Starring: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid, Thaao Penghlis, Miguel Godreau.
Director: Ken Russell.
It's been a long time since I've sat down to watch Altered States. I'm trying to remember what prompted me to pick it up years ago (it probably had something to do with my, at the time, half ironic love of Ken Russell's madness), but I know it took me a long time to actually watch it for the first time. As such, I don't think it was ever on my specific re-watch list. But, one of the main points of doing this blog was to go back over some older stuff (along with some new stuff, but primarily I owned a lot of horror films that I never watch normally), and today happened to be Ken Russell day. I was bummed to find it's almost impossible to locate The Devils anywhere but on the internet, so that tragically will not be on the menu today. But, anyway, back to Altered States.
Not sure what I'd been expecting from this film, but I know I probably expected more insanity than this film ultimately offers (though there is enough of that, too). I feel like it's probably the most direct of Russell's horror flicks. Plus, you have one of the most stilted and bizarre performances of William Hurt's storied career. And hallucinations. Lots of hallucinations.
Hurt plays Dr.Eddie Jessup, a researcher who is interested in using sensory deprivation and isolation tanks to open new states of consciousness. The film is made in 1980, so we have a lot of hippy music and pot smoking. Jessup's theories are pretty interesting, much along the same lines of Gothic and...well, a lot of Russell's themes. Religion, psychoanalysis, higher states of being...a lot of postmodernist philosophy. What is the real, what is happening inside our heads, what is the difference between the mind and the soul...a lot of it is fairly pretentious but, to me anyway, still fascinating stuff. In the middle of having couch sex with the rather gorgeous Blair Brown, he waxes philosophical about his past: his inherent religious beliefs (along with visions) despite having no indoctrination into faith, and his dramatic turning from that faith with the death of his Father...and then, back in the isolation tank, he begins having bizarre stylistic hallucinations about religion and his Father and visions of the crucifixion and rough sex and...it would be rather jarring if I hadn't seen other Russell films, but compared to some of the lunacy of The Devils it's not as bizarre as it seems.
I want to be a Professor (and this isn't a joke) in hopes of having conversations like the ones these characters have. I wonder if I could do isolation and sensory deprivation stuff as a Philosophy major. Anyway, the movie jumps ahead a few years and The Jessups are getting a divorce due to the basic insanity that Eddie can never quite shake (though he's pretty convincing in his statements of stripping himself of the rituals of marriage..and his greater fascinating speech of searching for the essential "original self" of human experience...this movie is way headier than I remember). There's a lot of philosophical ideas being presented from Dr.Jessup. His fervor for these ideas are painting him as an obsessive madman, which he certainly is, and making him willing to take chances for science that normal people probably shouldn't (such as exposing himself to Native American rituals with dangerous drugs he's never utilized before).
Stylistically, this one of Russell's simplest: he doesn't get super creative or arch with the camera, at least not early on. It's interesting to note, really: he seems to be creating a specific contrast. Once drugs and isolation tanks and the like come into play, he lets loose with (by today's standards primitive) green screen and whirling cameras. But normal scenes just show us things in a straight-forward fashion. In essence, Russell shows us mundane reality disrupted by spiritual and psychological revery: the "original self" or "ultimate truth" Jessup searches for. Russell seeks to give us an experience as close to Jessup's own as he possibly can.
This would probably be either a terrifying or amazing film to watch while on drugs. It's nearly impossible to describe this imagery in any way that would make sense. It's a feverish attack on the senses and filled with visual metaphor, which are both certainly the hallmarks of Russell's skills as a film maker.
Eddie is told he killed a Lizard with his bare hands when he was under the effect of the drug. So, of course, he's going to do more of it while in a sensory deprivation tank (despite the misgivings of his colleagues), in hopes to gather more information from his hallucinations. Which is totally responsible science. It does lead to an interesting scene where Russell utilizes mere speech to create tension: Eddie describes his encounters with proto-humans and aiding them in killing a goat. We only see the reactions of his partners, and it's actually quite intense.
