ACID HOUSE, THE
SYNOPSIS:
The Acid House is a collection of three short stories. ‘The Granton Star Cause,’
covers a very, very bad day in the life of Boab Coyle (Stephen McCole); ‘A Soft
Touch’ revolves around Johnny (Kevin McKidd), who marries the very pregnant Catriona
(Michelle Gomez), who, almost as soon as the baby is born, starts making it with
psychopathic neighbour, Larry (Gary McCormack); In ‘The Acid House’, Coco Bryce
(Ewen Bremner), a speed-crazed madman, desperately fears commitment to his relationship
with Kirsty (Arlene Cockburn). Meanwhile, Rory (Martin Clunes) and his wife, Jenny (Jemma
Redgrave), are about to have their first child. Suddenly, in a burst of lightning, the
baby and an utterly stoned Coco somehow exchange personalities, much to the dismay of all.
"Trainspotting has a lot to answer for. Its wild, irreverent style and its delving
into Glasgow working-class society, was successful because of the film’s inventive
style and colourful characters. No such luck in this utterly appalling, ineptly made slice
of cinematic bile. How on earth this film ever got off the ground is unfathomable, but it
single-handedly has managed to turn back British cinema a decade. On a purely technical
level, under the guidance of amateur director Paul McGuigan, the film is a mess. This is
little more than three in-your-face clumsily crafted short films whose sole purpose is to
offend those viewers with enough 'bollocks' to suffer through this drug-induced piece of
nonsense. The first segment, in a footballer-turned-fly spots his deranged parents having
sex is singularly one of cinema's most deranged moments. Now this critic is not a puritan,
but that sex scene is simply confrontationist and exploitative. One imagines, that as long
as screenwriters know how to spell and say 'fuck’, then they must be literary
artists. There's more excessive profanity in this film than all of Eddie Murphy's concert
tours put together, and used so blatantly, that their repetition becomes annoying and
facile. The Acid House is completely in-your-face viciousness, done so badly and with
little purpose or imagination, that its effect is more numbing than entertaining. It may
have been designed to shock; what it succeeds in doing is alienating the audience. This
could well be the worst and most offensive film of the year, if not the decade."
Paul Fischer
"Call me crazy, but I think Irvine Welsh is a mysoginist. These three short
stories are great as stories but there is so much vigorous, almost violent sex, especially
in the middle story, that it becomes extremely difficult to watch. There must also be
someone in Scotland who finds the most grim locations in the entire world and presents
them to the makers of films like Trainspotting and Acid House. The first of the three
stories, The Granton Star Cause, was actually not too bad. God is very funny (not the one
I believe in, but funny all the same) and the whole scenario is extremely amusing. Boab
(Stephen McCole) is so unfortunate throughout the entire story that you can only laugh and
remember the days where you had thoughts about doing the things he does as a fly. But it
all falls down with the gratuitous sex scenes and the tasteless references to bondage. The
second, Soft Touch, is the worst offender of the three, starring one of the ugliest
characters I have ever set eyes on, Larry (Gary McCormack) who gets to shag Johnny's wife
Catriona. The third, The Acid House, was definitely the best story of the three, but
probably the most visually irritating. The first twenty minutes was pretty much a film
clip, a long and boring one at that, building up to the personality transfer/birth scene.
Ewen Bremner is fantastic as the two characters he must play - the yobbish Coco and the
nameless newborn, into whose body Coco's personality has ended up in. Many will say this
film is brilliant for the way it portrays people and the differences between the classes
but in reality it is little more than a vehicle for Welsh to reveal his prejudices."
Peter Anderson
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CRITICAL COUNT
Favourable: 0
Unfavourable: 2
Mixed: 0
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TRAILER
SOFCOM MOVIE TIMES
ACID HOUSE, THE (R)
(UK)
CAST: The Granton Star Cause: Stephen McCole, MauriceRoeves, Garry Sweeney, Jenny
McCrindle; A Soft Touch: Kevin McKidd, Michelle Gomez, Tam Dean Burn, Gary McCormack; The
Acid House: Ewen Bremner, Martin Clunes, Jemma Redgrave, Arlene Cockburn, Jane Stabler
DIRECTOR: Paul McGuigan
PRODUCER: David Muir, Alex Usbourne
SCRIPT: Irvine Welsh (based on his collection of short stories)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alasdair Walker
EDITOR: Andrew Hulme
MUSIC: Primal Scream, Nick Cave, Barry Adamson, Beth Orton, Marc Bolan, Oasis, The
Verve
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Richard Bridgland
RUNNING TIME: 118 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: New Vision
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: December 31, 1998
VIDEO RELEASE: July 21, 1999
VIDEO DISTRIBUTOR: 21st Century
A reader replies:
Didn't think it was quite THAT bad. Anyway, Mr Fischer should be advised
that Trainspotting was set in Edinburgh, not Glasgow, as is this film.
A niggling point, but I do feel that Accuracy is important in reviews.
Cheers!
Craig Woodfield, Sydney
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