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Summary: My first experience with drugs and movies...
Review: Okay I know I am going to get a little more than my fair share of wacking for this but I want to relate my experience of watching this film while smoking a bit of pot the first time and then doing some mushrooms for the second. I have to say the mushrooms where a bit much but this is one of the best movies to watch if you like to vaporize on a bit of pot because this movie is all about ethogens and how mankind has developed through a synthesis of using drugs as part of its cultural evolution. This film is all about the opposite of that as William Hurt plays a doctor researching psychic connections with his own mind's past and he believes that ethogens will help him devolve into a primordial state of awareness in conjunction with using an isolation tank!THIS FILM BLEW MY MIND! I highly recommend this movie, bar the last 10 minutes which is just your typical Hollywood control ending to help keep the masses happy, but if you want to see a film that THINKS and has it fair share of trippy moments then this will bend your mind for all that it is worth. If you like cultural films, ethogens and directors that can create some remarkable imagery then this is well worth watching. For the doubters who think that drugs+films have nothing to do with movies then I will only point you in the direction of Kubrick and Clarke with their production of 2001 and the ending that was designed for the 60s trippers and what do you get? Probably one of the best sci-fi movies ever made and an instant classic! So put that in your pipe and smoke it! (wink)
Rating:
Summary: Sentimental Head Trip
Review: Paddy Chayefsky had a lot of high hopes for ALTERED STATES but, after clashing with director Ken Russell, he was despondent enough to pull his name from the credits (the screenplay is attributed to "Sydney Aaron")--a major blow that the author of MARTY, THE HOSPITAL and NETWORK would disown his own creation. Chayefsky was especially enraged that Russell had the actors cramming their mouths with food while rapidly running through the scientific exchanges. This has always been a sentimental favorite and it definitely has more imagination than most of the sci-fi/horror films I've seen since then.
Every time I've watched it, the movie makes me wonder about a variety of thoughts and experiences, what should be reached for and what should be valued.
How many movies can do that for anyone?
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Summary: THOSE 70s FLATLINERS! WHAT CARDS!
Review: Perhaps the final 70's voyage into academic hallucinatoria, has the heroes subjecting themselves into regressive transformation. Ending is a Must See for lovers of the a-ha video TAKE ON ME, and for anyone wanting to compare the Julia Roberts film FLATLINERS (also good) with another film. Hypnotic, prophetic, influential. I geuss you can tell we liked it.
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Summary: Suspenseful film!
Review: Sometimes in any moment of your life maybe have decided to cross the line and explore the dark side of your brain . A group of scientists are involved in this potentially dangerous journey of the deepest places of the mind .
The film is visually stunning and terrifying . A good point to Ken Russell who was living his moist creative decade .
This film marks the debut on screen of this gifted actor : William Hurt .
Rating: 
Summary: Deplorable Main Character Gives Nobody to Root For
Review: The main protagonist of this movie (Hurt) is so extremely selfish that it is impossible to root for him; thus, at the end, in the semi-famous climax scene which inspired nothing less than the ending of the infamous "Aha" video: when the protagonist is throwing himself at opposing hallway walls in order to stave off becoming less than human again, the viewer can't get it out of his head that this egoist has already been less than human all movie long.
You'd like to see his loving wife saved (who's life he's imperiled), but the main character (Hurt), well, that guy can go to hell. Nothing in him is redeemable, and his sudden, verbal "conversion" to his wife, his plea for entry back into feeling humanity--right before all this bad stuff went down--is less than believable.
The special effects are terribly dated, but the character flaws in the protagonist are the real terrible thing about this movie.
There's no one to root for. You just hope nobody gets hurt by this idiot. Of course, even this hope is in vain, as he does hurt others, both physically and emotionally, and shows very scant remorse about it.
The character's personality type is also off: they portray him as a rational stoic, but in real life those types are not the ones who are driven to pursue the things that this man is pursuing. He needed to evince more passion and spiritualism, not rational stoicism. For those familiar with Myers-Briggs, you will understand the following: his character needed to be an INFP; this movie mistakenly portrays him as INTP.
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Summary: Altered States vs. The Serpent and the Rainbow
Review: The movie Altered States offers a much more esoteric methodology towards the medical improvment of the human state of mind, utilizing sensory deprivation.
The Serpent and the Rainbow explores a pharmacalogical approach to sensory perception.
Sensory deprivation provides for the elimination of all sensory stimulus, where as sensory perception focuses on a particularly strong stimuli, without excluding other secondary influences.
I think this is a happy accidental link between the two movies because you don't really see it unless thought about in extent. Simply because the two movies made me think, not to mention the wonderful acting and directing, they are two of my favorites in my extensive collection of DvDs.
