William Hurt

Blair Brown

Bob Balaban

Charles Haid

Thaao Penghlis

Miguel Godreau

Dori Brenner

Peter Brandon

Charles White-Eagle

Drew Barrymore

Megan Jeffers

Jack Murdock

Francis X. McCarthy

Deborah Baltzell

Evan Richards

Paul Larsson

John Larroquette

George Gaynes

Hap Lawrence

John Walter Davis

Daniel Melnick

John Corigliano

Paddy Chayefsky

Howard Gottfried

Eric Jenkins

Ken Russell

Jordan Cronenweth

Jeremy Ritzer

Richard Macdonald

Thomas L. Roysden

Ruth Myers

Howard Feuer

Bran Ferren

Michael Minkler

John M. Woodward

Michael Colgan

Morgan Renard

James Glennon

Les Fresholtz

Arthur Piantadosi

Carline Davis-Dyer

Garrett Brown

Gary Holt

Paul Pav

Stuart Baird

Peter Schindler

Stan Cockerell

Stephen Kolzak

Christopher Keene

Arthur W. Forney

Joel Thurm

Willie D. Burton

Lee Stitch

Jay Wertz

Donald Harris

Fred Stafford

Dick Smith

David Silver

Carl Fullerton

Craig Reardon

Chuck Gaspar

Larry L. Fuentes

Marvin E. Lewis

Darryl M. Athons

Shanan Harrell

Ronald C. Jacobs

Colin Waddy

Susan Tarr

Laurey Condon

Thomas Penick

Don Higgins

John David Earnest

Scott Bartlett

Rick Baker

Dione Taylor

Michael Hancock

Sidney H. Greenwood

Sal Martorano

Tony Dyson

Chris Strong

Jeff Howard

Roger Irvin

Johnny E. Jensen

Gary Daigler

Carey Jones

Bob Rose

Adam Glick

Horror

Science Fiction

Thriller

Altered States

Warner Bros. Pictures

United States of America

English

Español

***“Night of the Apeman” mixed with some pretty heady material***

In the late 60s and mid-70s, a psychopathologist (William Hurt) from the New York/New England area honestly seeks ultimate truth and the origins of humanity through dubious experiments with sensory deprivation mixed with drugs, including a potent mixture used in ceremonies by Mexican AmerIndians. This leads to altered states of consciousness and amazing primordial revelations. Blair Brown is on hand as his romantic interest while Bob Balaban and Charles Haid appear as his colleagues, the latter a scientific version of a Pharisee.

Directed by Ken Russell, “Altered States” (198o) is a mature sci-fi drama with elements of mystery/horror. It comes across as a meshing of movies like “Wolfen” (1981), “An American Werewolf in London” (1981), Russell’s later “The Lair of the White Worm” (1988) and “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). One of the fascinating things about the movie is that it shows how a person can reach other realms while in an isolated location through the power of the mind/spirit, albeit in this case with the assistance of drugs.

I can relate to a degree. For instance, eleven years ago I was sleeping in bed (during the day) having an intense dream when my wife burst into the room to wake me up. The smoke alarm outside the door was blaring like crazy, but there was no smoke or fire (or heat). The intense energy evoked by my dream obviously set it off because, as soon as I woke, it suddenly stopped. This happened again the next week. What can explain this except the untapped power of the mind and focused energy?

Anyway, the apeman sequence is one of the best parts of the movie and recalls those werewolf flicks noted above (of course “Wolfen” isn’t really a werewolf picture). But “Altered States” is so much more than a standard creature feature or nature-runs-amok flick. The apeman make-up is great and the bizarre imaginings are similar to the same in “The Lair of the White Worm.” While I disagree with the evolutionary nonsense (humans didn’t evolve from apes, rolling my eyes), this is a fantasy about finding the truth by Ken Russell and so I don’t expect those kinds of details to be accurate anyway.

Blair is winsome in a girl-next-door kind of way and Russell doesn’t fail to capture her beauty (and I’m not tawkin about the top nudity), although that’s there too, if you’re interested.

I suggest using the subtitles since a lot of the jargon is pretty technical. It helps the viewer to stay with the story if you can understand what the characters are saying and discussing.

The movie runs 1 hour, 42 minutes and was shot in New York City (including the Bronx Zoo); Boston; Sierra Tarahumara, Chihuahua, Mexico (the rock formations); Burbank Studios and a VA hospital in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B

Trailer #60

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Altered States

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Актёрский состав 20:

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