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Altered States

6.2

3,321

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Original title

Altered States

Year

1980

Running time

102 min.

Country

United States

Director

Ken Russell

Screenwriter

Paddy Chayefsky. Novel: Paddy Chayefsky

Cast

Music

John Corigliano

Cinematography

Jordan Cronenweth

Producer

Warner Bros.

Genre

Sci-Fi. Fantasy

Synopsis

It's the late 1960's. Just for a lark, graduate student Eddie Jessup, known for being unconventional, brilliant and slightly mad, conducts experiments with an isolation chamber, using himself as the subject. His experiences in the chamber cause him to hallucinate, much of the imagery being religious-based despite he not being a religious man. Seven years later, he is a respected full professor in the Harvard Medical School. Believing he has lost his edge and has fallen into an unwanted state of respectability, Eddie decides to resume his work with sensory deprivation, this time using hallucinogens, specifically untested ones used in mystical Mexican rituals, to enhance the experience of being in the isolation tank. After initial tests, he claims he entered an alternate physical and mental state. Although unbelieving of Eddie's claims, his colleagues Arthur Rosenberg and Mason Parrish, as well as Eddie's wife, Emily, who is in her own right a respected academic, are concerned for Eddie's well being. However, if Eddie's claims are indeed true, he could do irreparable harm to himself and others around him, especially if his altered states are uncontrollable.

Awards: 1980: 2 nominations for Academy Award: Best Music, Best Sound.

1980: Golden Globes: Nominated for New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Male (William Hurt)

1980: Nominated for Golden Globe: New Star of the Year (William Hurt).

1980: Academy Awards (Oscars): 2 nominations

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Critics' reviews

"With a mad doctor like Ken Russell at the helm, one happily follows this movie to hell and back"

David Ansen: Newsweek
"Altered States is a superbly silly movie, a magnificent entertainment, and a clever and brilliant machine for making us feel awe, fear, and humor (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"Russell has devised a film experience that will astound some viewers, outrage others and bore nobody."

Richard Corliss: Time
"The film is in fine shape as long as it revels in its own craziness, making no claims on the viewer's reason. But when it asks you to believe that what you're watching may really be happening, and to wonder what it means, it is asking far too much."

Janet Maslin: The New York Times
"There isn't a lucid moment in it, but it has dash, style, and good looks, as well as the funniest curtain line since Some Like It Hot."

Dave Kehr: Chicago Tribune
"An aggressively silly head-horror movie, the result of the misalliance of two wildly different hyperbolic talents-the director Ken Russell and the writer Paddy Chayefsky."

Pauline Kael: The New Yorker

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User history

Altered States

1980

Ken Russell

6.2

(3,321)