THE BACK ROW: Movies Under the Influence
This weekend’s big release is Land of the Lost, an action comedy inspired by the campy '70s Sid and Marty Krofft show, which itself appeared to have been inspired by several hits of acid. The Krofft siblings may very well have been completely sober when they concocted their fabulously bizarre low-budget children’s shows, but if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be the first artists to draw inspiration from illicit substances.
The influence of mind-altering drugs on movies like Dazed and Confused and Pineapple Express is overt and obvious. But with other films, it’s a bit more subtle – and infinitely more bizarre:
Battlefield Earth
Hack science fiction author L. Rob Hubbard’s experimentation with psychotropic drugs is well-documented, so it stands to reason that any movie based on his work would be suitably bizarre. But what was John Travolta smoking when he signed on to star in it? Holy Xenu, this movie blows.
Xanadu
While Olivia Newton-John’s trippy disco musical may not be based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s opium-fueled poem (though it is briefly referenced), it appears to share the same inspiration. Crazy genre mashups, a dose of Greek mythology and a random animated sequence are just a few of the strange delights you’ll find in this 1980 head-scratcher.