MovieChat Forums > Nikutai no mon (1964) Discussion > Wood alcohol?

Wood alcohol?

posted 15 years ago by Sivey
1 reply | jump to latest

Does anyone know anything about the alcohol they were supposedly drinking in the film? Shin says it's 'wood alcohol', but I looked this up and it's not drinking alcohol.. it apparently makes you blind if you drink it. Maybe it was a mis-translation in the subtitles? Maybe it was methylated spirits or something?

Don't mean to be pedantic but it's kind of an important detail in the plot...

[–] dangus 11 years ago

Maybe it was just a joke. Wood alcohol is another name for methyl alcohol; it is instantly recognizable by smell; you'd have to be desperate or suicidal to actually drink it.

Then again, maybe it wasn't unheard of for bootleggers to spike watered-down booze with cheap wood alcohol to give it more kick.