives Vol.1 - Drug Stories collects together a bumper crop of US educational drug-scare films from between the late ’50s and 1970s. In all, there are ten films featured here- with runtimes between ten minutes and half an hour- with the option to watch them one by one, or as one long mixtape. Here on 101 films, as part of their ongoing American Genre Film Archive series, is a recent blu ray release.

The selection of films here is fairly varied, and for the most part interesting/ worthy. Sure, a lot of facts and figures are repeated, but each of the films largely has their own take on its subject.

We kick off with Beyond LSD- this is from 1967 and was directed Paul Burnford. He had fourteen other shorts to his name. These go from 1938’s Free To Roam (maybe about being able to walk where you wish in the countryside?!), Dark Shadows (1944) which follows a police psychiatrist who is enlisted to catch a homicidal killer, and Skipper Learns a Lesson(1952) which finds a Caucasian girl moving into African American neighbourhood.

The film runs twenty-three minutes and thirteen seconds. It opens with a montage of a woman driving at night seemingly under the effects of something, a teen shaking his head back & forth in a bed, and a dead man- this is underplayed by a wavering male/ female sing-song pop-rock. Next up pops a middle-aged brill creamed and suited guy- talking about each of the clips, and what’s happened to each. Next, we have a series of dramatic set-ups between parents & teens- talking about drugs, long hair, etc, and how the generation split is the main issue with the understanding of LSD and drug use. As the credits roll, we find out the short was filmed/ produced by young people, including the music which is used made by 16-18 years old.

Next is 1961’s The Bottle and the Throttle- this runs at just over the ten-minute mark, with no director listed on IMDB. The film focuses on Bill- who has a few beers at a beach party, he drives home knocks down a mother and young child- the mother is paralysed, and the girl dies. We get blocky cartoons of the human body- showing us how alcohol affects it. We get footage of drinks at a bar, and how each affects driving, car crash pictures, etc.

Curious Alice is from 1971 and runs twelve minutes. It was written by Sandusky, Ohio born Dave Dixon, who apparently was known as Culture Czar-having four other credits to his name, these went from 1968’s Norman Normal- which is an animated satire on big business and social behaviour. Onto 1982’s Dinosaurs: Fun, Fact and Fantasy.

The film is a great shot of trippy animation- we see an early teen falling asleep in the summer sun with her cat. She drops down first into black and white animation, with her red drawn hair and stop motion photo face. As we go on things get more brown, red, and green in the animation- with Alice meeting different characters from Alice in wonderland who are taking drugs- like the caterpillar on hash, the rabbit on uppers, the king card character on heroin. With a great shifting backdrop of animation & close-up photos of trippy things/ nature- the whole thing is topped off by a great melting and spacy synth soundtrack

Next is 1970’s The Distant Drummer, also known as A Moveable Scene. This focuses on hippy culture and drug use/ mainly marijuana- it runs at just shy of the twenty-one-minute mark. It’s an American production directed by Glasgow born William Templeton- who had just three credits to his name, A Movable Feast (1970)- a short educational film about drug use, and Flowers of Darkness (1972) a short doc which traces history opium and heroin use in the US.

The Distant Drummer was narrated by none other than Robert Mitchem. With the footage moving from San Francisco's hippies smoking and at festivals, onto New York and New Orleans- where we see a biker gang and gap-toothed hippies chatting about getting high. We see a teen methadone addict talking about her drug use, and dropper footage. We briefly stop off in London, Rome, and Istanbul- to see more hippies. Later on, we get snippets of interviews with a Santa Monica Reverend, UCLA MD, and psychiatrist. With a brief stop off at a psych ward to see the after-effects of drugs. The whole thing had a rather roaming Mondo doc feel, with of course without the shocking stuff.

Drugs, Drinking & Driving- is from 1971, runs seventeen and a half minutes, and basically does what it says on the tin. There’s no director connected to it on IMDB. It kicks off with the Mission Impossible theme tune, and sweaty smuggling montage footage as a group of people bring an old woman dummy into the US stuffed with drugs- the narrator declares these are not the type of drugs we’re talking about. Next, we get footage of people, and a dog (for some unknown reason) taking over the counter drugs. As we move on we hear about a study on drink driving by the University of California, get interviews with folks who have taken prescription drugs, and got affected driving- like a writer who took an antihistamine and nearly drove in front of a train, and a woman on diet tablets & other medication, who has a single drink then ploughs through people & a shop. We see a study done with a thirty-one-year-old man & a twenty-eight-year-old woman- who drive non-stop for twenty-four hours, and then take different drugs to see how they affect them. This was short is another high point in the collection.