Amy Davies.....12-13-02 (Btw, I'm 30 years old, but the options listed wouldn't let me go above 12.)
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie with an Excellent Score
Review: The plot of the film centers on Professor Eddie Jessup who explores different states of consciousness by using a sensory deprivation tank and hallucinogenic drugs. It has a well-developed plot for a Science Fiction/Horror movie with the right mixture of realism and fantasy. The sound quality of the DVD is far superior to the VHS. The intricacies of the score, composed by John Corigliano, and the various sound effects are better appreciated on the DVD. Without the technology to create realistic sound effects, Corigliano instead used various orchestration techniques such as harmonics and microtonality; this interconnects the score to the plot of the film. Since 1980, no film composer's score has been equaled in this respect. It's a trite expression but they don't make them like they used to. Overall, the movie is at its best during the supernatural scenes of horror. During the more dramatic scenes, the acting is overdone and unbelievable especially in scenes with Professor Jessup and his wife. Despite that, this movie is a landmark film in the horror movie genre with one of the best scores of any movie. It is definitely a film to see and a DVD worth the money.
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Summary: Strange, odd, well acted film.
Review: The Plot:A young scientist Eddie Jessup(William Hurt in his first film) believes other states of consciousness are as real as today. He using sensory deprivation, then adding power, hallocingtions drugs and there`s a possibility that these altered states and he endure the experiences that make madness look like a blessing. Dated but excellent visual effects, great sound editing and Ken Russell is directing is superb. DVD`s in a anamorphic widescreen(1.85:1) format and pan&scan also. Good picture quality and Excellent remastering Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with strong .1 bass subwoofer. A DVD`s worth buying. Grade:A-.
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Summary: Alterations
Review: The sci-fi film Altered States, is on the one hand, a landmark for the genre, while at the same time, it's not quite a classic either... Research scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt, in his first film role) believes other states of consciousness are as real as everyday reality. Using sensory deprivation, then adding powerful, hallucinogenic drugs, he explores these altered states and endures experiences that make madness seem a blessing. While Altered States features a solid cast that also includes Blair Brown, as Jessup's wife Emily, Bob Balaban as Arthur Rosenberg, and Charles Haid as Mason Parrish, Professor of Endocrinology at Harvard Medical School, as well as stunning visuals. Thanks to problems with script and the original novel's author Paddy Chayefsky displeasure with the way things were being done, the film does have a certain amount of choppiness to it at times--covered up by those effects I mentioned earlier--the impact of the film is less than it could have been. Director Ken Russell fortunately uses his best asset, the cast, to their full potential. The DVD has very limited extras. There are only a few production notes and the theatrical trailer on the disc. On the technical side, the film boasts a soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 that sounds awesome. Viewers can watch Altered States in either the full-screen or widescreen formats. The DVD is recommended, but the film's fault lies in covering up its weaknesses with albeit good looking eye candy.
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Summary: Lon Chaney Meets Reefer Madness
Review: The synopsis on the jacket was promising: "Research Scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) believes other states of consciousness are as real as everyday reality. Using sensory deprivation, then adding powerful, hallucinogenic drugs, he explores these altered states" This is a subject that intrigues me, so I really looked forward to viewing this film. I was disappointed. It is evident that the writer did no or little research on the topic. Professor Jessup takes a mushroom used by a mexican tribe (presumably based on the tribes that Robert Wasson investigated in the late 50s whose ceremony centers around eating a psilocybin mushroom). None of this is realistic...he goes on a fantastic trip and completely loses consciousness of everday reality (which is not how it happens)...he drinks the mushroom from a brew (looks like they got mushroom use mixed up with ayahuasca...there were the cosmic serpents to boot!), he kills a lizard and does not remember it. He also experiments with sensory deprivation using the John Lily floatation tanks...However, he can speak to the lab assistants outside the tank...which does not make it "sensory deprivation" does it? During one of the hallucinatory experiences, he discovers that he can exteriorize the "trip" and he starts to have some kind of morpho-genetic changes....namely he becomes some kind of early hominid, escapes from the lab and finally ends up in a zoo, where he kills and eats one of the zoo's sheep. He eventually changes back to his normal state. On another trip, he regresses to the cellular level and then goes on further to become the Big Bang. I dont know if the director Ken Russel intended it that way, but this movie is as full of misinformation about the psychedelic experience as "Reefer Madness" was about marijuana. It is equally misinformed about Floatation Tanks. While I found this film to be ridiculous, poorly researched and a candidate for Drug War Film of the Year, it could be fine comical relief for a group in a college dormitory looking for a good laugh. Thomas Seay
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