Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD EAN: 9786305133131 Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC ISBN: 6305133131 Label: Warner Home Video Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Warner Home Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: June 01, 2004 Running Time: 103 minutes Sales Rank: 14122 Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: December 25, 1980
Amazon.com: It's easy to understand why the late, great screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky removed his name from the credits of Altered States and substituted the pseudonym Sidney Aaron. After all, Chayefsky was a revered dramatist whose original source novel was intended as a serious exploration of altered consciousness, inspired by the immersion-tank experiments of Dr. John Lilly in the 1970s. In the hands of maverick director Ken Russell, however, Altered States became a full-on sensory assault, using symbolic imagery and mind- blowing special effects to depict one man's physical and hallucinatory journey through the entire history of human evolution. It's a brazenly silly film redeemed by its intellectual ambition--a dazzling extravaganza that's in love with science and scientists, and eagerly willing to dive off the precipice of rationality to explore uncharted regions of mind, body, and spirit. William Hurt made his bold film debut as the psycho-physiologist who plays guinea pig to his own experiments; Blair Brown plays his equally brilliant wife, whose devotion is just strong enough to bring him back from the most altered state imaginable. From the eternal channels of sense memory to the restorative power of a loving embrace, this movie rocks you to the birth of the universe and back again. And while it's clearly not the story that Chayefsky wanted on the screen, the directorial audacity of Ken Russell makes it one heck of a memorable trip. --Jeff Shannon
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - The Electric Mushroom Soup Test
I found this film to be an extremely entertaining, interesting and sometimes genuinely surprising. It was going down avenues I wasn't expecting, ala "This man is a F**king gorilla". And there were moments where I found myself slightly creeped out, which is the film's aim.
It's hard to compare this movie to others because there are very few movies like this. "The Fly" comes to mind. As does "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Jacob's Ladder", but only in the sense the creators were so serious in their handling of absurd-far-out material. For these reasons, I give the film big props considering it was released in 1980.
The ending felt a bit rushed and out of tone with the rest of the movie, but this is just a minor complaint. The film was based on a book, so I figured they probably tweaked something for the sake of Hollywood Suits. Overall, I was pleased. Check this one out! ... Read More
Rating: - ALTERED STATES-The Movie I Saw Twice Two Weeks in a Row
I remember seeing ALTERED STATES when it first opened in Connecticut in 1980 and as I recall enjoyed it to the tune of about four or even five stars. My three star rating above is based on my recent screenings of the DVD and reflects how my film tastes have changed with the onset of "senior citizenship." My memory of the script excludes the harsh language of the theater release and must have been altered by the TV edited version, which I perceived to be genuinely classier if not just cleaner than the DVD and theater release.
The plot involved a Harvard scientist, Professor Eddie Jessup, conducting experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug while isolated in a sensory deprivation chamber to enhance any drug induced effects. To his great satisfaction he believes that these experiments may be causing him to change genetically (i.e., externalize his drug induced delusions which Dr. Jessup believes, reflects ... Read More
Rating: - Tripping Down Memory Lane...
I'm not a big Ken Russell fan. I've found his movies to be a mixed bag of nuts. However, ALTERED STATES is Russell's most coherent and, to me anyway, enjoyable film. It's a love story of sorts, wrapped in the trappings of sci-fi and hallucination. William Hurt is quite believable as Eddie Jessup, a scientist with a bent toward mystical, mind expanding experimentation. He is a seeker and a complete nut by his own admission. Blair Brown is Emily, a brilliant anthropologist who falls in love with Eddie almost upon sight. The two marry and reproduce (one of the kids is played by Drew Barrymore), while becoming academic superstars. In spite of their mutual success, Eddie is sick of it all. He longs for the old days when he and his partner, Arthur (Bob Balaban) used to conduct wild, sensory deprivation experiments in a saline-filled isolation tank. Those were the days! Soon, Eddie gets a chance to travel to Mexico to try out a mushroom ... Read More
Rating: - Psychadelic trip from the 70's
If your the phylisophical type or you have ever experimented with LSD, then you might appreciate this movie if you smoke grass.
An insane doctor of research experiments with mind altering drugs mixed with a water tank to cause hallucination. He is on a mad persuit to find the one consciousness and his primordial self. Does he find it?
Watch the movie and find out.
Descent movie with good special effects for the time.
Digital
Life Shop
Ken Russell items subject to availability. Some restrictions
may apply. DVD
Altered States presented by digi2005.com Digi2005.com is
an Amazon.com
Associate
Digital Life Music News:
The Headshot Chronicles by {SW}Home$
Gamespot News - It has been in development for four years, give it a try here. When I finally do get my PC back I was thinking about starting ... After I got mad at those games, I started up Hexic HD and turned on music on my iPod. More fun than you would think In music I ...
more News
- ALTERED STATES-The Movie I Saw Twice Two Weeks in a Row
- Tripping Down Memory Lane...
