‘Altered States’
We’ve all got movies that have been in sitting in our “to watch” queues for weeks, months, years … even decades! Altered States was one of those movies for me, so when news filtered the other night in that William Hurt died at the age of 71, I immediately bumped it to the top of my list. And you know what? IT RULED! This 1980 movie, directed by the provocateur Ken Russell from a (disavowed) script by three time Academy Award winning screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, is what people mean when they say “Hollywood don’t make ’em like THAT anymore.” Hurt stars here as a Columbia University professor who gets VERY obsessed with sensory deprivation tanks, hallucinogenic drugs, and altered states (insert Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme here!) of consciousness. Things get weird, violent, and downright kinky VERY quickly, making for an unforgettable cinematic experience.