Review of Altered States (1980) by John K — 10 Jul 2011
Paddy Chayefsky adapted his hallucinogentically-charged novel for this 1980 horror flick staring the great William Hurt as a research scientist studying alternate states of consciousness. The experiments get increasingly elaborate and begin to combine long periods of time in an isolation chamber with strange hallucinogenic drugs from the native populations in Mexico.
Altered States is a tripped-out exploration of some pretty heavy concepts like love, the origin of the species, and our human connections to our primal ancestors. On the other side, this is also a horror film with a similar theme to The Wolfman.
William Hurt shows his future greatness in this flick along with a very strong supporting cast. Director Ken Russel was a good choice for this as many of his films deal with primal and sexually charged themes like this one.
For horror fans, Altered States will present a challenge as a very deep and philosophically complex film with some dated looking effects and a bizarre science fiction twist. If you're up to the challenge though, it can be a rather rewarding film as well.
This review of Altered States (1980) was written by John K on 10 Jul 2011.
Altered States has generally received positive reviews.
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