Bad Acid (2016) - Genie in a Bottle

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted a short film movie review on a Monday, a practice we used to refer to as Short Movie Monday. Well, I’m going to try and revive that starting today with Bad Acid (2016).

Bad Acid is the debut short film from writer / director David Chaudoir. It tells the story of Marvin Maskelyn who is a washed up hypnotist whose fame and fortune has run out. It stars Tristan Beint as Marvin, Madeleine Bowyer as his long suffering manager, Tiffany Haynes as the ill fated Bella and William Kempsell as Detective Chetwyn.

Bad Acid – Plot & Thoughts

After losing his in a bar fight, Marvin acquires a genie’s lamp with a questionable past. He gets the lamp from a friend of his who owns a trinket store and soon realizes that the lamp contains a few hits of acid. He heads into the woods and takes and proceeds to go on a beautifully filmed trip complete with psychedelic colors and images. During his trip he wishes to once again be famous. His wish is granted but he doesn’t get quite what he bargained for.

Director David Chaudoir, considers Bad Acid his love-letter to the British horror films of Amicus, Hammer and Tyburn. It is just shy of 17 minutes but you can really see those influences come through. As I said before this is a beautifully shot short that is crisp in both look and storytelling. There are several references to the number three including three failed performances, three wishes, and finally three deaths. The trip scene itself is masterfully done. I don’t know enough about the technical aspects of film making to say how it was done but the “warble” as the LSD takes of was awesome as was the changing of the colors of the leaves in the forest. It reminded me of WAY back in the day when you’d turn the knob on your television to adjust the color. As I type that last sentence I realize there’s probably quite a few folks who have no idea what I’m talking about. Just trust me when I say my description is accurate.

Without giving anything away I’ll say that I would have like to have seen some more of the genie, especially when it interacted with Bella but I can totally understand why we didn’t. With that small criticism out of the way I’ve got nothing but praise to heep on Bad Acid. Strong recommend. There are some upcoming screenings of the film which you can find here.