The best films about bad trips aren't really about drugs at all. When reality stops cooperating, the walls seem to be closing in and every exit leads to a wrong turn, somedays, that’s what life feels like. Whether it’s a nightmare in Times Square, heroin addiction in Edinburgh, or missing the last local in Mumbai, these films weaponise anxiety, paranoia and absurdity to take you to the depths of hell, entertaining you the whole way there.
1. Kaalakaandi (2018) – Directed by Akshat Verma
You have been diagnosed with stomach cancer, last stage. Do you try LSD for the first time?
Directed by the writer of another beloved black comedy Delhi Belly, Kaalakaandi is a hyperlink film that follows multiple storylines that hilariously entangle with each other to create a darkly comic and starkly unique perspective, capturing the momentum of a city like Mumbai and characters that you could expect to run into on the street. Starring Saif Ali Khan, who finds out he is about to die, does LSD for the first time and has an affair with a transgender prostitute, the film also includes subplots about cheating wives and foolish gangsters. While this film was unsuccessful at the box office and has been largely forgotten, just like the other brilliant films the actor took on in what can only be described as the actor’s midlife crisis, Kaalakaandi is yet another brilliant addition to the roster, between Laal Kaptaan, Chef, Rangoon and Happy Ending and definitely a great movie about bad trips.
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2. Good Time (2017) – Directed by The Safdie Brothers
You need to make bail for your brother. How far do you go?
The Safdie Brothers are known for their stress-inducing style of filmmaking, and no film reflects that better than the Robert Pattinson starrer Good Time. Running at breakneck speeds, this film opens with a bank heist and ensures that’s just the start of a momentum that keeps building upon itself over and over again, playing with anticipation as the characters navigate through increasingly crazy situations throughout its runtime. The film doesn’t give its characters or the audience a moment’s rest and relishes in the panic and anxieties it builds and maintains, with every plot device propelling the story further and further towards a point of no return until it has no choice but to kamikaze towards the end. With a thumping score that lingers and frantic, disjointed, almost documentary-like editing, this film delivers on its promise of a good time — not to its characters, but definitely to the audience.
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3. Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007) – Directed by Sanjay Khanduri
You missed the last local train and are stranded at Kurla station, trying to get to Vikroli. Rickshaws on strike. You decide to wait it out. What’s the worst that could happen?
Sanjay Khanduri’s debut film starring Abhay Deol and Neha Dhupia is a forgotten black comedy gem with an interesting premise and fun plot devices that drag the audience through the armpits of Mumbai — shady bars and gangster hideouts filled with colourful characters like underworld dons, corrupt cops, cunning prostitutes, sly gamblers and sleazy drug addicts — leaving the innocent protagonist to navigate this absurd world in an attempt to simply get home on time. Borrowing from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers, with a brilliant rock soundtrack by Pakistani band Call, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local is an essential Mumbai film and an incredibly comic thriller.
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4. Vanilla Sky (2001) – Directed by Cameron Crowe
You either wear the mask, or become it.
Based on the Spanish film Open Your Eyes, Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky opens with Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place” and somehow only gets crazier from there. The film, narrated by a disfigured Tom Cruise wearing a mask to his court-appointed psychologist while he is being held for murder, follows his downward descent from a successful playboy to a broken-down loser. With sci-fi elements sprinkled into this otherwise grounded love story, Vanilla Sky is one of Cruise’s many wonderful mainstream films that hide far more beneath the surface than you might initially assume, seamlessly blending dream logic with grounded storytelling and crafting an experience unlike any other.
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5. Requiem for a Dream (2000) – Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, orange in the evening. And green at night.
Following the interconnected lives of four New Yorkers dealing with their own drug addiction, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream is really a slow-building nightmare scenario that shows the dangers of addiction and the extent to which it can push someone. It perfectly captures the prison of delusion drugs can put people in and then pulls the rug from under them, shattering that illusion and forcing them into harsh reality. With a memorable soundtrack by Clint Mansell and a rare good performance by Jared Leto, the film’s unique style — featuring split-screens, tracking shots and timelapses — has been genre-defining and makes it a landmark cinematic experience.
