Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.
Altered States is a genuinely singular piece of cinema — Ken Russell's maximalist psychedelic filmography collides with Paddy Chayefsky's heady sci-fi premise to produce something truly one-of-a-kind. The visionary sequences of consciousness regression, shot with extraordinary practical effects and kaleidoscopic imagery by Jordan Cronenweth, push the cinematography into genuinely exceptional territory. The film's conception — sensory deprivation tanks + shamanic ritual + devolution horror — is distinctive enough to earn top novelty marks. William Hurt and Blair Brown deliver credible, intense performances, though the hyperbolic Chayefsky dialogue occasionally overwhelms the actors. The plot itself, while fascinating in concept, suffers from pacing unevenness and a rushed, emotionally unsatisfying climax where the resolution collapses into melodrama that undercuts the film's cerebral ambitions.