Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

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!

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 something profound about our origins).

On seeing ALTERED STATES in the theater I couldn't help but be struck by the intelligent script, fine acting and very excellent screen graphics. Although I couldn't understand why Paddy Chayefsky walked out during the production of ALTERED STATES, It was still a very good and enjoyable film, all things considered.

This film is really a 70's movie because of the drug related topics it deals with and the colorful screen graphics which reflect much of the pop artwork associated with the drug culture of 60's and 70's. I thought William Hurt and Blair Brown made a wonderful pair of university "wiz-kids" and enjoyed their performances. I also believed the plot to be at least partially inspired by Carlos Castaneda's books.

This was another in a series of sci-fi films that I talked my wife into seeing with no regrets. It was unusual that we had to see this film in two showings because the local police and theater management dramatically appeared in front of the audience to clear the theater due to a bomb threat just as the plot was getting really engaging. Theater management permitted the audience to either return to their seats or see it during another engagement. These circumstances permitted us to see the film twice in two weeks for the price of a single admission.