Altered States (1980)

Director:

Ken Russell

Writers:

Paddy Chayefsky (novel)
Paddy Chayefsky (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Tagline:

When he heard his cry for help it wasn't human

Plot:

A Harvard scientist conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically.

Plot Keywords:

Quest For Knowledge | 1970s | Drug Trip | Anthropologist | Alternative Reality

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

William Hurt	...	Professor Eddie Jessup
Blair Brown	...	Emily Jessup
Bob Balaban	...	Arthur Rosenberg
Charles Haid	...	Mason Parrish, Professor of Endocrinology at Harvard Medical School
Thaao Penghlis	...	Prof. Eduardo Eccheverria at University of Mexico
Miguel Godreau	...	Primal Man
Dori Brenner	...	Sylvia Rosenberg
Peter Brandon	...	Alan Hobart
Charles White-Eagle	...	The Brujo, Hindris Indian
Drew Barrymore	...	Margaret Jessup
Megan Jeffers	...	Grace Jessup
Jack Murdock	...	Hector Orteco
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Obispo (as Frank McCarthy)
Deborah Baltzell	...	Schizophrenic Patient
Evan Richards	...	Young Rosenberg

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (MegaSound encoding) | Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | Italy:VM14 | Singapore:M18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:18 (1982) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Arthur Penn was originally slated to direct but resigned.

Goofs:

Continuity: While Arthur takes Eddie's blood and Mason is yelling at him, the position of the bloody rag used to wipe Eddie's face clean as well as the EEG wiring changes positions between shots.

Quotes:

[First line]
Arthur Rosenberg: The tank itself was unusual in that it was vertical, and looked like an old boiler.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Beerfest (2006)

Soundtrack:

Light My Fire

A flawed but sentimental favorite

Altered States is not everything that it could be, and that's because director Ken Russell was more interested in assaulting the viewer with a series of startling (by 1980 standards) images than he was in exploring the stories subtext. Eddie Jessup is a scientist so introverted and afraid of human connections that it's not enough to abandon his family, he also has to further deprive himself of any and all stimulation, performing sensory depravation experiments on himself to attain better understanding of "ultimate truth." Jessup proclaims himself to be an atheist, but the visual content of his hallucinations reveals him to be a man who's more at war with God than a man who disbelieves. His descent into a more primal state of being is an obvious metaphor for how easy it is for a man with commitment issues and fear of intimacy to turn completely inward, leaving the real world behind. Some of what the character says early on about family and love make his motivations clear... Jessup is a man shattered by his father's death and unable to accept the vulnerability of the human condition. A viewer has to really work to absorb and enjoy these metaphors, though, as Russell never slows his onslaught of special effects. The movie also suffers from smart but unrealistic dialogue and ham-fisted performances from some of the principle characters (watch Blair Brown's over-the-top breakdowns in the last act). Altered States isn't the total package, it doesn't combine the visceral and the philosophical as well as movies like Jacob's Ladder or Natural Born Killers. But it's better than most of today's equivalent movies (Donnie Darko, etc) that want to stimulate and provoke the viewer and don't quite pull it off.