Altered States (1980) [11076]

The film
William Hurt is a psychologist who experiments first withwith sensory deprivation, then mind-altering drugs and then both in combination. He experiences extreme hallucinations, including a good solid dose of Russell's trademark religious imagery, that lead him to believe that he is experiencing memories that are stored in his body from earlier stages of human evolution. His regressions become more and more extreme and seemingly irreversible before he is ultimately redeemed and brought back to humanity by his wife.

It works very well as Cronenbergian body horror, but really the plot is pure science fiction. The plot might be slightly silly, but it's so well presented with such a good performances from Hurt that we happily suspend our disbelief. And it's never a strain to see Bob Balaban or Charles Haid, or (especially) Blair Brown.

Jorden Cronenweth (Blade Runner) is the cinematographer, and it shows. Every frame is lit to perfection. The scenes in the basement at the university are crossed with atmopheric shadows but it never becomes murky or dark. (Can anybody tell who is who in the dark corridors in Aliens?).

Ken Russell, how we miss you.

The Music
I was irritated by John Corigliano's music on first hearing in 1992, but this time it seems near genius. A real composer of concert works writing specially for a film - wonderful. It's rich, varied, with astonishing variation, especially in colour and tone. Puts one in mind of the use of Bartok, Ligeti and Penderecki in Kubrick films.

The laserdisc
Video
The pan and scan video is really rather excellent. There's nothing here that demands that the edge of the picture be included and the hallucinations appear vivid and detailed in their best resolution full-screen guise.

Sound
There is an AC3 version of this title, but this Dolby-Surround version is perfectly adequate. The dialogue is crisp and clear on centre, and the music is equally clear. They never interfere with each other and the surround effects are atmospheric rather than intrusive, as they should be.

Captions
The closed captioning on this disc is interesting. The film is quite wordy and much of the dialogue flows past very quickly. The captioning however summarises skillfully by leaving out content-free verbal expressions and keeping the gist. There are spoken words over some of the hallucinatory sequences that would be impossible to discern without the captions.

Verdict
All in all, a near-perfect LD experience.

I love this movie.

http://coldsleeper.seesaa.net/article/244988539.html

I'll second that, as well as everything said in the review. I saw this movie in a theater when it first came out. An extremely strange film, and of course, it's been part of my collection for a very long time. A great flick and a great laserdisc as well!

David