The Acid House

1998 Drama

This adaptation of three stories from Irvine Welsh's short-story collection of the same name reunites Annie Louise Ross, Kevin McKidd, and Ewen Bremner from the author's previous cinematic success, Trainspotting, which was also set in the author's native North Edinburgh. In the Kafka-esque "The Granton Star Cause," a lazy amateur footballer (Stephen McCole) has a very, very bad day that culminates in God (Maurice Roeves) turning him into an insect. In "A Soft Touch," a young husband and father (McKidd) finds his life disrupted when a psychotic neighbor (Gary McCormack) takes up with his wife (Michelle Gomez) and invades his wretched tenement. And in "The Acid House," a druggie low-life (Bremner) experiences a Freaky Friday-style body switch with the infant son of a pair of self-involved yuppies. After "The Granton Star Cause" was screened separately at the Edinburgh Film Festival, the completed film was shown at Cannes in 1998. The title is a play on the term "acid house," a form of sinister dance music that emerged in Chicago in the mid-'80s and helped fuel the formative years of England's rave culture. Former Doctor Who actor Maurice Roeves, who plays God in "The Granton Star Cause," also has cameos in the other two segments. Jemma Redgrave, niece of Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave and cousin of Natasha and Joely Richardon, appears in the title segment and lends her Bjork-haired visage to the film's poster. more..

Director: Paul McGuigan

Starring: Stephen McCole, Maurice Roeves, Kevin McKidd, Michelle Gomez, Gary McCormack

Reviews

  • It's MTV meets Merchant-Ivory, at once manneristic, hallucinatory, and exhilarating.

    - Chicago Reader

    27 April 2013

  • A blast of manic energy in the form of a film.

    Edward Guthmann - The San Francisco Chronicle

    27 April 2013

  • The Acid House comes across as a shadow of "Trainspotting," albeit a vibrant, noisy, frantic shadow.

    - The A.V. Club

    27 April 2013

  • God moves in mysterious -- some might say positively spiteful -- ways in this trio of scabrous tales adapted from short stories by "Trainspotting's" Irvine Welsh.

    Maitland McDonagh - TV Guide

    27 April 2013

  • A mess, albeit one with occasional flashes of brilliance.

    Marc Savlov - Austin Chronicle

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Single Drama

    BAFTA Awards (1998)

     
  • Paul McGuigan

    Fantasporto (1999)

  • Fiction - Single Plays

    Prix Italia (1998)

  • Paul McGuigan

    Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (1999)

     
  • Competition

    Stockholm Film Festival (1998)