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Altered States

1980 · 103 min

A feverish, hallucinatory descent into madness and metamorphosis, visually relentless and intellectually unsettling.

Tagline
In the basement of a university medical school, Dr. Jessup floats naked in total darkness. The most terrifying experiment in the history of science is out of control... and the subject is himself.
Overview
A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • eeriestrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • obsession
  • madness
  • identity
  • science
  • memory
Places
  • big city
  • wilderness
  • hospital
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex strong
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action4
Horror7
Humour2
Realism4
Romance4
Tension8
Darkness8
Complexity8
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
  • YouTube

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
horror, science fiction, thriller
Directed by
Ken Russell
Written by
Paddy Chayefsky
Starring
William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid, Thaao Penghlis, Miguel Godreau, Dori Brenner, Peter Brandon
Music
John Corigliano
Cinematography
Jordan Cronenweth
Runtime
103 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English, Spanish

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