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Title: Altered States (1980)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| William Hurt | ... | Eddie Jessup | |
| Blair Brown | ... | Emily Jessup | |
| Bob Balaban | ... | Arthur Rosenberg | |
| Charles Haid | ... | Mason Parrish | |
| Thaao Penghlis | ... | Eccheverria | |
 |
Miguel Godreau | ... | Primal Man |
|
|
Dori Brenner | ... | Sylvia Rosenberg |
|
|
Peter Brandon | ... | Hobart |
| Charles White-Eagle | ... | The Brujo | |
| Drew Barrymore | ... | Margaret Jessup | |
|
|
Megan Jeffers | ... | Grace Jessup |
| Jack Murdock | ... | Hector Orteco | |
| Francis X. McCarthy | ... | Obispo (as Frank McCarthy) | |
|
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Deborah Baltzell | ... | Schizophrenic Patient |
| Evan Richards | ... | Young Rosenberg | |
It's the late 1960's. Just for a lark, graduate student Eddie Jessup, known for being unconventional, brilliant and slightly mad, conducts experiments with an isolation chamber, using himself as the subject. His experiences in the chamber cause him to hallucinate, much of the imagery being religious-based despite his not being a religious man. Seven years later, he is a respected full professor in the Harvard Medical School. Believing he has lost his edge and has fallen into an unwanted state of respectability, Eddie decides to resume his work with sensory deprivation, this time using hallucinogens, specifically untested ones used in mystical Mexican rituals, to enhance the experience of being in the isolation tank. After initial tests, he claims he entered an alternate physical and mental state. Although unbelieving of Eddie's claims, his colleagues Arthur Rosenberg and Mason Parrish, as well as Eddie's wife, Emily, who is in her own right a respected academic, are concerned for ... Written by Huggo
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Okay, the character of Dr. Eddie Jessup is kind of a pompous ass, and there are a few groaner moments of, call it, self-importance.
But this movie breaks real ground.
One of my all time favorites.
And I'd like to point out that everyone is crazy about the much-touted and notoriously-expensive hallucination sequences, ...
Of course if you've seen Russel's "Tommy," some of the over-the-top sequences will look familiar and tinged with peculiar British-isms. And then there's the ending - well, it's controversial, that's for sure - anticlimax or not ?
But for me the most electrifying parts are the ensemble cast acting.
In the scene where Blair Brown is trying to cope with the trauma of the events in the isolation tank room, there's a very beautifully conceived long single shot through house windows. Russel needs credit especially for the argument between Balaban and Haid - some of the best acting I've ever seen - character actors hardly EVER get to put this kind of stage-acting energy on film. It stays with me still. They truly seem absolutely furious with each other, their lines overlap, it's absolutely convincing.
Some of the greatest effects of this movie are simply good movie craft - when Jessup first sees the love of his life walk through the door, fantastically back-lit, and the music comes up and cross-fades into the next scene - it's breathtaking.
It's the moments like that, and the very intro of the movie, with the slow title crawl, the deadpan lines read by Balaban, the first shots of Hurt in the tank, the eerie music ... This movie still stands out, still looks good,... and stands superior to other, more recent imaginings of internal hallucination become external.