Review of Altered States (1980) by Robert C — 26 Aug 2010

Not one of my favorite Russell films, but interesting.

I'm tempted to read the source material (novel by Paddy Chayefsky) as I feel that at the core of this film is an incredibly deep premise that might be better "fleshed out" in the novel.

I feel that much the more interesting concepts are lost / overshadowed by the psychedelia that predominates the film. Much of which seems horribly dated at this point.

I was lucky enough recently to take part in a Q & A session with Ken Russell and he told an ammusing story of how when this film was playing in theaters it developed a large following of college students who would (he says) buy their tickets and wait in the lobby or outside the theater (getting high) until they got the signal from one of their friends inside that there was another hallucination scene starting. At which point they'd all run back in to watch those scenes only to step back into the lobby / outside when the "trip" was over. He found that quite amusing and (after watching this film) it's a story that I totally believe.