Here's another
Ken Russell oddity. In fact, it may go down in the history books as Ken Russell's most famously weird film, but I don't think it's quite that. It's certainly trippy, literally, and filled with strange science fiction notions. But it's based on a novel by
Paddy Chayefsky, and this material takes great pains to convince you that the sci-fi you see in this film is entirely possible, if not the author's genuine beliefs. Sure, it's an excuse for the director of the far-out imagery of
Tommy to depict drug-induced hallucinations and other craziness, bur at the end of the day, it doesn't feel as unpredictably crazy and unhinged as
Lisztomania or
The Fall of the Louse of Usher. Russell's actually quite grounded here. But still, if you want some heady, serious yet mind-bending science fiction, this one still holds up better than most of what we get today.
William Hurt lends a lot of credibility to his role as a university researcher determined to pierce the mysteries of the human consciousness. In classic Hollywood fashion, he experiments on himself, with sensory deprivation tanks and hallucinogenic drugs, attempting to unlock the hidden chambers of the brain and access a collective memory or an "original self." It's all well and good, until he finds it's not something one can just pop in and out of, and he starts to become a danger to his family and coworkers (
Drew Barrymore, the great
Bob Balaban, television's
Molly Dodd Blair Brown and
John Larroquette) as his body begins to follow his mind and he physically devolves.
Did I mention that Hurt lends a lot of credibility to this film? Because boy does he. There's a lot of weight on his shoulders. I enjoy this film because it's smart, and it's a treat when Russell finally gets to cut loose with his visual depictions of drug-induced visions. But it never really crosses the line for me into becoming a great film, because it fails to pay off it's heady set-up. You feel like you're being led to some kind of ingenious, thrilling spectacle, but instead just wind up in typical, B-movie mad-scientist-on-the-loose territory, a la
Bela Lugosi's
The Ape Man or
Kevin Bacon's
Hollow Man. It's got terrific production values, some strong moments and the actors keeps your eyes on the screen the entire time. But the conclusion's pretty pedestrian.
Still, for being such a highly regarded and famous science fiction film, it sure has an underwhelming history on home video. Warner Bros originally released it on DVD in 2000 as a flipper disc in a crapper snapper case. And then they released it as a barebones blu in 2012. You know, when Warner Bros doesn't want to prioritize something, they can keep a film's home video life pretty bland. Oh well, let's at least see how the film looks.
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| 2000 DVD widescreen side on top; fullscreen side mid; 2012 blu-ray bottom. |
Sigh... The DVD, at least, looks pretty good for being so old. It's anamorphic widescreen, not interlaced. Both widescreen versions are 1.78:1, because of course they chose "no black bars" to a more accurate 1.85:1, and the fullscreen version is naturally 1.33:1, opening up some of the top and bottom while chopping off some of the left and right. Obviously that version's for curiosity seekers only. At least they've cleaned up some of the damage from the DVD's footage (look at the scratches and dirt on the mushroom cloud), but they seem to have scrubbed away fine detail in the process. At first I thought the DVD might actually be more detailed than the blu, but no. Taking a closer look (check out the grate on the top left of the inner chamber in the second set of shots), the blu pulls out a little more, and it's certainly safe from the compression smudges and edge enhancement of an old standard def transfer. But it's certainly not a 5-star transfer. I also suspect the saturation might've been a little artificially boosted, too.
So the DVD gave us a 5.1 audio track (yeah, even back in 2000), plus a French dub, with English and French subtitles. The blu replaces the French dub with a Spanish one and gives us the 5.1 English in DTS-HD, plus English, French and Spanish subs. So not bad, but the original audio really would've been nice.
So yeah, everything's pretty barebones. The DVD has a trailer and 2 TV spots, plus some bonus trailers. What's fun, at least, is that even the trailers are wide on the widescreen side and fullscreen on the reverse. The blu-ray doesn't even keep the TV spots, having just the trailer. It kills me that there's never been even a halfway special edition for
Altered States. There's so much to talk about from the special effects to the novel. This is one of those films where the story behind it seems as fascinating as the film itself. They could've had the film's stars talk about how they got their start here. And it kills me that they never brought in Ken Russell while he was still alive. For a long time there, Russell was recording commentaries for everything from
Lair Of the White Worm to
Salome's Last Dance, but Warner Bros couldn't get him for
Altered frikken'
States? That's just neglect.
So do I recommend Warner's blu of
Altered States? Sure, I guess, in lieu of anything else. But it's certainly a low priority upgrade if you've got the DVD. It feels like the only reason we have a blu-ray of this film at all is because it's too big not to, but it feels like a big ol' missed opportunity to me.
Oh, but before I leave you, I just wanted to let you know that I've been spending the last couple of days updating some more older posts with additional comparisons. So if you're interested in any of the following films, check out their pages; they're better than before:
Exotica,
I Eat Your Skin,
Tommy,
Mulholland Drive (yes, again),
Mistress America,
While We're Young,
Night Of the Creeps,
Creepshow 2 and
Young Frankenstein. Woot!
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