Death Drug

Year releasted: 1978

by Nathan Rabin
November 15th, 2000

Made a year before Rudy Ray Moore combined disco, action, comedy, roller-skating, and an anti-PCP message in Avenging Disco Godfather, Death Drug stars Philip Michael Thomas as a plumber and aspiring musician whose career begins to take off after he signs with a big-time record company. But a night of tableside shimmying to The Gap Band takes a dark turn when a Willie Tyler lookalike offers him what he seductively refers to as "the stick with the kick," "the tower of power," and "a sherm coated with the juice from end to end." Though understandably confused by the jive talk, Thomas accepts anyway, and soon begins to exhibit the telltale wild-eyed gleam of a sherm fiend, causing wife Rosalind Cash to grow increasingly suspicious and doubt his claims that he's merely meditating. Too transfixed by his hairbrush's transformation into a snake to notice her reservations, Thomas later corners his dealer during a tennis match to score more sherm. Although peeved at Thomas' breach of Angel Dust etiquette, the dealer offers the fledgling dope fiend some "whack" he promises will "put the dip in your hip, more cut in your strut, and more glide in your stride." Eager to function with more cut in his strut, Thomas accepts, but soon finds his life dominated by PCP addiction and comical overacting. After learning of his wife's pregnancy, Thomas checks into rehab and vows to clean up, an effort portrayed in a kicking-drugs montage sequence. Upon release, he attempts to start his life anew but experiences a terrifying flashback at a grocery store, hallucinating its employees as shadowy figures wearing cheap monster masks in a vision of drug-induced paranoia that eerily recalls a low-rent haunted house. Running into the street, Thomas challenges a semi to a fight, losing his life in the process.