The grotesque images of self-imposed degradation are nicely intercut with moments of earnest reflection. It's like a kick in the gut watching an 18-year-old AIDS-ridden prostitute show off her childhood scrapbook, pausing to smile goofily at her certificate from the Mickey Mouse Club, even though the film rightfully never gives you a reason to feel sorry for her. Virtually all the featured addicts, no matter how far gone, express their conditions with an unnerving clarity.

Average-but-decent documentary on heroin addicts that's just too simliar to many other '90s-produced efforts on the same subject. The lives of the users are pretty depressing but you find it hard to relate to (and therefore sympathise with) most of them, either because of their harrowing upbringing or general eccentricity. Still interesting to watch; HBO's own High on Crack Street is a much better hard drugs doc.

Absolutely terrifying. If you've ever wanted to turn someone off doing hard drugs then this is the documentary to show. It's completely brutal as you watch multiple people, many of whom are intelligent and had bright futures, dive further and further into addition and the health hazards that come along with it. It's heartbreaking as you see someone quit, only to become a dealer. Or another become a prostitute to support her habit, only to contract AIDS. Terribly sad but great documentary.

Horrifying and heartbreaking. It makes 'Requiem For A Dream' look like an episode of 'Telletubbies'.

Heavy documentary