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Movies / On DVD / Altered States
Altered States

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Altered States (1980)

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87 %
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Reviews Counted: 31

Fresh: 27

Rotten:4

Average Rating: 6.9/10

Consensus: Extraordinarily daring for a Hollywood film, Altered States attacks the viewer with its inventive, aggressive mix of muddled sound effects and visual pyrotechnics.

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: A psycho-physiologist doing experiments with human consciousness eventually decides to test his findings on himself. He becomes obsessed with performing these auto-sensory deprivation experiments... A psycho-physiologist doing experiments with human consciousness eventually decides to test his findings on himself. He becomes obsessed with performing these auto-sensory deprivation experiments until he actually changes form physically, ending up as a gorilla at a local zoo. He returns to his normal state, at which point he also involves his wife in the experimentation. [More]

Starring: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Charles Haid, Bob Balaban

Starring: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Charles Haid, Bob Balaban, Drew Barrymore

Director: Ken Russell

Director: Ken Russell

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Release:

Dec 29, 1998

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Altered States

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Direction by Ken Russell has energy to spare, with appropriate match-up of his baroque visual style to special effects intensive material.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/06/07
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Director Russell] fails to bring any clarity to the silly affair.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/06/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

There isn't a lucid moment in it (and much of the dialogue is rendered unintelligible by Russell's subversive direction), but it has dash, style, and good looks, as well as the funniest curtain line since Some Like It Hot.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
06/06/07
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
12/08/06
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
12/06/06
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

[Director] Russell's noisily grandiose swipe at psychedelia embellishes what is no more than the cosily familiar story of the obsessive Scientist Who Goes Too Far and Unwittingly Unleashes, etc.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

William Hurt at his weirdest

comment 1 Comment
01/25/06
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
09/23/05
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/05
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

comment Comment
07/02/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
03/24/05
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

trippy

comment Comment
03/18/05
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

Very intense, very inner self, very self absorbed.

comment Comment
10/25/04
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

I was overwhelmed, I was caught up in its headlong energy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dependably -- even exhilaratingly -- bizarre. Its strangeness, which borders cheerfully on the ridiculous, is its most enjoyable feature.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
08/30/04
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
05/26/04
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

No review available.

comment Comment
03/19/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Altered States explores the human drive to leave the body behind, to be born again, and to experience in the mind things that were once thought divine.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
01/29/04
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Mind-blowing imagery, solid Hurt performance; a first-class freak-out

comment 1 Comment
01/23/04
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
 
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