Charles Haid gives a great, manic performance as Mason: a brilliant, angry scientist who finds everything about what's going on-especially Eddie's statements that he devolved in the chamber-offensive and upsetting. He's not an antagonist, though, which is why the character becomes so much fun.
Russell enters some body horror arenas with some of these scenes as well. Eddie, while in bed with a co-ed, begins to find his arms and stomach shifting and mutating as he watches. It seems painful and frightening as he undergoes the transformations into a proto-human. Hurt does a great job of conveying both terror and entertainment at this transformation: it's painful and horrific, but it provides him with the experiences he is seeking. It's an interesting performance.
Drew Barrymore plays the little daughter of the Jessup's. That's just kind of neat.
Eddie implores his now ex-wife to stick with him as he repeats his devolution experiments. She, like most of his friends, thinks he is completely nuts. Of course, he goes ahead and does it by himself anyway because science. And turns into a monkey man. Because science.
I'm not sure I would do what these janitors and security guards do. They open the door, see a monkey man, and decide that they should chase it. Even under the pretense that they think it's an ape...I mean, you're gonna need more than a stick, guys. Just saying: I open the door and see an ape, I close the door, lock it and call for help. Period. No chasing monkey men in the basement for me.
The Monkey Man does look pretty great, though. I will say that. It's amazing what you can do with some makeup effects and gymnastic skills...the actor, Miguel Godreau, does an excellent job with the performance, too. Y'know, I realize now that this was the scene I was trying to place when watching Wolf. Jack goes to the zoo in wolf form and does a bunch of weird stuff...here, Proto-Human Eddie gets into much more aggressive adventures. Grosser, too. Also, he doesn't get away with it like Jack did. He's found naked at the zoo and arrested.
The narrative changes pretty quickly midway through. The interesting thing about this is that it occurs right after the complete transformation of Eddie into a proto-human. Once he becomes something inhuman (or less human, I guess), he is no longer suitably fit to be our protagonist: he is now the monster or, perhaps more accurately, the victim. Eddie is what is stake now. Technically, it would be both: Eddie is both the monster and the victim. He is danger of destroying himself. Now the narrative focuses on Emily, who still is very much in love with Eddie, even if he is incapable of truly understanding his own emotions in any significant way. Either way, Emily, Mason and Arthur decide to give in to Eddie and let him conduct another experiment, hopefully with more control due to their involvement.
Not sure why his transformation would screw up video feed, but...okay, well, there's all kinds of external happenings of energy fluctuations, so I guess that answers my question. Mason and Arthur do the honorable thing and get Emily own, taking the brunt of the blasts themselves. Emily then sees Eddie become some sort of weird slug creature thing...yeah, this movie gets a lot stranger than I remember. Emily must really love him, considering what she's willing to do to try and save the guy: explosions and transformations and weird whirlpools that form in the middle of the room and visions of dividing cells and possibly even the creation of the universe...I dunno, might be time for that divorce. But, it's heroic, and cements Emily's place as the stories true protagonist. Not sure how she isn't gibbering like the hero of a Lovecraft story, though.
This is an excellent cast. Just a very talented group of individuals. The ending to this film is really, really weird. Eddie is once again overtaken by the energies beyond space and time, or whatever you'd call it, infects Emily....and then basically re-enacts the ending of Ah-Ha's music video of "Take on me" and...this is just really weird. Interestingly enough, love conquers all.
Final Thoughts: A lot weirder than I remember. It's a strong film, to be sure, even if it is a little dated. There's a lot of thought here, though, on a lot of very deep subjects. It's surprising once you break it down and realize how little plot or even central conflict exists within the story. I don't know of any other movie this simple that is so filled with actual substance. It's an impressive thing to achieve. Strong enough stuff without being anything super mind blowing or special.
Final Rating: Three Stars.
Eddie is told he killed a Lizard with his bare hands when he was under the effect of the drug. So, of course, he's going to do more of it while in a sensory deprivation tank (despite the misgivings of his colleagues), in hopes to gather more information from his hallucinations. Which is totally responsible science. It does lead to an interesting scene where Russell utilizes mere speech to create tension: Eddie describes his encounters with proto-humans and aiding them in killing a goat. We only see the reactions of his partners, and it's actually quite intense.
