Altered States
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Altered States

Year:
Duration:
102 min
Genres:
Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
IMDB rate:
6.9
Director:
Ken Russell
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations
Details
Country: USA
Release Date: 1980-12-25
Filming Locations: 168th St. Broadway, New York City, New York, USA
Earnings
Opening Weekend: $174,650 (USA) (28 December 1980)
Gross: $174,650 (USA) (28 December 1980)
Cast
Actor
Character
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Altered States
Paul Larsson
Paul Larsson
Altered States
William Hurt
Eddie Jessup
Blair Brown
Emily Jessup
Bob Balaban
Arthur Rosenberg
Charles Haid
Mason Parrish
Thaao Penghlis
Echeverria
Miguel Godreau
Primal Man
Dori Brenner
Sylvia Rosenberg
Peter Brandon
Hobart
Charles White-Eagle
The Brujo
Megan Jeffers
Grace Jessup
Jack Murdock
Hector Orteco
Francis X. McCarthy
Obispo (as Frank McCarthy)
Deborah Baltzell
Schizophrenic Patient
Evan Richards
Young Rosenberg
Hap Lawrence
Endocrinology Fellow
John Walter Davis
Medical Technician
Cynthia Burr
Parrish's Girl
Susan Bredhoff
Echeverria's Girl
John Larroquette
X-Ray Technician
George Gaynes
Dr. Wissenschaft
Ora Rubinstein
Young Medical Student
Eric Forst
Mingus
Adriana Shaw
Dr. Antonini
Martin Fiscoe
Graduate Student
Olivia Michelle
Veronica
Did you know?
Trivia
The film's themes and meaning has oft been debated with many interpretations being put forward such that it's the Orpheus and Eurydice myth; that it's the Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde yarn; that it's really the story Mary and Jesus. The film's writer Paddy Chayefsky once revealed in an interview that "Altered States" was actually really a love story.
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Ken Russell:  [snake]  the dream sequence
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The film was selected to be included in "Time" magazine's Top Ten Best Films List for the 1980 Year.
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Goofs
During the hallucination sequence in the cave, the pyrotechnic charges underneath the mushroom-shaped rock are visible as it elevates, as is the wire lifting it up.
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When the Brujo tells Eccheverria that he'll allow Eddie to participate in the ceremony he walks off. Although in only a matter of seconds he's far enough away that they have to run quite a distance to catch up to him to ask him some further questions, this is consistent with other literary and screen depictions of shamans having "spooky" abilities, sure-footedness and being surprisingly limber for their age. Rather than an error in continuity, this seems to be a dramatic device.
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At one point, the character of Mason Parrish refers to the "nuc-you-lus" of a cell (as opposed to the correct "nuc-lee-us".) While it's a commonly mispronounced word, it's very unlikely that a scientist with Parrish's credentials would make that mistake on a word that they likely read, hear and use practically every day.
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Quotes
Arthur Rosenberg: The tank itself was unusual in that it was vertical, and looked like an old boiler.
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Arthur Rosenberg: The way I feel, I don't expect to go to sleep for a year. I'm on fucking fire!
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Arthur Rosenberg: What we saw tonight was a physical phenomenon, an inexplicable physical phenomenon!
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Photos from cast
Drew Barrymore Paul Larsson
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