Alice in Acidland (1969)

A psychiatrist (director Donn Greer) begins narrating the sad tale of Alice Trenton (Sheri Jackson), a nice college student who gets in with the wrong crowd. Alice starts narrating too, and after a while they alternate, explaining the silent black & white footage on the screen.

Alice goes to a pool party given by her beautiful, smiling French teacher Frieda (Julia Blackburn). Wearing a polka-dot bikini, Alice smokes her first cigarette (“I felt like a real kid!”) and drinks. All of a sudden she and Freda are naked in a bathtub kissing and fondling each other.

Later, they hop into a Volkswagen and go to the bathroom of a service station so they can change into hip clothes and smoke a joint.

They walk on the Sunset Strip (“She’d now become a wild twilight hippie!”) until they find another party. Animal (Roger Gentry) fondles Alice on the floor while a sappy song about soft lips plays.

The men have conservative haircuts and wear black slacks with combs in their back pockets. During sex scenes, they leave their boxer shorts on.

At yet another party, where lots of pot is smoked, an “acid test” is announced and Alice swallows a sugar cube. (“I began to float, my temples were pounding!”) The offscreen shrink informs us that Animal has driven Alice’s best friend to suicide.

The rest of the movie is completely unrelated, full-colour, psychedelic footage showing Alice’s trip.

The music gets wilder, somebody recites some poetry and there’s a frantic light-and-strobe show. (“Let me eat the flowers!”) Women with painted eyes and paper flowers dance, strip, lie around naked, and pose. (“Take me! Love me!”)

The dead friend shows up and the last shot is Alice in a straitjacket in a padded cell (“She’s a mental vegetable!”) The End.

Alice Trenton
Sheri Jackson
Frieda Hamilton
Julia Blackburn
Animal (Bob Fletcher)
Roger Gentry
Kathy Wilson
Janice Kelly
Narrator
Donn Greer

Director
Donn Greer (as John Donne)