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Death Drug
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| Year: |
1978
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Director: |
Oscar Williams
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| Stars: |
Philip Michael Thomas, Vernee Watson-Johnson, Rosalind Cash, Frankie Crocker, John Poole, Casey Biggs, Chip Branton, Robert Burgos, The Gap Band, Tony Major, Ric Mancino, Larry McCormick
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| Genre: |
Drama, Trash |
| Rating: |
  3 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Hello, this is Philip Michael Thomas and he has something to tell us about the film we are about to watch. He may have won global fame with his television series Miami Vice where he played Detective Rico Tubbs to much fan adulation, but here is an earlier role he would like us to take into account, since he believes that a part such as this comes along rarely in an actor's career, and it is so important we should take away from it the message that PCP, or angel dust, is an extremely dangerous drug. He likens it to crack in its properties of death dealing and life-ruining, and so we settle down to see him essay the role of happy-go-lucky plumber and budding songwriter Jesse Thomas, and take heed of the dire warning his grave mistakes represented...
Ever since Reefer Madness in the nineteen-thirties it seems there will be media trying to tell us of the damage drug abuse can do to us, and just as there are these awful warnings there is guaranteed to be someone laughing heartily in the face of their hyperbole and exaggeration. Of course, drug addiction is a tragedy for many, yet when we get to see the terrible consequences played out in fictional though instructional form the temptation is to resist being lectured to: even a well-regarded movie like Requiem for a Dream has its detractors, much like all those cash-in exploitation flicks disguised as public service productions have done for decades now.
In this case we had a celebrity endorsement, though Thomas was not a celebrity when he made this back in 1978, but by the time it was put out on home video in 1986 new footage, apparently shot on a camcorder, was added to beef up the showbiz connections. He appeared in bookends to the action, looking to be filmed in someone's fairly expensive house (well, they have their own pool table at least, not that the weirdly off-balance Thomas exhibits much skill when he tries to pot a ball), and emphasising the excellence of the film you would be hard pressed to note if he hadn't pointed it out, and even then you'll likely be dubious. Along with those, we also had "news" reports on what happens to Jesse, and most memorably of all a music video from the star's attempt to kick off his own solo career as a singer.
That video features Phil as some cosmic being or other, going as far as representing him inside the womb of a pregnant lady, and being fondled by a group of dancers sporting face paint, all explained by telling us Jesse's music career had brought him to it in spite of the original footage showing he didn't get going in that line because of his introduction to angel dust. It happens when he is at the world's most embarrassing disco where The Gap Band are playing with an invisible orchestra, and a mysterious man (disc jockey Frankie Crocker) who we later see playing tennis gives him a spiel about how this drug will give him the best high of his life. The tennis bit is important as it shows evil drug dealers keep their supply handy in the handles of their rackets. Anyway, one hit later and Jesse is having visions of a race-changing seductress, much to his wife's chagrin.
Said wife (Vernee Watson-Johnson) is merely there to emote when her partner goes haywire thanks to his addiction, and also get pregnant to increase the pathos, but really this was Thomas's show all the way, his over-eager performance (he seems to be on something even before he takes the PCP) cementing the admittedly brief film in the cult of "so bad it's good". Not that Death Drug was good in any way, it has to be said, but it was entertaining with its absurd earnestness and examples of how this drug downfall exhibits itself. Paranoia and hallucinations, mostly, as Jesse loses his job for brawling with the boss, and the recording sessions go awry when he envisions The Gap Band themselves have taken to mocking him, though as if that wasn't bad enough he also sees his hairbrush turn into a rubber, baby crocodile. We have already been shown the effects of late stage addiction as a bald, foaming at the mouth chap attacks rollerskaters, but if anything our sad hero's fate is more ridiculous, sort of a nightmare Benny Hill episode at the supermarket. Pity the trucker forgot about his brakes, really.
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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