Charles Haid gives a great, manic performance as Mason: a brilliant, angry scientist who finds everything about what's going on-especially Eddie's statements that he devolved in the chamber-offensive and upsetting. He's not an antagonist, though, which is why the character becomes so much fun.
Russell enters some body horror arenas with some of these scenes as well. Eddie, while in bed with a co-ed, begins to find his arms and stomach shifting and mutating as he watches. It seems painful and frightening as he undergoes the transformations into a proto-human. Hurt does a great job of conveying both terror and entertainment at this transformation: it's painful and horrific, but it provides him with the experiences he is seeking. It's an interesting performance.
Drew Barrymore plays the little daughter of the Jessup's. That's just kind of neat.
Eddie implores his now ex-wife to stick with him as he repeats his devolution experiments. She, like most of his friends, thinks he is completely nuts. Of course, he goes ahead and does it by himself anyway because science. And turns into a monkey man. Because science.
I'm not sure I would do what these janitors and security guards do. They open the door, see a monkey man, and decide that they should chase it. Even under the pretense that they think it's an ape...I mean, you're gonna need more than a stick, guys. Just saying: I open the door and see an ape, I close the door, lock it and call for help. Period. No chasing monkey men in the basement for me.
The Monkey Man does look pretty great, though. I will say that. It's amazing what you can do with some makeup effects and gymnastic skills...the actor, Miguel Godreau, does an excellent job with the performance, too. Y'know, I realize now that this was the scene I was trying to place when watching Wolf. Jack goes to the zoo in wolf form and does a bunch of weird stuff...here, Proto-Human Eddie gets into much more aggressive adventures. Grosser, too. Also, he doesn't get away with it like Jack did. He's found naked at the zoo and arrested.
The narrative changes pretty quickly midway through. The interesting thing about this is that it occurs right after the complete transformation of Eddie into a proto-human. Once he becomes something inhuman (or less human, I guess), he is no longer suitably fit to be our protagonist: he is now the monster or, perhaps more accurately, the victim. Eddie is what is stake now. Technically, it would be both: Eddie is both the monster and the victim. He is danger of destroying himself. Now the narrative focuses on Emily, who still is very much in love with Eddie, even if he is incapable of truly understanding his own emotions in any significant way. Either way, Emily, Mason and Arthur decide to give in to Eddie and let him conduct another experiment, hopefully with more control due to their involvement.
Not sure why his transformation would screw up video feed, but...okay, well, there's all kinds of external happenings of energy fluctuations, so I guess that answers my question. Mason and Arthur do the honorable thing and get Emily own, taking the brunt of the blasts themselves. Emily then sees Eddie become some sort of weird slug creature thing...yeah, this movie gets a lot stranger than I remember. Emily must really love him, considering what she's willing to do to try and save the guy: explosions and transformations and weird whirlpools that form in the middle of the room and visions of dividing cells and possibly even the creation of the universe...I dunno, might be time for that divorce. But, it's heroic, and cements Emily's place as the stories true protagonist. Not sure how she isn't gibbering like the hero of a Lovecraft story, though.
This is an excellent cast. Just a very talented group of individuals. The ending to this film is really, really weird. Eddie is once again overtaken by the energies beyond space and time, or whatever you'd call it, infects Emily....and then basically re-enacts the ending of Ah-Ha's music video of "Take on me" and...this is just really weird. Interestingly enough, love conquers all.
Final Thoughts: A lot weirder than I remember. It's a strong film, to be sure, even if it is a little dated. There's a lot of thought here, though, on a lot of very deep subjects. It's surprising once you break it down and realize how little plot or even central conflict exists within the story. I don't know of any other movie this simple that is so filled with actual substance. It's an impressive thing to achieve. Strong enough stuff without being anything super mind blowing or special.
Final Rating: Three Stars.
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