SnoopyStyle
Dr. Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) is doing experiments in an isolation tank with Arthur Rosenberg (Bob Balaban). Emily (Blair Brown) is a young anthropology PHD candidate from Columbia who is taken with Jessup. He has conflicted feelings about his father and religion. Over seven years later, they are married with kids in San Francisco. Arthur and wife Sylvia join them to find that they're on the brink of divorce. Emily wants to stay together but Eddie is restless in his settled unimpressive academic life. He visits a Mexican native tribe and has an out-of-body experience. He returns to resume his sensory deprivation experiments with a new tank. The hallucinations are visually dynamite. This is held together by William Hurt. He has the leading man looks but also has a hidden sense of reserved madness. There is a nice steady devolution and memorable scenes of his metamorphosis.
Rainey Dawn
I liked the movie at the start of the film. The more I watched, the deeper I became engrossed in the story and found it somewhat believable. Then ending came -- I rolled my eyes and laughed -- I could not believe how it ended so dumb! I guess I was expecting a realistic approach to the ending and not a monstrous flop because the rest of the move was almost believable.I know that the movie is loosely based on Dr. John Lilly's real life experiments from the 1960's - and that is why a plausible ending to the movie should have been scripted. Altered States needs an altered ending.If there is a ever a remake of this film or a completely different version of Dr. John Lilly's experiments made - then I will implore the scriptwriters to create a realistic approach to the ending - Altered States had a terrible ending.A humorous ending: Watch the ending of the 1980 Altered States then watch about the last 30 seconds of the old MTV video of A-ha's "Take On Me" --- was A-ha thinking of the movie Altered States when making this video?! Apparently so! LOL 6/10
RachyLovesRattys
I saw this movie at about age 16 and thought it was a masterpiece. Now, it's still a very good movie- but I do get irritated by some of the gratuitous Star Trek-like special effects. Still, some scenes in the movie stuck with me long after I saw them, mostly the blasphemous religious imagery. (Proof this movie disturbed me: Right after first watching- my power suddenly went out. We were the only house on the block with no power. I took that as a sign and ran to the nearest hotel for the night.) It really doesn't make too much sense now, considering there is no aspect of the film that involves something that could "attack" the viewer in real life. But the thoughts of crucified eight-eyed goats and bleeding bibles really anchored themselves into my brain. Overall very well done film- I would say a good starter cerebral film for a teenager looking to explore the genre.
Al_The_Strange
This film basically plays out like one extended science experiment. As such, it looks pretty dry and "boring" at first glance, but the actual subject of the experiment is something of fascination that prompts further study. Altered States presents the idea that powerful drugs can create a conduit for a person to touch the inner self (and possibly touching God at the same time), allowing one access to six billion years of genetic memories stored in the human body. As the main character continuously dabbles with the forbidden fruit of mind-altering substances, he comes closer and closer to inhabiting the body of the world's first primordial human being, complete with raw primal instincts and unbridled physical power.The concept is really high-level stuff, provoking lots of introspect into the human spirit, human evolution, and humanity's relationship with spirituality and religion. Above all, the film is most memorable for being visually insane. There are several sequences where the film bombards you with rapid-fire freak-out imagery. I've yet to see any other film where the screen flashes weird goat heads, bloody knives, hellish scenes of crucifixions and boiling hot magma, giant snakes, sex, the universe, and lord knows what else all at once. Scenes like this make the film very pungent, and it stands out as one of the trippiest experiences on film.In between the occasional freak-outs, the film slows down quite a bit. The film goes on to follow these scientist characters, who form some profound relationships and rivalries, but most of these scenes come off as rather plain and dry, especially when compared to the film's most vivid imagery. I couldn't tell you if such contrast is intentional or not. Regardless, it is an intriguing story with a cast of halfway decent characters.The film has its share of extremely hard-hitting imagery and extremely plain photography. Editing can be pretty erratic during the freak-out scenes, but for intentional effect; the film is very successful at beating its trippiness over your head. Acting is decent: William Hurt is especially noteworthy. Writing is quite sophisticated, but could potentially go over some viewers' heads. This production has okay-looking sets, props, and costumes, and the special effects are impressive for its time. Music is alright.Overall, this is a movie for the left side of the brain. If that interests you, then the film is certainly recommended. Otherwise, you might still want to see it for some of the trippiest (and possibly scariest) images ever committed to celluloid.4/5 (Entertainment: Average | Story: Very Good | Film: Good)
