{"id":13066,"date":"2010-10-30T14:15:31","date_gmt":"2010-10-30T21:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13066"},"modified":"2020-12-29T13:08:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T20:08:26","slug":"altered-states-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13066","title":{"rendered":"Altered States (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There&#8217;s a physiological pathway to our earlier consciousnesses. There has to be.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster-204x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-60410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster-204x300.png 204w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster-696x1024.png 696w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster-87x128.png 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster-184x270.png 184w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Altered-States-Poster.png 743w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn search of the Ultimate Truth, a determined psychiatrist (William Hurt) takes hallucinatory drugs and undergoes sensory deprivation &#8212; but when he starts experiencing physiological changes, his wife (Blair Brown) and colleagues (Bob Balaban and Charles Haid) begin to fear for his safety.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ken Russell Films<\/li>\n<li>Mad Doctors and Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Marital Problems<\/li>\n<li>Multiple Personalities<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<li>William Hurt Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary accurately labels this surreal, mind-bending cult favorite by director Ken Russell &#8212; based on a novel by Paddy Chayefsky &#8212; a &#8220;Jekyll-and-Hyde variation&#8221; which &#8220;takes viewers on [an] ambitious, if hokey, exploration of man&#8217;s origins&#8221; and &#8220;advances [the] intriguing theory that there can be genetic change if one&#8217;s consciousness is manipulated&#8221;. Through foolhardy experimentation with hallucinatory drugs and sensory deprivation &#8212; Chayefsky&#8217;s story was purportedly inspired by &#8220;John Lilly&#8217;s mind-expansion experiments in the mid-sixties&#8221; &#8212; Hurt&#8217;s Dr. Jessup actually turns into a primitive apeman (played by dancer Miguel Godreau) and eventually regresses into an &#8220;embryonic state&#8221;. Given this fascinating sci-fi\/horror premise, it&#8217;s too bad that &#8220;towards the end, the storyline drops several intellectual planes&#8221; and is content with making &#8220;simplistic points&#8221; about the nature of Truth and Life. Without giving away spoilers (like Peary does), suffice it to say that the film &#8220;unfortunately avoids controversy&#8221; with an overly pat ending that is perhaps meant to appeal to mass audiences, but will likely alienate the type of viewers most drawn towards this type of heady material. <\/p>\n<p>Peary does point out, however, that &#8220;there is much that is noteworthy&#8221; in the film &#8212; including its &#8220;blasting soundtrack&#8221; (which &#8220;won the picture an Oscar&#8221;), special effects by Bran Ferren (which Peary argues are &#8220;often ill-chosen but dynamic&#8221;, though I found them appropriately surreal throughout), and the &#8220;remarkable make-up work&#8221; of &#8220;the legendary <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dick_Smith_%28make-up_artist%29\">Dick Smith<\/a>&#8221; (who worked on, among many other titles, <em>The Exorcist<\/em> and <em>Scanners<\/em> &#8212; click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dicksmithmake-up.com\/\">here<\/a> for his website). Peary notes that Russell &#8220;keeps things under surprising control for a change&#8221;, and does wonders with Chayefsky&#8217;s &#8220;overwritten script&#8221;; in his more detailed analysis of the film for his <em>Cult Movies 2<\/em> book, Peary explains that Russell &#8220;solved much of [Chayefsky&#8217;s] overwritten dialogue problem by having his actors talk so quickly that lines that would make no sense to the average viewer anyway are lost&#8221; &#8212; a technique which works remarkably well, and actually helps to impress upon us the essential fact that &#8220;the characters are loquacious about erudite subjects&#8221;. As Peary notes, the fine ensemble cast &#8220;are all believable, and smooth, as they deliver intellectual diatribes&#8221; (with Blair particularly noteworthy in what could have been a somewhat thankless role). Despite its flaws, then, film fanatics will surely want to check out this audacious, visually evocative, finely acted headtrip at least once. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>William Hurt as Eddie Jessup<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-hurt.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-hurt.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13070\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Blair Brown as Emily Jessup<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-brown.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-brown.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13071\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bob Balaban and Charles Haid as Eddie&#8217;s colleagues<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-balaban-haid.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-balaban-haid.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13072\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Memorable hallucinatory imagery<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-imagery2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-imagery2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13073\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Dick Smith&#8217;s makeup<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-makeup.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/altered-states-makeup.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13074\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>John Corigliani&#8217;s Oscar-nominated score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a cult favorite by a famed director. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0080360\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1980\/12\/25\/arts\/screen-ken-russells-altered-states.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/altered-states-1980#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAltered%20States%E2%80%9D%20is%20a%20superbly,movie%20and%20very%20little%20meaning.\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/sciencefiction\/altered-states-1980.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/altered-states\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a physiological pathway to our earlier consciousnesses. There has to be.&#8221; Synopsis: In search of the Ultimate Truth, a determined psychiatrist (William Hurt) takes hallucinatory drugs and undergoes sensory deprivation &#8212; but when he starts experiencing physiological changes, his wife (Blair Brown) and colleagues (Bob Balaban and Charles Haid) begin to fear for his safety. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Ken Russell Films Mad Doctors and Scientists Marital Problems Multiple Personalities Science Fiction William Hurt Films Response to Peary&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13066\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60412,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13066\/revisions\/60412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}