Pass the Popcorn to the Left Hand Side: Horror Movies for Your Smoke Sessions
Great horror films to watch while high that aren’t your typical stoner horror movies.
In my mid-twenties I went to see a late showing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) at my local theater. I thought it’d be cool/funny/a really good idea to get super stoned for it. But as the lights dimmed and the edibles kicked in, I had this small realization that I definitely got too high. Instead of leaving for fear of the edibles pushing me into unknown territory, I stayed. I’m glad I did––it was a great showing. I had a lot of fun and was thoroughly scared by a movie that hadn’t scared me since high school.
While I’m a fan of your typical stoner movies like Idle Hands or the original Scary Movie (2000), I prefer watching movies not about marijuana—though, I do love Z Nation where weed plays a big part of the zombie apocalypse. For other partakers of the Devil’s Oregano, here are my top recommendations of horror movies to watch while high that aren’t your regular stoner horror movies.
Non-Stoner Horror Movies for Stoners
I’m the type of person who loves a horror movie that is able to touch me emotionally and even make me cry—it’s why I love Flanagan’s Haunting of Hill House. That’s why the first movie I’m going to suggest is …
Suspiria (2018)
With a soundtrack composed by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of the 1977 Suspiria is one of the only horror movies to make me cry when I watch it. The movie is about a new student at a dance academy in West Berlin who falls in with the academy’s strange mythos and power. It’s beautifully put together, with stellar performances from Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton. I’ve watched this movie a handful of times, stoned and sober, and I gotta say that watching it high is such a wonderful experience. And it’s long enough to allow for multiple smoke sessions throughout the movie. With such well-choreographed dance, magic, and death sequences, it’s hard not to fall into a hypnotic trance while watching the movie.
Any and All Horror Musicals
Maybe you’ve picked up on the fact that I’m a fan of horror musicals. If not, then I’ll come out and say it—I love horror musicals. I love the blood. I love the spectacle. I love the song. When I’m high, the lines between me and the movement of the movie are lost. I am taken away by the performance and fully wrapped up in the story of the musical.
While there is not a horror musical I’ve ever come across while high that I haven’t liked, my favorites recently to watch have been Sinners, Queen of the Damned, and Little Shop of Horrors. What I love about all three of those as picks for this article is that each represents a different type of musical genre. If you want more folk and soul, put Sinners on. In the mood for nu-rock and thick eyeliner? Stuart Townsend in Queen of the Damned will not disappoint you. Can’t decide? Little Shop of Horrors mixes both worlds in a rock and Motown horrorshow.
Trick ‘r Treat (2007)
With Halloween just around the corner, I’d also recommend one of my favorite non-stoner horror movies to watch during the holidays, the 2007 anthology horror movie Trick ‘r Treat. The movie is a connected collection of short horror stories that all take place on Halloween night. There’s candy, creepy kids, and a wonderful urban legend fairy tale vibe to all the stories that make for a cozy night snuggled up with a bong, joint, vape pen, or edibles.
Brian Cox
American Psycho (2000)
In American Psycho, Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, a finance bro with a bloodlust slowly unraveling before his well-moisturized face. The protagonist of the 2000s American Psycho would say that you’re letting a really good strain of Northern Lights go to waste while you camp on the joint. (Just kidding. Patrick would never smoke weed because the smell would get on his suits. I do think he’d be okay with a hit of someone’s sleek vape pen after doing a line of coke.)
American Psycho has been one of my favorite horror movies since I was a kid, before I ever touched marijuana. I loved the movie for its music, style, cinematography, and descent into madness with an ambiguous ending. When I watch it now, I typically have specific moments where I like to take a hit or act out what Patrick does on the screen. I will admit, though, that there is a tipping point where if I get too high the killing and madness makes me feel sick and disturbed.
Reese Witherspoon
Fright Night (1985)
Fright Night follows a teen who is obsessed with horror as he learns his new neighbor is a vampire and tries to convince others of this truth while not getting eaten. We do not need to talk about the Fright Night (2011) remake. At all. All we ever need to talk about is the original Fright Night from 1985 with my favorite horror movie soundtrack of all time. The songs are dark 80s synth pop ballads about the night, vampire desire, and the mysteries of the beyond.
Honestly, my favorite reason to watch this movie while high is because of the killer soundtrack that makes me want to wear sunglasses at night as I toke. It’s also a movie that’s kinda about me. Young me. The little Aigner that did believe there were vampires that could move in across the street and watched enough horror movies that I was sure I would do the same thing that the main character does and attempt to oust the vampire or defeat him.
Ravenous (1999)
Colonizers eating each other. Need I say more?
For a bit more context, Ravenous is a movie about a military outpost that takes in a man who turns out to be a cannibal and wants to eat them, and also convert them to his cannibal ways. Like most of the movies on this list, Ravenous has a fantastic musical score that is very melodic and repetitive for the stoned ear. It is also a dark comedy with lots of silly humor, weird moments, and surprising turns.
Guy Pearce
Weed and horror combine to make an experience that’s both parts relatable and funny. Watching horror movies when stoned can be hair-raising from fear or gut-clenching with all the laughs. The experience is yours, each one different for the viewer.
For instance, a friend once told me that they think body horror while stoned is the best. Personally, I love a well-choreographed and cinematic horror movie with great music to take me away in my stoned state and fully wrap me in the movie’s atmosphere. What’s your flavor of stoner horror? What mellows you out or stimulates your mind in the realm of smoke and darkness?
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