Altered States

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The Electric Mushroom Soup Test
I found this film to be an extremely entertaining, interesting and sometimes genuinely surprising. It was going down avenues I wasn't expecting, ala "This man is a F**king gorilla". And there were moments where I found myself slightly creeped out, which is the film's aim. It's hard to compare this movie to others because there are very few movies like this. "The Fly" comes to mind. As does "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Jacob's Ladder", but only in the sense the creators were so serious in their handling of absurd-far-out material. For these reasons, I give the film big props considering it was released in 1980. The ending felt a bit rushed and out of tone with the rest of the movie, but this is just a minor complaint. The film was based on a book, so I figured they probably tweaked something for the sake of Hollywood Suits. Overall, I was pleased. Check this one out!

ALTERED STATES-The Movie I Saw Twice Two Weeks in a Row
I remember seeing ALTERED STATES when it first opened in Connecticut in 1980 and as I recall enjoyed it to the tune of about four or even five stars. My three star rating above is based on my recent screenings of the DVD and reflects how my film tastes have changed with the onset of "senior citizenship." My memory of the script excludes the harsh language of the theater release and must have been altered by the TV edited version, which I perceived to be genuinely classier if not just cleaner than the DVD and theater release. The plot involved a Harvard scientist, Professor Eddie Jessup, conducting experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug while isolated in a sensory deprivation chamber to enhance any drug induced effects. To his great satisfaction he believes that these experiments may be causing him to change genetically (i.e., externalize his drug induced delusions which Dr. Jessup believes, reflects something profound about our origins). On seeing ALTERED STATES in the theater I couldn't help but be struck by the intelligent script, fine acting and very excellent screen graphics. Although I couldn't understand why Paddy Chayefsky walked out during the production of ALTERED STATES, It was still a very good and enjoyable film, all things considered. This film is really a 70's movie because of the drug related topics it deals with and the colorful screen graphics which reflect much of the pop artwork associated with the drug culture of 60's and 70's. I thought William Hurt and Blair Brown made a wonderful pair of university "wiz-kids" and enjoyed their performances. I also believed the plot to be at least partially inspired by Carlos Castaneda's books. This was another in a series of sci-fi films that I talked my wife into seeing with no regrets. It was unusual that we had to see this film in two showings because the local police and theater management dramatically appeared in front of the audience to clear the theater due to a bomb threat just as the plot was getting really engaging. Theater management permitted the audience to either return to their seats or see it during another engagement. These circumstances permitted us to see the film twice in two weeks for the price of a single admission.

Tripping Down Memory Lane...
I'm not a big Ken Russell fan. I've found his movies to be a mixed bag of nuts. However, ALTERED STATES is Russell's most coherent and, to me anyway, enjoyable film. It's a love story of sorts, wrapped in the trappings of sci-fi and hallucination. William Hurt is quite believable as Eddie Jessup, a scientist with a bent toward mystical, mind expanding experimentation. He is a seeker and a complete nut by his own admission. Blair Brown is Emily, a brilliant anthropologist who falls in love with Eddie almost upon sight. The two marry and reproduce (one of the kids is played by Drew Barrymore), while becoming academic superstars. In spite of their mutual success, Eddie is sick of it all. He longs for the old days when he and his partner, Arthur (Bob Balaban) used to conduct wild, sensory deprivation experiments in a saline-filled isolation tank. Those were the days! Soon, Eddie gets a chance to travel to Mexico to try out a mushroom concoction that causes Eddie to hallucinate / see visions, etc. Eddie brings some of the brew back to his lab, where he begins using it to enhance his iso-tank experimentation. This becomes the center of his life, and his marriage suffers for it. Emily cannot stop loving him, no matter what she does. Now, through the drug / isolation trance experience, Eddie has tapped into a way to actually regress physically into a proto-humanoid! This culminates in a mind-melting confrontation between the forces of ultimate nature and Emily's love for her crazy husband. Which is the stronger? This movie sort of reminds me of David Cronenberg's take on THE FLY. At least in a "love vs. mad science" way. Highly recommended...

Psychadelic trip from the 70's
If your the phylisophical type or you have ever experimented with LSD, then you might appreciate this movie if you smoke grass. An insane doctor of research experiments with mind altering drugs mixed with a water tank to cause hallucination. He is on a mad persuit to find the one consciousness and his primordial self. Does he find it? Watch the movie and find out. Descent movie with good special effects for the time.

Awesome Movie
I don't like to "tell" the movie before you get to see it, so all I am going to say is watch it you won't regret it.