The Psychedelic Horror Movie That Is as Disgusting as It Is Clever

The Big Picture

• Altered States is a surreal and mind-bending film that explores the intersections of religion, mysticism, and psychology in a complex and messy way.
• Though it never achieved the cult status of other surrealistic films, Altered States offers a unique blend of heady thematic exploration and grotesque visuals.
• The film's protagonist, Edward Jessup, teeters between genius and insanity as he delves into altered states of consciousness, challenging the limits of science and his own sanity.

Ken Russell was one of the strangest and most surrealistic auteurs of his generation, never quite breaking into the mainstream the way that other stylistically similar filmmakers did. He never became a cult icon the way that David Lynch or Alejandro Jodorowsky did, despite having sensibilities that were at least adjacent to the unconscious nightmares of Lynch or the mystical ruminations of Jodorowsky. His 1980 film Altered States feels like a leftover from the previous decade, being more concerned with the subjective human experience and the different methods by which it can be, well, altered than the gore-focused and visceral horror movies which characterized the 1980s. The sixties and seventies are largely viewed retrospectively as decades of political, social, psychological, and artistic expansion and transcendence, and these attitudes largely carried over into cinema. Altered States explores psychological, spiritual, and scientific transcendence through the lens of psychedelics, a relatively new concept at the turn of the decade. The film begs you to follow its train of thought into either madness or enlightenment. By the end of the film, you’ll be wondering which one you’ve achieved.

Altered States

A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.

What Is 'Altered States' About?

Altered States tells the story of eccentric and obsessed psychopathologist Edward Jessup (William Hurt) who is doing experiments using sensory deprivation tanks in search of better understanding the states of consciousness that accompany schizophrenia. He starts to believe that the states of mind that are experienced by people with schizophrenia and by those who use psychoactive drugs are somehow more than mere delusions, but instead a glimpse into some greater universal truth about human nature. Jessup’s research is interrupted when he marries and starts a family, but his vigor never truly subsides. His obsession started as a child, as he was subjected to a variety of religiously bent visions involving crucifixions and images of Christ despite not growing up in a religious household. His visions in the tank only reawaken these visions, only now they are far more disturbing and perverse, revolving around not only crucified saviors, but also his dead father and the guilt that Jessup has harbored within himself for years. Jessup has pretty common existential preoccupations regarding the silence of God and the plight of mankind in a seemingly apathetic universe. Nevertheless, Jessup is convinced that the answer lies in the “altered states” of the human mind, be they the result of a psychiatric illness or self-induced through psychedelics.

'Altered States' Is a Mind-Bending Experience

Altered States clearly has a lot on its mind, from evolutionary psychology to the roles that myth and religion play in the greater human experience. Jessup seems to think that they are all connected, that there is some order in a seemingly disordered universe. His character is constantly teetering on the border between genius and insanity, and sometimes seems to inhabit both simultaneously. While the film’s brisk hour and forty minute runtime falls short of sufficiently exploring every one of its heady interconnected themes, Altered States succeeds in being one of the most mind-bending and thought-provoking genre films of its decade. The fact that it came out at the very axis of two decades that couldn’t be more different gives it a unique tone. It is pretty cerebral for an '80s film, and pretty base for a '70s film. On a spectrum of horror, Altered States lands somewhere between THX-1138 and Lifeforce. Intellectually, the film covers a lot of ground that wouldn’t be covered in the following decade, but visually, the movie’s effects and overall look anticipate films like An American Werewolf in London and the in-camera wizardry of Tom Savini. It’s not common that you find a body horror film that is as intellectually stimulating as it is grotesque, but Altered States does a fine job balancing both.

How Was 'Altered States' Initially Received?

Altered States was generally well-received, and has since been re-evaluated as a significant piece of quasi-spiritual body horror. Roger Ebert was a champion of the film, awarding it three and a half stars, and Pauline Kael was unsurprisingly unenthusiastic about what she perceived as an "aggressively silly picture.” However, the movie never really took off as a staple of the counter culture the way that other surrealist masterpieces such as El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Videodrome, or Eraserhead did. It’s only because of recent genre retrospectives like In Search of Darkness that the movie has gained wider exposure. Perhaps it’s because Altered States doesn’t have the iconic imagery of some of those films. The visuals of Altered States aren’t quite as sticky, but instead come at you quickly and with too much force to sink in. The film doesn’t allow you to seep in its perverse imagination the way that Eraserhead or Videodrome do.

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Films that break down genre barriers, even within a given genre like horror, are much more common in 2023 than they were in the late 70s and early 80s. With films like X, Titane, and Possessor, all of which contain resplendent amounts of blood, guts, and body horror being produced by art house studios. David Cronenberg has historically been considered the lone horror director of the time that straddled the line between gore and thematic complexity, but Altered States signals that Russell was also exploring similar themes with equally grotesque visuals. Similar to Cronenberg, the gore in Russell’s films, especially Altered States, is tied to the psychological condition of his characters. The escalation of Jessup’s revelations is matched by the bodily deformities he begins to experience. His whole identity as a human man is challenged as he delves deeper into psychosis.

Altered States is a surrealistic and unique film that offers a complex albeit messy exploration of religion, mysticism, and psychology. Its central ideas often remain impenetrable, and its protagonist is an unstable madman constantly pushing the limits of science and his own sanity. However, it is truly unlike anything that came out in either the 1970s or the 1980s. It is much headier than most genre films of the time, or even of today. It blends mysticism and psychology for a unique nightmare that is part Cronenberg and part Lynch. It’s not a masterpiece, but for fans of weird cinema and those interested in the intersection of religion and psychology, Altered States is a hidden gem worth pursuing.

Altered States is available to rent on Prime Video.

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