The most untamed hallucinogenic freak-out ever funded by a Hollywood studio, Ken Russell’s Altered States is an undiluted art house trip that can still deliver grindhouse thrills. Research scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt in his film debut) seeks ultimate truth in his obsessive study of sensory deprivation and powerful psychotropic drugs. But will he push too far when the subject is himself? Russell’s dazzling excess and trademark visual style electrifies 2001’s sound-and-light extravaganza with Jodorowsky’s psychedelic cinema, exploring spirituality and the common bond of man as psycho-sexual body horror. Bizarre, exhilarating and waaaaay far out.
