Altered States (1980)

NEUTRAL

Various

81%

1980, Sci-fi, 1h 43m

RT Critics’ Score: 85% (UNBIASED)
RT Audience Score: 71%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 2 Oscars
1 win & 7 nominations total

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Critics Consensus

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

Audience Consensus

Altered States is a wild ride that will leave you questioning your own reality. With Ken Russell’s signature style and a plot that’s equal parts bonkers and brilliant, this sci-fi flick is a must-watch for anyone who wants to see what happens when a scientist goes too far. Sure, it may not be the most modest horror movie out there, but who needs modesty when you’ve got mind-bending special effects and a storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat? So buckle up and get ready for a trip you won’t soon forget.

Storyline

In the late 1960s, 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 although he’s not religious. Seven years later, he is a respected full professor in the Harvard Medical School. Believing he has lost his edge and 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 isolation-take experience. 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, herself a respected academic, are concerned for Eddie’s well being. However, if Eddie’s claims are indeed true, he could do irreparable harm to himself and others around him, especially if his altered states are uncontrollable.

Production Company(ies)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,

Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures

Release Type
Theatrical

Filming Location(s)
Bronx Zoo – 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

MPAA / Certificate
R

Year of Release
1980

Technical Specs

Color:

Color
Sound mix:

Dolby Stereo
Aspect ratio:

1.85 : 1
Runtime:

1h 43m
Language(s):

English, Spanish
Country of origin:

United States
Release date:

Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1980 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 15, 2000

Genre(s)
Sci-fi

Keyword(s)
Altered States, William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charlie Haid, Thaao Penghlis, Miguel Godreau, Ken Russell, Howard Gottfried, Paddy Chayefsky, Sci-fi, R, Warner Bros Pictures, Surround, Dolby, 1980, 1h 43m, $19 million, $19.8 million, reviewed by Richard Corliss, Ian Nathan, Nick Schager, Variety Staff, Dave Kehr, Jennifer Selway, Jim Laczkowski, Peter Sobczynski, Larry Vitacco, Diego Galán, Brian Gibson, audience score 71%, Tomatometer 85%, sensory deprivation tanks, hallucinogenic drugs, altered mental states, physical states, consciousness, reality, genetic fantasy, precognitive dream, delirium, delight, eccentricity, bonkers-ness, silliness, subversive direction, dash, style, good looks, curtain line, lucid moment, horror, grotesque, LSD trip, Cronenberg, special effects, audio sequences, colleagues, lost loves, family, visual spectacle, mesmerizing, psychedelic hallucination scenes, intense special effects sequences

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $19,853,892
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $74,617,659
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,162
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 8,137,149

US/Canada gross: $19,853,892
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $74,617,659
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 891
US/Canada opening weekend: $174,650
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $656,394
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,339

Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA

Cast & Crew

William Hurt

Blair Brown

Bob Balaban

Charlie Haid

Thaao Penghlis

Professor Eddie Jessup

Emily Jessup

Arthur Rosenberg

Mason Parrish

Prof. Eduardo Eccheverria

William Hurt – Professor Eddie Jessup
Blair Brown – Emily Jessup
Bob Balaban – Arthur Rosenberg
Charlie Haid – Mason Parrish
Thaao Penghlis – Prof. Eduardo Eccheverria
Miguel Godreau – Primal Man

Ken Russell

Paddy Chayefsky

Howard Gottfried

Director

Writer

Producer

Director(s)
Ken Russell

Writer(s)
Paddy Chayefsky

Producer(s)
Howard Gottfried

Film Festivals

Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
1 win & 7 nominations total

Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees

Top Reviews

Richard Corliss

Ian Nathan

Nick Schager

Variety Staff

Dave Kehr

TIME Magazine

Empire Magazine

Lessons of Darkness

Variety

Chicago Reader

ALTERED STATES
All Critics (47) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (7)
It opens at fever pitch and then starts soaring — into genetic fantasy, into a precognitive dream of delirium and delight.

August 16, 2014

Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
It’s got Russell’s trademark eccentricity (read: slight bonkers-ness) all over it, which you may take as a warning or a recommendation.

August 16, 2014 | Rating: 3/5

Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
As the proceedings briskly fly, the silliness of the entire endeavor becomes more readily apparent.

July 23, 2010 | Rating: C+

Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
TOP CRITIC
Direction by Ken Russell has energy to spare, with appropriate match-up of his baroque visual style to special effects intensive material.

June 6, 2007

Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
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.

June 6, 2007

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
[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.

June 24, 2006

Jennifer Selway
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Altered States ignites some kind of fire that keeps the collective unconscious warm and the capacity for personal human inquiry ablaze. It’s one of the best films that questions why we’re here.

November 4, 2021

Jim Laczkowski
Voices & Visions
Even 40 years after its release, it boggles the mind that something like Altered States could have ever been produced in the first place, much less as an expensive A-level project for a major studio.

December 29, 2020

Peter Sobczynski
The Spool
Exciting, powerful and frightening, this sci-fi action flick is a near-masterpeice.

May 27, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4

Larry Vitacco
Philadelphia Gay News
Ken Russell’s movie can be quickly forgotten. Many other horror movies arrive to our screens with more imagination and more modesty. [Full Review in Spanish]

August 22, 2019

Diego Galán
El Pais (Spain)
A sensationalist head-trip, swirling us up in one man’s desire to resurrect his “more primitive self,” Altered States remains luridly intense.

January 19, 2018

Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta)
Russell’s razzle-dazzle hallucinogenic style certainly hits bullseye.

August 16, 2014 | Rating: 3/5

Alan Jones
Radio Times…

Plot
In the late 1960s, 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 although he’s not religious. Seven years later, he is a respected full professor in the Harvard Medical School. Believing he has lost his edge and 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 isolation-take experience. 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, herself a respected academic, are concerned for Eddie’s well being. However, if Eddie’s claims are indeed true, he could do irreparable harm to himself and others around him, especially if his altered states are uncontrollable.

Trivia