It’s that very special time of year once again – Spooky Season! For the next few instalments, we will be setting our focus two of my very favourite things: Halloween and marijuana. As far as I’m concerned pot and Halloween are a perfect pair. Working on your costume and need a little inspiration? Weed can help with that! Designing the lighting scheme for your outdoor display? Yup, weed can help with that too. Feeling less productive, just want to chill, have a snack and watch a creepy flick? I’m pretty sure weed was created to help with that too!
Halloween and pot have a long-standing relationship that I can assume will continue to expand as cannabis use becomes more and more acceptable. Yet, there is one victim in the relationship between pot and Halloween. One stereotype that has taken the fictional life of too many and those victims are the scary movie stoners. In this article will look at some of the most memorable scary movie stoners and perhaps find a few moments in horror where cannabis-loving characters can find redemption.
Friday the 13th
For the Friday the 13th series it seems wrong to identify one single stoner character. Ever since Mrs. Voorhees was the killer (for non-horror fans, the very first movie) stoners have been on the kill list. In each movie we are inevitably “introduced to a group of randy, young teenagers who took great delight in twisting it up and putting it in the air. Whether playing strip monopoly or taking it easy after getting lucky,” crystal lake counsellors are often indulging in some ganja. Every party-loving teen meets their doom at Camp Crystal Lake, and the survivors are never even half baked. Why is that? Well in this series the trope of the stoner victim actually makes a lot of sense. Jason isn’t just killing teens because they’re sinful in some way, he’s punishing them for their inattention and neglect at the behest of his mother. It feels less like some kind of moral code being enforced and more like the wrath of a REALLY angry mother.
Spencer – Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (Nightmare on Elm St. Series)
Spencer is very much a stereotypical stoner. He’s got a bit of a sort-of surfer accent, hates his dad, loves video games and adores weed. Spencer, in spite of his flaws, is an obvious sweetheart that endears himself to everyone. When Freddy invades Spencer’s dreams and ultimately murders him we are treated to marvellous bit if satire (and a really fun sequence).
This is one of those movie sequences that really leaves me conflicted. On one hand, I love the campy video game sequence and the parody of 80s anti-drug campaigns. On the other hand the sequence has a subtle sadness to it that culminates in this troubled young human being reduced to his most basic characteristics. Spencer is murdered in a fashion that pokes at his similarities to the happy stoner tropes but also he is ridiculed for his pain and resentment in relation to his father. Sometimes it’s easy to forget among all the camp and one-liners that Freddy really is the son of 100 Maniacs. His punishments are cruel and they often play on the insecurities of the his victims. In Spencer’s case we get very memorable and fun death sequence combined with some rather sad exposition of what it is to feel trapped by the stereotypes and circumstances that plague you. As usual, we’ll done Mr. Craven ( may he rest in piece.).
Palmer – The Thing
In this groundbreaking piece of horror we see an different stoner stereotype. The conspiracy theorist stoner. They are marked by paranoia, passionate rants and almost encyclopedic knowledge of very specific topics. Until he is killed and becomes an imitation Palmer is the epitome of this stereotype. Case in point:
MacReady: I don’t know. Thousands of years ago it crashes, and this thing… gets thrown out, or crawls out, and it ends up freezing in the ice.
Excerpt from John Carpenter’s The Thing
Childs: I just cannot believe any of this voodoo bullshit.
Palmer: Childs, happens all the time, man. They’re falling out of the skies like flies. Government knows all about it, right, Mac?
Childs: You believe any of this voodoo bullshit, Blair?
Palmer: Childs, Childs… Chariots of the Gods, man. They practically own South America. I mean, they taught the Incas everything they know.
The interesting thing about this particular stereotype is that it both celebrates the intelligence of the individual while also diminishing their opinions simply by showing their drug use in close proximity to their sometimes erratic behaviour. An equation is implied:
Intelligent person+ marijuana use = wasted potential.
The irony of it all is that Palmer was right. Aliens are among them and yeah, the government probably knows about it.
Unfortunately Palmer doesn’t live to see that his predictions were accurate.
Marty – Cabin in the Woods
Finally, we come to the movie that turns stoner tropes on their head.
The Facility brands Marty – he is the fool due to drug abuse and his many outlandish conspiracy theories. In order to ensure he fulfilled his role, the Facility had Marty’s stash of marijuana treated with chemicals that would make him more open to suggestion.While the teens are en route to the cabin, Marty expresses his opinion that the world is so corrupt that society needs to collapse, but people are too afraid to let it happen. During the group’s time at the cabin, Marty is actually shown to be resistant to most of the chemical and subliminal pushes given to him by the Facility staff. As we later discover, this is due to his constant marijuana abuse giving him an immunity.
Marty’s drug use and penchant for theorizing become an asset to his survival in Cabin in the Woods rather than leading him to his doom. In the end Marty is not simply a survivor, he is the most conscientious and empowered heroine I’ve seen in horror. He chooses to accept death on his own terms and to erratic the world of its’ “human problem.” While he will ultimately die, Marty managed to be more aware and intentional than most characters in horror get to be. He defies convention and stereotype, and as a last beautiful act he sparks up a joint and bids the world farewell.
Perhaps Marty has laid the ground work for more stoner survivors to emerge in the horror world? With the ever-growing population of pot smokers and the increasing acceptance of cannabis products one can only imagine the heroes that may emerge. But until then stay safe my fellow weed enthusiasts and maybe stay away from cabins in wooded areas, at least until November’s 1st.
Happy Halloween!
References
Friday the 13th Wiki
http://www.fridaythe13thfranchise.com/2016/02/marijuana-and-friday-13th-films.html?m=1
Reader: Stoners Were a Casualty of the Cultural War on Drugs
https://www.westword.com/marijuana/do-stoners-always-die-first-in-horror-movies-not-shaggy-11833264
Movie Morgue Wiki
https://moviemorgue.fandom.com/wiki/Marty_Mikalski
