Review of Altered States (1980) by William C — 19 Nov 2014

I read the novel (which was Paddy Chayefsky's version of Jekyll and Hyde) when it first came out in '79 and knew it would be a fun ride of a movie if done right. And it was--combining the intellectualism of finding the true self with some effects that, for their time, were unreal (and still copied in other media), this movie is also a near-Wagnerian opera on the primal versus the spiritual.

This is actually one of the few movies I'd love to see remade today with the technology now available--providing the script stayed true to the original (and a decent cast could be found).