Eccentric college professor Eddie Jessup (William Hurt, A History of Violence… in his film debut) is into trying to access alternate states of consciousness via an isolation chamber, and even though he isn’t the religious-type, he sees apocalyptic visions of the crucifixion… and multi-eyed goats… and combinations of the two… as well as the death of his beloved father… but years later he feels he’s grown boring, even though his rank in academia is much higher.
Jessup abruptly divorces his wife, Emily (Blair Brown, TV’s Fringe), and leaves their family, in a crazed attempt to access a primitive state of consciousness via going into the mountains of Mexico, and pounding back an ancient native drug that has him seeing primitive hallucinations.
Because a bad idea simply must be expanded upon, Jessup combines the drug (which he was allowed to take home) and an isolation tank and hallucinates that he became a primitive being… but physical signs begin to indicate that Jessup’s claims of the hallucinations being real may be correct… and then shit goes even more berserk…
Directed by Ken Russell (The Lair of the White Worm… which if you’ve seen, lets you know the kind of awesome/crazy you are in store for) from a narrative provided by Network scribe Paddy Chayefsky, Altered States is New Age beliefs mixed with demented Christian-based imagery… and there’s a caveman involved… and drugs, lots of drugs… and it’s a love story.
Things get absolutely bananas in increasing degrees in a way that makes the overall experience of Altered States one of the most unique sci-fi/horror flicks you’ve ever slapped your putrid peepers upon!
The extreme skill of the cast makes everything that’s going on seem scientifically plausible when it clearly is off-the-charts crazy… and that crazy is realized incredibly courtesy of some incredible chromakey images mixed with striking make-up and transformation effects courtesy of Dick Smith (The Exorcist) and his crew… at times simultaneously. It’s video and latex and Chromakey… all swirling together to make something completely mesmerizing and every bit a fever dream realized.
All of that looks absolutely eye-popping thanks to a new 4K digital restoration (with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack thrown in to boot) that displays tons of detail and searing color… and that’s not the only enhancement made to the Altered States experience as Criterion have assembled special features to expand our consciousness…
On the 4K edition we get an audio commentary featuring film historian Samm Deighan that takes on us through an information packed journey through the film’s history.
The included Blu-ray edition features this commentary as well, along with archival interviews with Russell and Hurt, and a new interview with special-visual-effects designer Bran Ferren, and the film’s trailer.
Also included is an insert featuring an essay by film critic Jessica Kiang.
An absolutely mind-bending, visually arresting masterpiece that should not be missed, Altered States is a psychotronic experience unlike any other!
