Altered States
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.
Synopsis
Altered States (1980) is Ken Russell's sci-fi horror film you can watch online on iFILM. Psychophysiologist Eddie Jessup believes that altered states of consciousness are as real as the desk in front of him. So he turns himself into the lab rat.
Jessup, played by William Hurt in his screen debut, climbs into an isolation tank and adds a hallucinogen brewed from a Mexican tribe's rituals. The visions come first. Then memory, time and his own body stop behaving: he physically regresses down the evolutionary ladder, shedding his human shape. His wife Emily (Blair Brown) and colleague Arthur (Bob Balaban) scramble to pull him back before the experiment swallows the man running it. Watch for a tiny appearance by seven-year-old Drew Barrymore.
Russell built this fevered picture from Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay, adapted from his own novel, packing it with strobing dream sequences and a score by John Corigliano. Stream Altered States (1980) online on iFILM.
Starring
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