Product Details

• Actors: Joleen Lutz, Adam Jeffries, Raymond Cruz, Jeff Bollow
• Directors: Traci Wald Donat
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Educational Video Ne
• VHS Release Date: May 31, 1991
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302105951
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,484 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 5 for entertainment value, 0 for educational value, December 13, 2004

By 

Nicholas I. Keiser (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nightmare on Drug Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film's a laugh-a-minute ride into the crazy world of adolescent drug use...as dramatized for the 7 to 12 year old set. It starts out with the three protagonists dead in some sort of limbo, and they each proceed to narrate one another's story. The second and third sequences are by far the most entertaining. The former consists of a 13-ish WASP girl getting hooked on coke and offering her dealer family heirlooms in exchange for more...trust me, folks, this guy's your 1970s used car salesman archetype, and doesn't belong in an educational anti-drug film from 1989! The latter sequence tells the story of a youngish African American boy who dreams of being a scientist getting hooked on crack by his white schoolmates. While an actual reversal of stereotypes is employed and should be admirable, lines such as "Wow! This is better than launching rockets!" detract from any real educational value. I have to admit that this kid is very CONVINCING in terms of pretending to be cracked out. Once again, however, we're treated to melodramatic nonsense as the boy collapses from a heart ailment during dinner and his parents rush to his body as the camera flies back in that classic "NOOOOO!!!!" 3/4's perspective.

Do I think drug addiction and death are funny? No, of course not. The problem with this film is that I couldn't take it seriously when I first saw it in fifth grade and I can't take it seriously now. The "dramatic" vignettes are crap, and while we see people meet their terrible ends from drug-related situations, we're given no actual factual information over why drug X is bad and what negative effects it may have on one's health and well-being. It would, I think, be much better to take this sort of information and portray it vividly, showing damaged tissues and all that horrible stuff.

All that aside, this is one terrible educational film, and no doubt will wind up on some DVD collection sooner or later.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Better Drug Films out There, June 27, 2007

By 

Middle School Science Teacher (West Covina, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightmare on Drug Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I am a science teacher entering my 21st year of teaching. Part of the curriculum is covering Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco. It's very hard to find a video on drug abuse that isn't campy. The producers have a limited budget and cannot afford professional actors. Moreover, it's very hard to give a convincing performance of being stoned when you are not and it's even harder for someone who is really stoned to remember their lines. Nightmare on Drug Street is a perennial favorite among my middle school students as it does very lttle preaching and protrays drug use realistically. My students find the middle segment very powerful when "Jill" tries cocaine on a whim and eventually slides into a hellish world of dealing with greedy drug pushers, selling her valuable heirlooms, losing her friends and sinking into a suicidal depression. "Jill" does a wonderful acting job, something rarely seen in a drug film. The final segment deals with "Eddy" an honors-level boy of 12 or so who experiments with crack. OK, it's a little hokey but it, too, sends a powerful message that sometimes someone with a promising future does experiment with drugs can and ends up blowing it all away. Stuff like that does happen! Only the first segment is rather lame and not well acted - and even then, it's superior to most of the other drug videos out there. Overall, this video gets my students' attention like no other drug movie I have ever screened - and I have screened plenty of them. I recommend this film to all teachers who teach drug education.

5.0 out of 5 stars My son's video, January 30, 2010

By 

Janet Bernice (Bountiful, UT) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nightmare on Drug Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Had to get a copy of this video - my son's the "bad" kid - the blond who gets Eddie to smoke crack - he's in his 30s now so it's wonderful to have a visual of him at that age. HE wanted to be an actor, but when he realized how much work it was, he changed his mind.