ALTERED STATES
MOVIE REVIEW

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Review by
E.C.McMullen Jr.

ALTERED STATES

- 1980
U.S. Release: December 25, 1980
Warner Brothers
Rated: Finland: K16 / France: 12 / Germany: 16 / Sweden: 15 / U.K.: 18 / USA: R

It has been nearly 20^ years since ALTERED STATES was released and despite that amount of time, the movie still stands in every respect, even in Special Effects.

ALTERED STATES, in accordance with Ken Russell's vision (THE DEVILS, GOTHIC, LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM), could not exist without special effects. Ken Russell's over abused Psychedelic Journeys, and his oft repeated imagery grafted onto film after film, one to the next, whether it worked or not, often threaten to overpower the movie itself. Discipline and care was taken to stop this on many levels.

TRIVIA

ALTERED STATES references throughout the decades are so plentiful that many in the audience have no idea where it all began.

THE ALTERED STATES INFLUENCE
a-ha: TAKE ON ME

South Park's ERIC CARTMAN (Season 10, Ep 7) Hallway Transformation
TSST

^
As of this writing

UPDATE:
Now over 30 years and the Practical SFX still stand up to cgi everything!

*
I must mention that more technobabble is thrown out in this movie than the worst episode of Star Trek Next Generations or Deep Space Nine.

The steady monologue of speed talking while coughing up seemingly out of context words such as anaphasic this, and ischemic that, and de-differentiated the other, until the third act where it all descends into a
"kabbalistic, quantum, friggin' dumb limbo mumbo jumbo"
... whew! It nearly gets to the point of stupidity were it not for the 100mph pace of delivery. You really don't have a chance to think "What in the living HELL are they talking about?"

While we may not understand it, we accept that the characters know what it all means and that they are going to act upon it. So until it all unfolds, you just go along for the ride!

1. The executives at Warner Brothers at the time wanted Ken to direct after
2. Original Director Arthur Penn (NIGHT MOVES, DEAD OF WINTER) got fed up with the shooting schedule and politics behind the scenes and quit in the middle of making the picture.

While Penn cannot hold a candle to Russell in terms of quantity of films directed, he more than makes up for that in the quality of films he directed. At the time that Russell was drafted to finish directing ALTERED STATES, he was stumbling off of a sporadic career that included way out celluloid LSD trips such as the musicals (or Rock Operas, if you prefer) Lisztomania and TOMMY.

The only noticable thing Ken did after ALTERED STATES was GOTHIC, a flawed masterpiece which raised his career up and THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, an insipid and ridiculous piece that brought him back down.

Fortunately for us all, Ken was brought in to direct the final scenes that involved the mind voyages. So Russell was a brilliant choice in that respect as he could take us from the staid and sterile old Boston centers of learning and smack into the extraordinary out of control excitement that knocks us out of our seats.

Though author Paddy Chayefsky hated this movie (in the credits his name was changed to Sidney Aaron) and even disowned it due to Ken Russell's wild-eyed direction, this film never-the-less captivated audiences with its mind-melting journey.

When the film opens, it is 1967 and we see the distorted face of Dr. Eddie Jessup (William Hurt: DARK CITY, LOST IN SPACE, DO NOT DISTURB) through the glass window of an old fashioned isolation tank. He is trying sensory deprivation. What he knows of it fascinates him, but no real scientists like himself are actively pursuing sensory deprivation on humans.

Jessup is a driven man with personal demons that seem minor when he speaks of them but horrifyingly overwhelming when Russell lets us into his dreams. It is these demons that drive Eddie to pursue the Lovecraftian inner mind contact that is achieved via sensory deprivation.

At a faculty party he meets a post grad anthropology student named Emily (Blair Brown: THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE) and after a brief whirlwind of Eddie's rapid chatter*, he asks Emily to take him home with her. Finding him handsome, tall, blue eyed, blonde, fascinating, confusing, and sexy, she barely has a moment to say yes and they are off to sofa time.

Eddie Jessup

If you have read my other reviews here then you know that there are often moments where I say "And Merry Mishaps occur". That is because most movies reach a destination point, usually quite early in the movie where you can say, "Ah! So that's what this is all about."

One of the best things about ALTERED STATES is that you are never sure where all this is supposed to take you.

There are several moments in the movie where friends of mine erroneously thought they had it sussed. But they were all wrong because only at the very end does it all make sense . . . sort of.

William Hurt by Dick Smith

Of course, a Science Fiction movie deserves a...

!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
What? A drug that alters your state of consciousness in such a way that your thoughts become reality?

Why, that's not entirely preposterous!

Continued at Science Moment/Altered States.

Blair Brown by Dick Smith and SFX team

ALTERED STATES is the movie that almost didn't get made. That being the case, it is surprising that it came off as good as it did. Besides the two main actors, major kudos also go to Bob Balaban CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, 2010, NATURAL SELECTION, A MONSTER IN PARIS, I AM THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE) as Arthur Rosenberg, Charles Haid (in probably his finest performance, but he also starred in: NIGHTBREED) as Mason Parrish and Thaao Penghlis as Eccheverria.

Compliments to the wild and feral work of Miguel Godreau (b.1947 - d.1996: AIDS) as the Primal Man. His vicious nervous terror will make you believe. Kudos also to the fabulous make-up work of Dick Smith (THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, DARK SHADOWS [TV], THE EXORCIST, THE SENTINEL, GHOST STORY, SCANNERS, THE HUNGER) and the mood setting music of John Corigliano (LE VIOLON ROUGE [The Red Violin]).

What is he thinking?

Everybody involved in this movie did a masterful job. If Ken Russell hadn't spent so much time copy/pasting his own personal cliches and film stock to the story, ALTERED STATES would have received a perfect 5 Shriek Girls. Still, 4 is pretty good.