Altered States (1980)

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Directed by Ken Russell.

Starring Drew Barrymore, Blair Brown, William Hurt, Thaao Penghlis, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid.

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In this 1980 sci-fi horror film, William Hurt plays Eddie Jessup, a scientist obsessed with discovering mankind's true role in the universe. To this end, he submits himself to a series of mind-expanding experiments. By enclosing himself in a sensory-deprivation chamber and taking hallucinogenic drugs, Jessup hopes to explore different levels of human consciousness, but instead is devolved into an apelike monster. Director Ken Russell helmed Altered States from a script by Paddy Chayefsky, who adapted his own novel of the same name. Unhappy with the finished product, Chayefsky had his name replaced with his pseudonym Sydney Aaron. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Re:Top 5 Completely Over the To ...
by leeroy711 in Top 5

is neutral about it.

"[quote user="Smooth_J"] In terms of over-the-top anachronisms and strangely disjointed hallucinatory scenes, Walker would be a fine addition to the list. [/quote] Don't forget about Altered States in reference to strangely disjointed hallucinatory scenes. " [More]

Re: Top 5 Movies About Music
by joem18b in Filmspotting

hasn't rated it.

"Oh yeah I'm mostly curious to see that film Altered States. Have you seen it?[/quote]I've seen it but don't especially remember it. Just read Ebert's review of it. He was smoking something much better than what I had when I watched it. " [More]

Re: Top 5 Movies About Music
by Risselada in Filmspotting

hasn't rated it.

"Oh yeah I'm mostly curious to see that film Altered States. Have you seen it? " [More]

Shivers
by HairyLime in HairyLime Blog

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"After watching 'Rabid' last week, I thought I'd also check out another early Cronenberg film that was also available on our 'on demand' cable menu. Not nearly as interesting or as artfully done as the other film. The low production values and poor acting are even more glaring in this one, although there are a few effective scenes. 60s scream queen Barbara Steele makes an appearance, but her talents are mostly wasted on a cheesy bathtub scene and a few other short embarrasing sequences ("make love to me, make love to me, kiss me, make love to me"). The sanitized industrial high rise setting is almost more horrifying than the parasitic worm that wreaks havoc among its inhabitants.On the plus side, some interesting 'crawling skin' special effects are used years before they caused such a sensation on such films as 'Altered States' and 'An American Werewolf in London'. " [More]

Over-stated.
by quint in An inordinate number of peppers

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I watched this friday night to put the pieces back together in my head of what this was like when I saw it when I was 12. Seriously confused by what I saw back then. This could be an effective anti-drug film if that's what it were after. Now I see it as a trippy montage sequence, some mild suspence and another trippy video effects sequence. It definitely opens up some possibilities, but I also recently saw Ken Russell's Lair of the White Worm which had a similar trippy montage. It seems he digs doing those. I can see why. It is a kind of poetic play you don't often get away with in mainstream film. But in some ways it all felt like a flawed love story when it couldn't figure out what else to be. The enigmatic ending seems to be as much because they couldn't figure out how to get themselves out of the narrative hole they'd dug. " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

British director Ken Russell has long been known for his bizarre, hallucinatory imagery, which he puts to good use in a visually stunning adaptation of Paddy Chayefsky's science-fiction novel. William Hurt plays a college professor whose experiments with hallucinogenic drugs and "race memory" turn him into an apelike caveman and other strange beasts. Blair Brown, Drew Barrymore, and John Larroquette are among the cast, but everything takes a back seat to Russell's trippy visuals and Dick Smith's outstanding makeup effects. Chayefsky hated the results so much that he had his screenplay credit changed to "Sidney Aaron," and the film admittedly veers into silliness several times, so if you're looking for thoughtful speculative fiction, look elsewhere. If you are satisfied by imaginative, good-looking eye candy, however, you'll find Altered States a lot of fun. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Tags: drugs , science , disturbing , weird , devolution
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