Aphrodisiac

Aphrodisiac! The Sexual Secret of Marijuana (1971)

So I’m not sure how to review this bad boy, but what the hell I’ll take a crack at it. This is a crazy bit of sleaze form the early ‘70s that is masquerading as a documentary. Basically what you get is a series of dramatic recreations about how smoking weed will drop your inhibitions and make you want to have sex. The stories all start the same with an interview that leads to a setup (sort of a film version of dear Penthouse…), which then leads to a sex scene. We get to see all sorts of marijuana parties and people fondling each other over and over again. Though one of the best parts is the husband that sneaks some marijuana laced cookies into his anniversary supper as a “marital aid”. Yeah this one really is good and sleazy. Oh and I guess that I should warn you that the movie is hard-core. Really nothing is left to the imagination here and some might find the grooming “habits” of the early ‘70s a bit horrifying. The movie also shows us how booze can make your performance less then great, while marijuana makes it better!

Mixed in with the sex scenes are man on the street interviews talking about Marijuana and what the common man thinks smoking it will do. Not only that but we get to see all the legitimate uses of weed and get a basic science lesson about it. Toss in a brief history of the drug and why it became popular. The movie also makes it’s case that marijuana really shouldn’t be illegal and hints at some other motives for it’s use being made against the law. This is a fun throwback to the old days when movies like this had to mask themselves as legitimate documentaries so they could titillate an audience with the more racier stuff.

A couple of other things that I wanted to mention. Obviously this isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Personally I don’t know if it is my age or all those years of Skinemax, but the movie didn’t interest me that way at all. Then again I’m sure that the audience in the ‘70s found it to be more interesting. I also wanted to mention that the print used is very rough and shows some age. There are scratches and the color at times is a bit pink. But to me that only makes watching an older movie like this more fun. I’m not sure a movie like this should be cleaned up and re-mastered. The only reason that I mention this is because I know this bothers some collectors so consider yourself warned.

At the end of the day you are either going to be interested in watching this movie or not. I found Aphrodisiac the Sexual Secret of Marijuana to be sort of funny and an interesting look at a low budget bit of sleazy fun from the ‘70s. Not sure I’ll ever watch it again, but worth checking out if you dig exploitation movies. The movie is available from Impulse pictures, check out their site for more information.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer