---
title: "The Acid House"
year: 1998
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-acid-house"
fi1m_id: "the-acid-house"
imdb_id: "tt0122515"
tmdb_id: 12229
wikidata_id: "Q1536361"
fi1m_score: 48
critics_score: 39
critics_reviews: 9
published: "2026-10-07T12:40:01.531703+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T12:40:08.248227+00:00"
region: "IN"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Acid House (1998)

Directed by Paul McGuigan · 1h 47m · Comedy, Drama

## Identity

The Acid House

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-acid-house
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-acid-house
- **IMDb ID:** tt0122515
- **TMDB ID:** 12229
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1536361
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122515/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12229, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1536361

**Fi1m score: 48** · Critics 39 from 9 reviews

*In a sentence:* God sits down in an Edinburgh pub, says his piece, and even He seems to lose interest by the third story

> Irvine Welsh adapts three of his own stories and Paul McGuigan films them with real energy, but only the first, with Maurice Roëves as a drinking God, earns its cruelty. The other two mistake unpleasantness for honesty.

## Synopsis

Three stories by Irvine Welsh, set among the housing schemes and pubs of Edinburgh. In the first, Boab (Stephen McCole) is dropped by his football team, thrown out by his parents, left by his girlfriend Evelyn (Jenny McCrindle) and sacked from his job in a single day, then finds God (Maurice Roëves) at the bar, where God tells him exactly what He thinks of him. In the second, Johnny (Kevin McKidd) marries Catriona (Michelle Gomez), who is pregnant and indifferent to him, and a new neighbour, Larry (Gary McCormack), moves in upstairs and starts helping himself. In the third, Coco Bryce (Ewen Bremner) takes acid during a thunderstorm on the same night that Jenny (Jemma Redgrave) and Rory (Martin Clunes), a middle-class couple across the city, are having their first child.

## Review

Irvine Welsh adapts three of his own short stories, Paul McGuigan directs them, and the result is 107 minutes of Edinburgh at its least welcoming. The first story is good, and funny in a way that made us feel slightly grubby. The second is bleak and the third is one idea played well past the point where it stopped working. One out of three is roughly what we think of the film, and we suspect it is roughly what the film thinks of its characters.

*The Granton Star Cause* opens the picture and is the reason to watch it. Boab (Stephen McCole) is dropped by his football team, thrown out by his parents, left by his girlfriend Evelyn (Jenny McCrindle) and sacked, all on the same day, and then he goes to the pub and finds God (Maurice Roëves) already there. Roëves plays Him as a heavy drinker with a grievance, a man who has watched Boab waste every chance he was given and has decided to say so. Welsh writes the speech as pub talk rather than scripture and Roëves delivers it without once raising his voice. What God does next we will not describe, except to say that McGuigan and his editor Andrew Hulme cut it at the speed of a joke, and we laughed, and then noticed we were laughing at a man losing everything he had.

*A Soft Touch* is harder to sit through and means to be. Johnny (Kevin McKidd) marries Catriona (Michelle Gomez), who is pregnant and not interested in him, and then Larry (Gary McCormack) moves in upstairs and begins taking whatever he wants. McKidd is the best thing in the film, a decent man who registers each humiliation a beat late and never fights back. Alasdair Walker shoots the stairwells and the flat in grey daylight that makes everything look damp. The trouble is the tone. We felt for Johnny from the first scene, and by the end we felt the film did not, that it was watching him the way Larry does, for sport, and we were angry about that. The closing shot is stark and well judged. It is also the only moment in half an hour where anyone behind the camera seems to care what happens to him.

The title story is the one the trailer sells and the one with the most going on. Coco Bryce (Ewen Bremner) is a drinker and a fighter with a girlfriend, Kirsty (Arlene Cockburn), and no plans. During a storm he takes acid, lightning strikes, and he wakes up somewhere he should not be; the same night Jenny (Jemma Redgrave) and Rory (Martin Clunes), a middle-class couple across the city, are having their first child. The premise is a good one and Bremner commits to it entirely, mouth open, limbs going in four directions. For ten minutes it is funny. Then it is the same scene again. Mike Gunn and Richard Bridgland give the couple a pale, tidy flat that looks like a show home next to Coco’s scheme, and Pam Tait and Lynn Aitken dress Redgrave and Clunes in the sort of knitwear that tells you everything about them before they speak. Dan Mudford’s music pushes the segment towards farce and the writing does not quite get there with it.

Welsh’s own [*Trainspotting*](https://film.one/film/trainspotting), filmed by Danny Boyle in 1996 with Bremner and McKidd in the cast, is the comparison the film cannot avoid, and McGuigan does not try to. The difference is not energy, which this has, but attention. Boyle’s film liked its people even while it watched them ruin themselves. This one lines them up and knocks them down, and after the first story, where God does the knocking with some wit, it starts to feel like the point. Three stories also means three endings, and Hulme cannot do much about the fact that the film stops twice before it finishes.

Most critics have been harder on it than we are, and we understand why; the middle story alone would sink a film half this length. What keeps it up is Roëves in the pub and McKidd on the stairs, two performances that would be worth watching in anything. See it for the first story if Welsh is yours, and know that the 18 certificate is doing real work. If the second story makes you want to stop, we would not argue.

*Fi1m score 48, published 7 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is The Acid House worth watching?**

*The Acid House* is worth watching only for its first story, and we scored it 48. Maurice Roëves as a drinking God in an Edinburgh pub is sharp and funny, but the second story is cruel without purpose and the third repeats one joke for half an hour. If Irvine Welsh is yours, see the opening and stop when you like.

**How long is The Acid House, and what is it rated?**

*The Acid House* runs 1h 47m. It is a comedy and drama film.

**Where can I watch The Acid House in India?**

*The Acid House* is not on any streaming or rental service in India at the moment. It is available in 4 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is The Acid House, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Acid House* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and is not suitable for children or younger teenagers. It is built on humiliation, drug-taking and a sustained nastiness towards its characters, and the middle story in particular is hard to sit through. Anyone squeamish about cruelty played for laughs should expect the certificate to mean exactly what it says.

**How does The Acid House compare to Trainspotting?**

*The Acid House* is the lesser of the two Irvine Welsh adaptations, and [*Trainspotting*](https://film.one/film/trainspotting) is the one to watch first. Both have energy and share Ewen Bremner and Kevin McKidd, but Danny Boyle's film likes its people even as they ruin themselves, while Paul McGuigan's lines them up and knocks them down. Only this film's first story comes close.

**Is The Acid House based on a true story or a book?**

*The Acid House* is not a true story; it is adapted by Irvine Welsh from his own book, with three of his stories filmed as separate episodes. The writing keeps Welsh's pub-talk voice, and the first segment is the most faithful in spirit. You do not need to have read him first, though his admirers will get more from it than anyone else.

**What should I watch after The Acid House?**

After *The Acid House*, try [*Trainspotting*](https://film.one/film/trainspotting) (1996, Fi1m 88): The Welsh adaptation that liked its people; Bremner and McKidd given room to be human. Then [*Ratcatcher*](https://film.one/film/ratcatcher) (1999, Fi1m 88): Glasgow tenements and a dead canal, filmed with the tenderness this film withholds; and [*Naked*](https://film.one/film/naked) (1993, Fi1m 84): Mike Leigh’s long night in London; cruelty with an argument attached to it.

### Reviews we read (9)

- **Time Out**, TJ (64/100, inferred): The available description gives no clear overall verdict. It identifies the film's triptych structure and its setting in Edinburgh. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-acid-house)
- **The AV Club**, Tasha Robinson (55/100, inferred): Robinson finds the film uneven and occasionally annoying, but ultimately a vibrant, noisy shadow of Trainspotting. She praises Irvine Welsh’s bizarre creativity and inventive sadism, which give the stories style despite their lack of direction. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-acid-house-1798197295)
- **Variety**, Brendan Kelly (45/100, inferred): Kelly finds the film striking but a grim, uneven slog likely to appeal mainly to Irvine Welsh devotees. He praises Paul McGuigan’s direction for capturing Welsh’s tough tone and razor-sharp wit. [Read](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/the-acid-house-1117477497/)
- **Radio Times**, Jason Caro (2/5): Caro finds the anthology too wild, weird and unpleasant to appeal beyond hardcore Irvine Welsh fans. He praises the cast but criticizes the stories for seeming designed to shock and offend. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ftatkb/the-acid-house/)
- **Total Film**, Total Film (2/5): The review finds the trilogy uneven, with a strong opening story followed by two disappointing segments. It praises the first tale’s imagination and offbeat energy, while faulting the rest for being poorly realized and tedious. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-acid-house-review/)
- **Empire**, Jake Hamilton (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a poor adaptation that drags and belongs on television rather than in cinemas. They acknowledge the stories are good, but say they lack substance and fail as a feature film. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/acid-house-review/)
- **The New York Times**, Stephen Holden (30/100, inferred): The review appears to take a negative view of the film’s grim, episodic portrait of Edinburgh life. The inaccessible article text prevents confirming what the critic singled out for praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/06/movies/film-review-short-stories-nasty-and-brutish-of-life-in-edinburgh.html)
- **The Guardian**, Guardian staff reporter (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the film grim and loveless, lacking the empathy and purpose of Trainspotting. They praise Kevin McKidd’s performance and single out the closing shot of A Soft Touch for its stark visual force. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/jan/01/irvinewelsh)
- **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (10/100, inferred): The critic finds the film largely unwatchable, with only The Granton Star Cause working. They praise its surreal black humour, witty camera style and Maurice Roeves’s performance as God. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-acid-house-trilogy-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)

## Details

- **Director:** Paul McGuigan
- **Director:** Paul McGuigan
- **Screenplay:** Irvine Welsh
- **Novel:** Irvine Welsh
- **Cinematography:** Alasdair Walker
- **Editor:** Andrew Hulme
- **Music:** Dan Mudford
- **Production design:** Mike Gunn, Richard Bridgland
- **Costume design:** Pam Tait, Lynn Aitken
- **Producer:** Alex Usborne, David Muir
- **Cast:** Ewen Bremner as Coco Bryce; Kevin McKidd as Johnny; Stephen McCole as Boab; Jemma Redgrave as Jenny; Martin Clunes as Rory; Maurice Roëves as God; Arlene Cockburn as Kirsty; Michelle Gomez as Catriona
- **Runtime:** 1h 47m
- **First release (the US):** 2 July 1998
- **Genres:** Comedy, Drama
- **Budget:** $900,000
- **Box office:** $142,783
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z52YjcjCrXI

## Where to watch in India

Not streaming, renting or buying in India at the last check.

Also available in: CA, GB, IE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Trainspotting* (1996), Fi1m 88: The Welsh adaptation that liked its people; Bremner and McKidd given room to be human. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/trainspotting.md)
- *Ratcatcher* (1999), Fi1m 88: Glasgow tenements and a dead canal, filmed with the tenderness this film withholds. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ratcatcher.md)
- *Naked* (1993), Fi1m 84: Mike Leigh’s long night in London; cruelty with an argument attached to it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/naked.md)
- *Wild Tales* (2014), Fi1m 83: An anthology of revenge from Argentina that knows exactly when each story should end. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/wild-tales.md)
- *Filth* (2013): Welsh again, McAvoy as a corrupt Edinburgh policeman; nastier, and far better shaped.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-acid-house