Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)
Now here's a strange one. Harvard research scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt in his first film role) wants to work on altered states of consciousness, in an attempt to regress back to the origins of mankind. How? By using sensory deprivation and incredibly powerful hallucinogenic drugs he acquired from a tribe in Mexico. Bonza.
For the experiments to be controlled properly, Jessup floats in a water tank whilst on the drugs. Over time, he slowly becomes obsessed with the idea of regression, and has little time for his wife (the lovely Blair Brown) or his kids.
Altered States is based on a book by Paddy Chayevsky (who also wrote in-house favourites Network & The Hospital), who actually disowned his association with the movie. The film glides through the meeting & subsequent marriage of Hurt & Brown, and concentrates largely on the drug-fuelled research. It is at this point that things get a little silly. You see, it was 1980, and special effects hadn't really progressed very far. I do admire director Ken Russell, but he does seem a little bit out-of-touch when it comes to special effects. 2001's SFX for the Jupiter sequence have always been trippy, and were not only incredible back in 1968, but also look amazing even now. The director of those FX, Douglas Trumbull, concocted similar amazing FX in his own movie Brainstorm, a film which is remarkably similar in theme to Altered States. Although Brainstorm was made 3 years after Altered States, one can only imagine what might have been if Trumbull had been involved. But, it was Russell that got the job, and his visual FX are heavy handed and laughably out-of-date. If it wasn't for the cast, Altered States would be a big-budget B-movie. Maybe it is.
William Hurt, Blair Brown, Charles Haid and a heavily-bearded Bob Balaban are all excellent, and it is they who are responsible for dragging the movie out of the B-movie hell the film itself references (in one hallucinogenic sequence, the film uses footage from the 1935 film version of Dante's Inferno). The cast take the material very seriously, and it is for this reason that I enjoy the movie. The Audio mix is also very good, employing Warner's own poorly-named 'Megasound' for the effects sequences. Imagine that?! Sound... but MEGA!
Love it or hate it, Altered States in a genuine cult oddity. Anyone fancy a re-make by Jan Kounen??
