Altered States (1980)
- Jan 14
- 2 min read
One of my all-time film guilty pleasures, Ken Russell's bizarre, over-the-top blend of hallucinogenic science fiction, thriller and love story ALTERED STATES is an absolute trip.
William Hurt made his 1980 film debut as a scientist more concerned with finding the root of man in his DNA than in exhibiting any social graces.
Dr Jessup (Hurt) is rude, obnoxious, pious and about to discover man's origins within himself. That leaves little time for feelings.
Alienating his girlfriend Emily (the great Blair Brown) his fellow scientist Arthur (Bob Balaban from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and anyone else within twenty feet, Jessup decides to spend extended time floating in an isolation tank to dig deep into his primordial past.
The word "subtle" and Director Ken Russell (Tommy, The Music Lovers) have rarely been mentioned in the same sentence and Russell proves why with 102 minutes of dreams, hallucinations, flashbacks, gory religious images mixed with nudity and horror.
When the images are blended with Paddy Chayefsky's very intelligent screenplay based on his own novel, it somehow grounds Russell, bringing the visual excess together to portray a flawed hero you root for and a quest for knowledge you can find a stake in.
By the time Hurt regresses into a proto-human apelike creature and attacks a deer in the zoo, you realize it's going to be a hell of a ride.
ALTERED STATES is one of those films you are either going to love or hate. I remember seeing it at 19 years old, my first year of college, and loving it. I still enjoy the hell out of it today.
Religious visual motifs dominate many of the hallucinations, including many crucified men barreling at you on wooden crosses, slain sacrificial goats and spilled blood. It's all visually fascinating and the work of Bran Ferren (Little Shop of Horrors) who works wonders with a limited budget.
Its weirdness barrels at you full force. Even the scientific yammering of Hurt and company hammers you non-stop, somehow providing a context that validates the madness. We'll call it good writing by Chayefsky, who fought so much with Russell that he took his name off the film, crediting his pen name "Sydney Aaron" for the screenplay.
This was composer John Corigliano's first movie score and its as crazy and smart as the film itself. He was nominated for an Oscar for best score, along with a Best Sound nomination for its atmospheric, hollow plunge into that tank.
Russell's first American film, it was released on Christmas Day in 1980 and promptly tanked, baffling audiences. I loved its twisted, relentless energy and sheer madness. Is it an intellectual film or a twisted body horror thriller?
It's a very strange, unique blend of both.
Go ahead, immerse yourself in the tank with Dr. Jessup, but like him, you may or may not like what you find!
I give it an insane A, a true guilty pleasure of the highest order.
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