Night 4: ‘Altered states’ (1980)
Horrifying indeed!
‘Altered States’ follows scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) as he conducts several experiments in order to get to the origin of existence itself. However, the danger lies in the fact that the subject of these experiments is himself. It doesn’t take long for this obsessed nonbeliever to be haunted by horrible visions that soon affect him physically, as he starts regressing to the most basic level of life.
The movie has a daring and interesting concept, supported by equally bold visuals and staging. There are more terrifying images in this single film than in many modern horror movies, even with the expected cheesiness of an 80’s flick.
‘Altered…’ knows exactly how to capture and elicit our fear of the unknown and ‘the other’ within ourselves. It’s particularly terrifying when it blurs the line between religion and science, reality and fancy, civilization and barbarity, good and evil…
It’s a pity, then, that most of the characters, including our lead, are both truly unlikable and not interesting or worthy of empathy. While watching the film I was struggling to connect with any of them, which made the entire subplot regarding the relationships between them, simply put, completely tedious.
The romantic relationship between Eddie and Emily (Blair Brown) was markedly baffling. With no chemistry between them, and a character who is completely uninterested in the other, it’s a complete wonder why the creators chose to end the film abruptly with an out-of-field sequence in which it’s ‘love’ what saves the scientist from perishing.
Although it could have worked –had the character arcs been fleshed out, and the actors had more chemistry with each other-, it was simply not the case, and the final product suffers for it. Therefore, we’re left with a happy ending that feels like an obligation instead of the natural conclusion to the events we’ve witnessed.
On a side-note: I couldn’t stop thinking about the ‘Take on Me’ video during that last sequence, which was quite distracting. I read later on that the music video was partially inspired in this movie. Interesting!
On the other hand, some sequences are painfully long, and they halt the film for what seems like hours. It’s precious time that could have been used to develop the characters’ nuisances, and since I gravitate more towards story than image, I found it quite disappointing.
In the end, ‘Altered States’ succeeds in making you think and wonder, but it ends up putting form over substance. While watching the film, I couldn’t help but to think about ‘The Fly’ remake, with its warnings about playing with the unknown and ignoring regular life. However, it seems to me that while ‘The Fly’ manages to make you care about its characters, ‘Altered States’ fails dismally.
Grade: 6/10. In need of a few alterations.
Scare Factor: prepare for some psychedelic trips with a great deal of scary images!
Gore/violence: lots.
Nudity/sexual situations: LOTS. Don’t watch it with your folks!
Tomorrow: ‘Cronos’ (1993)
