![]() That release date may say 1980, but everything about the film, from its methodical pacing to its intellectual take on science fiction tropes to the batcrap crazy personal touches that feel like they came from a slightly diseased mind to the armpit hair on the leading lady, feels like it was torn straight out of the most artist-driven, creatively fulfilling and occasionally self-indulgent decade in American cinema. Like ' Raging Bull,' 'Altered States' feels like one of the last, desperate gasps of 1970s filmmaking. Are those strange things he's now seeing real, exposed thanks to his experiment, or a product of his newly damaged, deranged mind? An answer is never clearly given because Ken Russell doesn't give easy answers.īetter or worse? Hot or cold? You know what? You know what? Don't answer. The device proves enlightening, but also addicting and Hurt worries that he may be losing his mind. Years of research lead to a device that, when worn,"opens your mind,"essentially making you completely aware of the universe around you (it turns out that the inner workings of the universe look like a lot of psychedelic lights shot with a swooping camera, intercut with close-ups of Hurt's sweaty face). William Hurt is a university scientist who's desperate to find a way for human beings to access closed off areas of their own minds. If that previous blind stab at the plot of this film was my Cronenberg-influenced, 1980s horror movie guess, I should probably make another knowing full well that this is a Russell film.Ĭan I try this again? I'm going to try this again. Not to mention, this was directed by Ken Russell, a director more known for strange, often experimental, occasionally terrible but always surprising films, not generic"William Hurt Turns Himself Into A Beastie And Runs Amuck On Campus"movies. ![]() I'm going to wager that only about 18% of that is accurate to the actual film, mainly because what I'm describing there sounds like a painful mishmash of Cronenberg's remake of 'The Fly' and every bad college-set horror movie ever made and 'Altered States's reputation as an overlooked horror/science fiction gem is a little too elevated for it to be that simple. Meanwhile, there's a romantic subplot because there must be a romantic subplot. Naturally, the evil dean tries to shut him down and a very angry, very mutated William Hurt must keep his experiment running by any means necessary. Pre-Viewing Assumptions:William Hurt is a university scientist with some pretty wacky ideas, most of which involve him getting inside of a strange device that tampers with human evolution, slowly transforming him into something that's not quite human and therefore has no normal human qualms against things like assault and murder and little things like that. Okay, that's not a funny story, but you get the point. And then I realized 'Altered States' was directed by Ken Russell. For years, I thought 'Altered States' was directed by David Cronenberg and vowed that I'd get to it when I finally got the opportunity to dive into his filmography. Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now:There's a funny story behind this one. Starring:William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban and Charles Haid. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try! ![]() Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the weekly column where I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now.
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