Reefer Madness (originally made as Tell Your Children and sometimes titled The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth, and Love Madness) is a 1936 American exploitation film about drugs, revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana – upon trying it, they become addicted, eventually leading them to become involved in various crimes such as a hit and run accident, manslaughter, murder, conspiracy to murder and attempted rape. While all this is happening, they suffer hallucinations, descend into insanity, associate with organized crime and (in one character's case) commit suicide. The film was directed by Louis J. Gasnier and featured a cast of mainly little-known actors.
Originally financed by a church group under the title Tell Your Children, the film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use.[6] Soon after the film was shot, it was purchased by producer Dwain Esper, who re-cut the film for distribution on the exploitation film circuit, exploiting vulgar interest while escaping censorship under the guise of moral guidance, beginning in 1938–1939 through the 1940s and 1950s.[6]
The film was "rediscovered" in the early 1970s and gained new life as an unintentional satire among advocates of cannabis policy reform.[6][7] Critics have called it one of the worst films ever made and has gained a cult following within cannabis culture.[8][9] Today, it is in the public domain in the United States.[7]
^Ernest Mathijs (2007). The Cult Film Reader. McGraw-Hill International. p. 127. ISBN 9780335219230. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
^Bryan Senn (1996). Golden horrors: an illustrated critical filmography of terror cinema, 1931–1939. McFarland. p. 408. ISBN 9780786401758. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
^"Reefer Madness (1938)". Public Domain Review. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
^"Tell Your Children (Original Print Information)". Turner Classic Movies (via American Film Institute catalog). Retrieved December 19, 2013.
^Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 296. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
^ abcCite error: The named reference History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abPeary, Danny (1981). Cult Movies. New York: Delacorte Press. pp. 203–205. ISBN 0440016266.
^"Reefer Madness (1936)". AMC (TV channel). Archived from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
^Stemme, Joe (September 4, 2005). "What's the Worst Movie Ever?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
ReeferMadness (originally made as Tell Your Children and sometimes titled The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth, and Love Madness) is a 1936...
franchise. He also appeared in the role of Ralph in the off-Broadway show ReeferMadness and its 2005 film adaptation. He is also the first voice actor to take...
investigative journalism, such as in his books Fast Food Nation (2001), ReeferMadness (2003), and Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident...
television series Big Love and on stage as Jimmy Harper in the musical ReeferMadness. Campbell's mother, Marnie (née Neve), is a yoga instructor and psychologist...
attempted rape, and descent into madness, association with organized crime and suicide. Pacific Standard wrote that ReeferMadness was "one of the first films...
Medusa", "Strange Fruit" and "ReeferMadness" Rafe McKenna – engineer on "Madam Medusa", "Strange Fruit" and "ReeferMadness" Neil Black – assistant engineer...
ABC/CBS sitcom Step by Step. She also played Joan of Arc on Showtime's ReeferMadness, was the sidekick on Craig Kilborn's 2010 Fox talk show The Kilborn...
time on Veronica Mars, she starred as Mary Lane in the musical film ReeferMadness: The Movie Musical (2005), a role she would later reprise in the New...
anti-drug propaganda film ReeferMadness (1936) as an ironic counterculture comedy. The broad popularity of ReeferMadness led to a new audience for extreme...
as a subject in Eric Schlosser's 2003 book on underground economies, ReeferMadness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. Sturman,...
Bored to Death. She also starred in the Showtime original movie musical ReeferMadness (2005), as the promiscuous Sally. She also appeared in Synecdoche, New...
director. His credits as a theater director include the premiere of the ReeferMadness! musical, the first Los Angeles production of the play Jewtopia, and...
young girls in the Ozarks. Other issues, such as drug use in films like ReeferMadness (1936), attracted audiences that major film studios would usually avoid...
nowadays for her performance in the infamous anti-dope exploitation movie ReeferMadness, made in 1936. It is she who appears in the film's most remembered sequence...
year they appeared together in the low-budget exploitation cheapie ReeferMadness, which in modern times has become a well-known cult film. She also appeared...
Jack in both the New York City and Los Angeles stage productions of ReeferMadness. Earlier in his career, Torti was honored with a Tony Award nomination...
referendum". Politico. 2024. Sloman. Reefermadness: the history of marijuana in America. p. 61. Sloman. Reefermadness: the history of marijuana in America...
broken windows policy is not as effective. In a 2007 study called "ReeferMadness" in the journal Criminology and Public Policy, Harcourt and Ludwig found...
Retrieved January 21, 2021. Isherwood, Charles (October 13, 2001). "ReeferMadness". Variety. Retrieved January 21, 2021. Isherwood, Charles (March 8,...
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