The punk rock supergroup OFF! has released their film, Free LSD. The directorial debut of guitarist Dimitri Coats is a rock’n’roll film in the style of Hard days night And The wallbut feels spiritually closer to the Monkees film, Head. Given the crazy plot and indie nature, you’d immediately want to classify the film as a cult classic or a midnight movie for all the wrong reasons, but the band have created something truly special and you can tell how much time and care has gone into it.
In another dimension, grey-haired and bearded Keith Morris works at a Los Angeles sex shop by day and has a podcast about aliens by night. Keith meets a new Los Angeles resident, Cici, when she comes into his shop. Later that night, he is followed to the gas station by a man with completely black eyes who speeds off after throwing a cigarette at him. The next day, Keith and Cici meet behind his shop, but Keith is unable to masturbate. Disappointed in himself, Keith decides to visit the Boner Doctor (David Yow of the Jesus Lizard). The Boner Doctor gives Keith a vial of a white liquid known as the antidote.
After drinking the antidote, Keith has vivid memories of being the lead singer of a punk rock band in another dimension. However, he is brought back to his reality when, after the show, he is kidnapped and shot in the back of the head by the black-eyed man who had been following him earlier. The Boner Doctor tells Keith he is the lead singer of OFF! and must gather the rest of the band in this dimension to change their fate and save the universe.
This was one of the weirdest movies I’ve seen in a long time, but it was also a lot of fun. Coats has written a script that is mostly science fiction, but also has a bit of comedy and horror in it. Writing is about figuring out how to repurpose cliches, but what you do with them is key. Coats’ script is mostly good and well paced. The film falters a little towards the end, but the ride is fun. There are a lot of cameos in the films, from punk rockers to comedians, but it doesn’t feel like it’s overloaded with them.
It was great to see Keith Morris and the rest of OFF! hold their own as actors. Seeing Keith’s skills in this film makes you wish he had done more than just lip-sync a lounge version of “When The Shit Hits The Fan.” RepoMan. Each band member represents themselves and their alternate version from the other dimension, with Keith and Dimitri’s alternates showing the most noticeable changes in appearance.
Dimitri Coats’ script went through several changes in the eight years it took to make the film, including a title change, failed Kickstarter projects, and several rewrites as the band’s lineup changed over the years. The film is dedicated to drummer DH Peligro, who stepped in when OFF! drummer Justin Brown had to drop out of the film at the last minute. His intervention saved the production from being abandoned altogether.
The sun is setting on stories involving multiverses and alternate dimensions. They have been hammered into us many times in recent years, but this is a special entry, almost on the level of Everything, everywhere, everything at once. Many people will not take this film seriously, but Free LSD is the best kind of art and does nothing to hide its ridiculous concept. It treats the stakes as seriously as a heart attack and the laughs accordingly. The care that went into this film oozes through the screen. I went in thinking I was going to see a silly punk rock movie, but when I left I saw something much more.
