Review #1754: Altered States.
Cast:
William Hurt (Dr. Eddie Jessup), Blair Brown (Emily Jessup), Bob Balaban (Arthur Rosenberg), Charles Haid (Mason Parrish), Thaao Penghlis (Eduardo Echeverria), Drew Barrymore (Margaret Jessup), Megan Jeffers (Grace Jessup), Dori Brenner (Sylvia Rosenberg), Peter Brandon (Alan Hobart), George Gaynes (Dr. Wissenschaft), and Jack Murdock (Hector Orteco) Directed by Ken Russell (#687 - Tommy)
Review:
Well, as the saying goes...sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. This seems doubly true when looking at the output that came from the divergent creation of its director in Ken Russell and its writer in Paddy Chayefsky. But let us get back to the beginning, specifically in 1978. By this point in time, he was a screenwriter that had won three Academy Awards for his screenplays (Marty (1955), The Hospital (1971), Network (1976)). He had his inspiration to write a novel from a conversation he had with his friends Bob Fosse and Herb Gardner, who apparently wanted to make a monster movie in the guise of reality because King Kong (1976) was being made at the time. A three-page treatment eventually turned into a novel, with research being inspired by the work of John C. Lilly, best known for his work within isolation tanks (his work with dolphins inspired the book and su subsequent film The Day of the Dolphin (1973), incidentally). The book was a fair seller, and so it originally fell to Columbia Pictures (later Warner Bros. because of the rising budget) to try and make a film, with Arthur Penn tapped to direct. However, disagreements with Chayefsky led to him leaving the project. Apparently, when it finally came time for ask Russell, he was the 27th choice to be approached. He was picked because of his visual approach (remember that while he was the director of acclaimed films like Tommy (1975) and Women in Love (1969), he was also known for controversial works like The Devils (1971) and failures like Valentino (1977)). Keep in mind that Russell would have to film the script as written, since Chayefsky had full control. It would not go well.
It was the last script from Chayefsky to be produced, as he died from a heart attack the following year at the age of 58, and he would be credited as "Sidney Aaron" (referring to his actual first and middle names). Russell would obviously defend the film from Chayefsky and his criticisms, stating that he had done "great justice" to the script without many modification, albeit without shooting or lighting the film the way he wanted; as quoted by Russell, "He would make suggestions, and I would listen courteously, and then disagree." (the producer of the film stated that Russell was fair with Chayefsky until filming began, while Russell related an experience of said producer asking the writer how he spelled "benign" and received "W.I.C.K.E.D" as a response). In other words, when you combine two highly-opinionated people who like to tell a story with their vision...you get something like this. The film made $19 million on a $14 million budget, although it would take Russell four years for his next project (for which he would remain busy as he had done in the previous decade).
The one horror (or science fiction, one would argue) work that Altered States seems to draw upon the most would be The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; you might consider it more sci-fi than horror, but screw it, this is a movie about a guy who looks for the true self that ends up turning into a creature and all sorts of things that could result losing all of oneself, that seems suitably fair for horror. Of course, the funny thing is that one can see both sides of the argument for how the material was handled because of how much of a curiosity it ultimately proves to be in its off-kilter execution of trying to find the scope of man within interesting imagery (as done by Bran Ferren) and a particular way of handling dialogue (which with a different acting style could have really reached further pretentiousness). Curious folks might wonder how this falls even slightly into horror when the dialogue wants to go a row over the nature of just what man is or something like that, complete with imagery that harkens to what one might see in a trip with certain substances...then a caveman comes into the picture to go with primordial goop. Heightened performances from a handful of the folks present only goes to show that sometimes one really can make a weird studio movie and get away with it, particularly with all the discussion that comes from trying to reach some sort of ecstasy. Trust me, you have to go with what you hear, no matter how weirdly laced it all seems. With 103 minutes to use, Russell handles the material that comes from having to strive for semi-serious sci-fi mumbo jumbo laced with "trip" material likely the best way one could have done, provoking interest more than stone-cold confusion (one can respect the writer for his contribution to screenwriting while also trying to hold back terming it as massively esoteric). It should be mentioned that this was the feature film debut of Hurt, who actually handles the material fairly well, all things considered. It could have been one of those roles that could have made for amusement on the weirdo joke circuit (imagery or not), but he keeps things right where they need to be in terms of confidence that makes this pursuit go right. Brown does fair here, possessed with material that would have become hammy with less matched folks or perhaps folks who like to watch weirdo imagery to go with pseudo-legit lines about love and the human experience. Balaban is fairly casual with what is seen here, but I find more interest with Haid and his approach to hearing such weird material as the semi-skeptic (at least in terms of someone who isn't on the magic mushroom train). The ending will certainly hit differently depending on the perspective of the one who watches it, if only because it has to stick to Chayefsky's intent of making (in overall sense) a love story. Whether it accomplishes that in a climax with a bunch of (not nearly as timeless) effects is up to you to go with; I shook my hands and went with it, if only because the only other conclusion would have been too darkly amusing to contemplate actually seeing on screen. As a whole, the movie balances the tightrope between passable mumbo jumbo scifi horror and wacko mumbo jumbo scifi horror, but it is at least always watchable when it needs to be, serving as a strange concoction of vision and heightened tone that you won't quite forget for quite a while.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
Next Time: The Ring Two.
