If you smoke weed, you know that some movies are much more fun to watch while you’re high. Films full of big ideas, excellent music, and artistic visual displays are the ones I turn to after I smoke a bowl. As a huge horror fan, I’m always hunting for the best horror movies to watch when I blaze up.
Here are my favorite horror films to watch when baked out of my mind.
A few disclaimers:
Remember, kids, don’t smoke weed unless you’re over 21 and live in a place where pot is legal! If you are someone who gets paranoid when you smoke weed, I’d recommend you avoid watching these films while high. I love the feeling of watching cerebral horror while I’m stoned, but it isn’t for everyone. Proceed with caution!
The 5 Best Cerebral Horror Movies to Watch While Stoned
Cube (1997)
As one of the films that first piqued my interest in the horror genre, Cube is a classic that will always have my heart. It follows a group of people who wake up in a strangely lit-up, cube-shaped room. On each side of the room is a door leading to another identical room with different colored lighting. The strangers don’t know how they got there, but they soon discover that many of the rooms contain killer traps like motion-detecting knives.
This film is super fun to watch when you’re high because of the deep concepts the characters discuss throughout the movie, particularly their theories of why the Cube exists and how they can escape. There’s also this sick whispery music that plays during a montage in the middle of the film, and it’s incredible. If you like smoking weed and discussing the universe with your pals, you’ll definitely love Cube.
Vivarium (2020)
I don’t know about you, but when I drive through a condo complex in the suburbs, I get this eerie sensation that everything is exactly the same.
In Vivarium, this concept reaches a whole new level. A young couple visits a suburban neighborhood searching for a new home and finds that they can’t escape. They drive around the entire neighborhood to keep ending up at the same house. Once they accept their failure, the two find a box outside of the house with a baby inside and a note that reads, “raise the child and be released.”
I don’t want to spoil too much for you, but the kid is a total weirdo. The tense relationship between the Nameless Child and the trapped couple is deeply compelling. But the best part about this film is its completely wacky plot that brings up questions about conformity and exploitation. Vivarium is a perfect choice for a night in with friends when you want to get baked and be completely weirded out.
Cam (2018)
I love watching this movie stoned because its concept is all the more interesting when I’m having those weed-induced thoughts about the universe.
Cam tells the story of Alice (Madeline Brewer), a cam girl with the fake name Lola on a site called FTM. Her goal is to make it into the top 50 girls list, and she’s willing to do anything to get there. But her plans are stopped in their tracks when she wakes up one morning to find that someone who looks exactly like her stole her FTM account.
This film touches on so many fears. The virtual world taking control of your life and literally stealing your identity is a huge one. There’s also just something creepy yet intriguing about the doppelgänger concept. Evil forces embodying a clone of your body is a cerebral nightmare.
Midsommar (2019)
Yeah, okay, watching Midsommar when you’re smoking weed may not be for everyone. This film bends so many conventions and is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. And it’s trippy as hell.
A group of friends travel to northern Sweden to witness one community’s week-long Midsommar festival. At the last minute, one of the friends brings his girlfriend, Dani, who recently lost her whole family in a tragic double-murder suicide. When they arrive for the festival, they go through a series of increasingly disturbing rituals.
So why is this terrifying film on my list for best horror to watch while baked? Because of the visual effects of the dancing and the synchronicity between all the community members. Dani trips on shrooms a few times in the film and being high makes those parts all the more enjoyable. When I re-watched this film before writing this article, the details of the community’s culture really stood out to me. Ari Aster is a brilliant filmmaker, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Suspiria (1977)
My editor told me I had to include at least one film that is more palatable for people who may get a bit too overwhelmed watching the other movies on this list, so I went with the original Suspiria. When Suzy (Jessica Harper) arrives at the premiere dance academy in Europe, she begins to uncover the mysteries that led to the murder of her classmate. This film is a visual masterpiece. The lighting sets the mood in every scene, and the film’s score is the perfect balance between dramatic, eerie, and beautiful.
If you’re looking for your first horror film to watch while high out of your mind, I highly recommend Suspiria.
Whether or not you choose to watch one of these movies on this special cannabis holiday, I wish you a safe and happy 4/20!