Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Altered States (1980)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Ken Russell
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Scientist William Hurt's experiments in a sensory deprivation tank cause him to physically de-evolve when he combines them with psychedelic mushrooms. One night he turns into an ape-human and goes on a rampage. In another session, he regresses even further, becoming a screaming mass of primordial goo. His poor wife Blair Brown and fellow scientists try to save him. It raises questions of philosophy, religion and the origin of life itself, similar in many respects to 2001, but differs in the resolution by trying to answer those questions, whereas 2001 did not. Nonetheless, it's an auditory and visual assault on the senses, and a film experience with few peers.

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