Hallucination Generation Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Hallucination Generation Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 7, 2021

If you're a fan of so-called Electronic Dance Music and/or the Chill genre, the island of Ibiza may be something of a Holy Grail destination for you (if you haven't already visited, that is) since it is home to a number of high profile venues that regularly feature that kind of soundscape, including the legendary Café del Mar. Decades before the almost trance inducing aforementioned music idioms became popular, young people were evidently flocking to this Spanish paradise and enjoying somewhat more "primitive" rock 'n' roll as they also experimented with LSD, something that may have put them into another kind of dazed state somewhat like a trance. Hallucination Generation was, at least according to its executive producer Robert D. Weinbach (who's on hand in a supplementary interview included as a bonus item on this disc), the first film to feature "acid" as a plot point, beating the better known The Trip to theaters by several months. It was also (again according to Weinbach) loosely based on a real life murder that took place on Ibiza after some kids dropped the hallucinogenic drug and then went on a wild spree which ended in the killing of an antiques dealer.

The film begins in medias res, with some kind of after effects of either drug ingestion, bad behavior, and/or a combination of the two leading to the collapse of a young man named Bill (Danny Steinmann, later the director of Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning, credited here as Danny Stone). Bill's voiceover alerts us to the fact that this sad state of affairs could happen to you (in what seems like a deliberate echo of "here in your town" from the legendary Reefer Madness), and the rest of the film then charts his course as an expat in Ibiza come to enjoy the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, though not necessarily in that order.

Bill's social circle extends to his friend Denny (Tom Baker, and, no, not that one), and, later, a pretty girl named Carol (Marianne Kanter), but everything changes once Bill and his gaggle of friends fall under the sway of a Svengali like dealer named Eric (George Montgomery). One of the kind of interesting things about Hallucination Generation when seen courtesy of a little hindsight is how it offers a story with a perhaps psychologically astute "mentor" leading a bunch of kids down a garden path to not just debauchery but actual physical violence. The film's kind of cheeky casting of Montgomery, who then might have been best known as having just been recently divorced from Dinah Shore, gives this film a rather peculiar edge.

While there's the undeniable "warning" aspect to the story, Hallucination Generation may actually be more interesting as a kind of sociological artifact from a bygone age, especially with its reliance on the ostensible culture of Ibiza. The film's "freak out" moments will probably provoke laughter among both younger viewers and perhaps especially older sorts who may in fact have experienced a hallucination or two themselves back in the day.

Hallucination Generation Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hallucination Generation is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Vidcrest with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The disc features two versions of the film, one listed as being an "updated sepia tone version featuring color psychedelic FX" and another in the bonus features submenu listed as the "original black and white version". I'm not quite sure what Vidcrest defines as "sepia tone", but as can be seen by the screenshots accompanying this review, the tinting is actually much more rose-pink colored, and in fact there are several scenes where backgrounds can almost attain a violet hue. Just from a personal preference perspective, I actually liked the black and white version better (seen in screenshots 15 through 17), as to my eyes it provided a more consistent accounting of fine detail, since the supposed "sepia tone" version tends to have blown out lighter tones (what I'm assuming were originally whites, but which here are often skewed toward purplish tones). There's a fair amount of damage to be seen in the form of scratches, nicks and things like reel change markers. Grain is rather heavy at times, but resolves without any major issues. Screenshots 18 and 19 document the difference between some of the brief "hallucination" effects in the two versions, with screenshot 19 coming from the original "black and white" version (even though this brief interstitial is ostensibly in color), and screenshot 18 showing the "new, improved" FX in the ostensibly "sepia toned" version.

Hallucination Generation Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hallucination Generation features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track that can sound a bit boxy in terms of some of the dialogue and voiceover, and also just slightly brash in terms of some of the music (there are quasi-musical moments with singing and dancing). All of this said, fidelity overall is certainly above average, and there's a nicely full bodied midrange. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Hallucination Generation Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Black and White Version (HD; 1:26:49) offers a few interesting changes other than the palette, including a different opening text crawl and old school hallucination effects.


• Behind the Scenes Producer Commentary (HD; 7:42) is an interview with producer Robert Weinbach.


• 50's LSD Experiments (HD; 10:37) offers some archival video of test subjects being given the drug. Hardly any murders take place.


• Take an Acid Trip with Bosch and Bruegels (HD; 6:25) is the first of two patently odd supplements that were evidently done by one Peter Ludwig Wegener, wherein he brings paintings to hallucinatory life.


• Fractals Meet Bosch (HD: 3:28) is the second Wegener piece, and is much more "swirly twirly" as it reinvents "The Garden of Earthly Delights".


• Pouff's Grocery Trip (HD; 2:53) is by James Roberts and features a freaky trek through a grocery store where it's hard to tell where reality ends and the hallucinations start.


• Image Gallery (HD; 1:27)

Additionally, the insert booklet seems to be a mini reproduction of the original pressbook, and the fact that this film even had a pressbook is kind of hilarious.

Hallucination Generation Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hallucination Generation never quite gets there as either exploitation fare or as a patented "anti drug" screed, but it's weirdly engaging in its own gonzo way. Video is a little problematic at times, and I personally found the "sepia toned" version to be less pleasing than the original black and white version, but audio is basically fine, and some of the supplements are, well, trippy, man, for those who are considering a purchase.