Take a trip to The Acid House

By Chris Cadieux

Irvine Welsh is back on the big screen, this time with three short stories from The Acid House. Each part of the trilogy is treated as its own separate film, beginning with The Granton Star Cause. In Granton we follow Boab (Stephen McCole), a lazy, working-class guy who thinks he has everything. In the course of one unlucky day, he gets arrested, is kicked off his football team, and loses his home, his girlfriend and his job.

Defeated, Boab turns to the drink at a local pub where he is approached by God (Maurice Roebves). God, dressed as a normal guy, is drinking a pint and smoking–after all man was made in God’s image–and is angry at the way Boab has lived his life. In his wrath, he punishes Boab by turning him into a different lifeform which allows him to get revenge on his former boss and ex-girlfriend.

Granton was quite enjoyable and very amusing in a sick and twisted way. The idea of making God into an average guy was especially clever. Apparently, God doesn’t help the starving children of the world because he is too lazy.

The second film, A Soft Touch is the story of Johnny (Kevin McKidd) who is manipulated, bullied and pushed around by everyone including his pregnant wife Catriona (Michelle Gomez). Johnny tries to keep his sanity as Catriona turns everything to shite. Catriona and their new neighbour, Larry (Gary McCormack), have developed a relationship which leaves Johnny to take care of the baby.

A Soft Touch ends with Johnny back in the same place he started, seemingly stuck in an infinite loop. This film wasn’t as enjoyable as depressing. I kept wanting Johnny to do something about his situation, but he never does. A Soft Touch, unfortunately, stood as a rather unremarkable addition to the trilogy.

The final film, The Acid House follows Coco (Ewen Bremner), a drug-using raver and who takes some very strong acid at the start of the film Coco begins tripping so badly that while receiving communion, he believes that instead of bread, the priest is giving him a tab of acid. During Coco’s trip, he and a new born baby exchange bodies.

Coco’s body now has the mind of a newborn and has to be retrained in everything. Meanwhile Coco’s mind remains in the baby. We hear Coco’s dialogue as he is feeding on his new mommy’s breast. Hilarity ensues when the baby starts talking and swearing–hey, you can’t go wrong with a swearing baby.