Exploring the '80s: Altered States

January 7, 3:51 PMDVD ExaminerBrian Trent

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A trippy film with big ideas and a penchant for the psychedelic (but what else would you expect from the title?), Altered States has William Hurt as a scientist obsessed with finding ultimate truth, and he becomes convinced that a particularly ancient cult of Toltec Indians have found a way to unlock millions of years of racial memory through the ingestion of an unknown psychedelic.

It's an interesting premise. Do we have genetic memory, passed along the life ladder from those humble beginnings half a billion years ago?

Using a sensory deprivation chamber, Hurt begins experimenting with the drug and begins a nightmarish physical regression. The whole thing is an interesting spin on the Doctor Jekyll/Mister Hyde lycanthropy theme, stirred up with the kind of meditations popular in the Timothy Leary college campus culture which serves as the film’s initial backdrop.

Hurt’s performance is quite good. Socially unlikable, his scientist is a cross between visionary and fanatic, and his quest for ultimate truth is a mind-bending descent. The visual effects are excellent, though some of the psychedelic images (combining religious imagery, primordial chaos, and multi-eyed goats) may convince viewers that AlteredStates' creative team did liberal amounts of field research between takes. The film’s climax is oft-imitated… even the 80s band Ah-Ha spoofed it for a video.

The DVD contains a few special features, including a look at the infamous sensory deprivation chamber.