LSD: Insight Or Insanity? is from the year 1967, and runs just over seventeen and a half minutes. It was directed by one Max Miller- who had five other credits to his name, these went a 1956 episode of The Price Is Right, New York footage for 1957’s Oscars, a 1961 episode of Playboy’s Penthouse, and a few other 60’s and 70’s drug docs. 

It kicks off with footage of teens goofing around, teen women having their hair ironed, and comments like 'boys with hair longer than a Beatles'. 
Mr Voice over is here from the start, first showing us joint smoking, a girl having bad trip- as the opening credits play. We get a UCLA doctor talking about mental issues from the drug, and the history of the drug. Talk about how it affects those who have taken it- like shape and colour imagery, time slowing down, a girl standing in a mirror a second girl disappearing, a flower seemingly on an oven stove- leading to a burnt hand. We have a selection of newspaper clippings about the drug, and interviews with doctors and its users. A woman on a bad trip tied down in a hospital bed, finishing with a group of men playing Russian roulette.

LSD-25 is from 1967 and runs just over the twenty-six-and-a-half-minute mark. This was directed by one David Parker- he had only one other credit to his name Too Tough To Care which was an anti-smoking doc from 1964. 

It kicks off at night-time, as we see a man scoring some LSD- fairly soon, a sightly playful & quirky voice-over comes in- and this is meant to be LSD itself. We move from hippies in a record shop- wearing shape cut glasses. In silhouette interviews with users, and interviews with the common man & woman on the street. There is talk about the drug being tasteless and clear, and how it’s measured in micrograms. People detailing bad trips, we get footage of backstreet LSD labs, a man having a screaming & yelling trip, and users getting LSD counselling. 

Narcotics The Decision: Goofballs & Tea, aka The Narcotics Story, is from the year 1958. It was directed by Robert W. Larsen, who had two other short credits to his name- the wonderfully titled Mr Digit and the battle of bubbling brook(1961)- which details/ warns about the change in phone number systems. And Century 21 Calling...(1962) which follows two teens exploring a phone exhibit at the Seattle fair.

The Narcotics Story runs at the 26.44 mark. It opens with a crude animation of the human brain, with this great sinisterly discordant guitar and beat loop on top- the animation and music reappear though-out the film to great effect. Once again, we have Mr voice-over man- and he shows us a baby just born, who we are told will become a junky. Fast-forwarding through her youth to being an eighteen-year-old- the girl is bored one day as her mother’s out of town, so she starts drinking at home- this leads to friends being asked to come round. During the unplanned party, she smokes her first joint, and this starts her descent- going from regularly smoking joints, hanging out with drug dealers, and then shooting up. We get footage of marijuana and how joints are rolled, later on, a heroin user's kit, and shooting up. We also have a harrowing look at the comedown effects of heroin, and the effects it has on the body. 

None For The Road is from 1961, and was directed by J.P. Carson- this was his one and only credit. The film runs just shy of the ten-minute mark- and what we get here is the story of a family man who drink/ drives, and how it ruined his life. We start off with lots of swing ‘n’ groovy middle-aged folk boozing it up at home parties- with Mr voice-over man talking about how alcohol affects the body. Family-man is a casual drinker, and often waits a few hours before driving- but on one fatal night, they get a call telling them the babysitter has been taken ill- so he has to drive after more than a few cocktails. With him knocking down a girl on the way back home.

The Trip Back is from 1970, and it was directed by Ralph Weisinger- he also did the cinematography on the film, this was his only credit.
This film runs around the twenty-seven and a half minute mark. And what we have here is basically a filmed lecture in front of an audience of teens- which finds Florrie Fisher talking- she's an outspoken and gutsy Jewish new yorker in her fifties. She spent twenty years using drugs, and eighteen years in and out of the slammer. She starts off by saying that marijuana was her gateway drug- which led her to a life of drug addiction, prostitution, and crime. She is very passionate and no-nonsense, with one or two teens tearing up. The lectures topped off with questions from the teen audience.

Lastly, we have Users are Losers, this is from 1971- there is no director listed- it runs just over seventeen minutes. This focuses on a younger teen David, who wants to impress his new friends & get into drug. He gathers togeather and steals money his mother to get his first hit, but when going to buy it he finds an OD’d girl- with Mr voice-over doing the talking over the action. Later David meets an older teen whose given up drugs- he talks through the effects of marijuana, pills and LSD- which well and truly puts young David off- though when he goes to pick up his younger brother, he’s sniffing glue.

The Scare Film Archives Vol.1 - Drug Stories features a great selection of educational drug scare films, and I do hope as the title suggests there are more vols to come down the line. If you have any interest in public information films or retro drug-related fare- it’s something, you'll need to have. And it’s great to see it getting a UK release after its initial US release.