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6. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) – Directed by Terry Gilliam
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, the film documents the journey of a journalist duo to Las Vegas while tripping on psychoactive drugs the whole time. Redefining the meaning of a cinematic “trip”, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas faithfully follows the characters as they wander through absurd situations, make terrible decisions and somehow still emerge from the chaos. The film illustrates the bizarre consequences of different drugs through surreal visual storytelling, painting a beautiful yet cynical portrait of the gambling haven in the middle of the desert in 1970s America. With career-defining performances by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro and a retro soundtrack featuring Jefferson Airplane, Tom Jones and Bob Dylan, this is a film worth watching.
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7. Lost Highway (1997) – Directed by David Lynch
“I like to remember things my own way. How I remembered them, not necessarily the way they happened.”
Any list about trippy films remains incomplete without the mention of David Lynch, and this neo-noir horror is perhaps among his more unappreciated works. Lost Highway begins with the story of a saxophonist who murders his wife and halfway through shifts focus to an auto mechanic who encounters the same woman again. The film loops in on itself repeatedly, never quite making complete sense — as expected from a Lynch film — yet remaining deeply engaging. With a haunting soundtrack featuring Angelo Badalamenti, Trent Reznor and David Bowie, Lost Highway stands as one of Lynch’s most disturbing and hypnotic works.
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8. Trainspotting (1996) – Directed by Danny Boyle
Noun. The activity of watching trains and writing down their engine numbers.
A film about heroin addicts in Scotland should not be nearly as fun as Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting ends up being. Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, the film follows multiple characters through chaotic situations as they navigate addiction, recovery and relapse. It does not shy away from showing the horrific reality of heroin addiction — from filthy toilets to overdoses — while maintaining a kinetic rhythm with surreal camerawork, rapid editing and hallucination-like sequences. With a fantastic soundtrack and unforgettable performances, Trainspotting remains deeply provocative and wildly entertaining.
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9. Om Dar-B-Dar (1988) – Directed by Kamal Swaroop
Your favourite Indian filmmaker’s favourite film.
Om Dar-B-Dar is a lot of things. Comprehensible may not be one of them. Yet the film has inspired filmmakers such as Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Kashyap and Kiran Rao for good reason. It captures fragments of reality, distorts them and connects them disjointedly to create a post-modern reflection of Indian art, religion, culture and politics. If that sounds complicated, it is also a film that has motivated generations of Indian stoners to gather around a television and lose themselves in its madness.
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10. After Hours (1985) – Directed by Martin Scorsese
All Paul wanted to do was get home. But the night had other plans.
Martin Scorsese’s After Hours is a darkly funny and strangely surreal film about a computer clerk’s misadventures over one night as he desperately tries to find his way back home after a date goes wrong. Filled with eccentric characters and cascading miscalculations, the film shows how a series of small mistakes can spiral into complete chaos. Referencing everything from Kafka’s The Trial to Raj Kapoor’s Jagte Raho and inspiring nearly every other film on this list, After Hours remains an underrated must-watch.
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Conclusion
Trip.
Noun. A journey or excursion, usually for pleasure.
Verb. Catch one's foot on something and stumble or fall.
From Scorsese's grimy New York night to Lynch's identity-dissolving highways, what connects these films is that the “trip” is never really the point - it’s the vehicle. A way of stripping characters down to their rawest selves and seeing what remains when the familiar world stops making sense. Some of these films will make you laugh. Some will make you deeply uncomfortable. A few might do both at the same time, which is perhaps the most honest thing cinema can do.
So roll one up with your favourite smoothmix blend, sink into your couch and let these films take you somewhere the straight and narrow never could. Watch them in good company or alone - just don’t make any big plans for the morning after.
