Altered States
Dir: Ken Russell
USA, English, 102mins, DCP, Category III
Cast: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban
The late great William Hurt joins the ranks of notorious mad scientists like Victor Frankenstein and Bruce Banner in this psychedelic inner-space oddity by Ken Russell. Playing a maverick psycho-physiologist, he puts his life and sanity on the line as he consumes mind-bending South American hallucinogens before confining himself within a sensory deprivation tank, in his quest to explore the farthest reaches of human consciousness. Evoking everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Russell blows the doors of perception wide open, in this visually astonishing head trip that brilliantly foreshadows the grotesque body horror masochism of David Cronenberg's The Fly.
Academy Awards: Best Sound and Best Original Score nominations
30/10 (Sun): Film talk with Lam Kam-po
Hong Kong Arts Centre Louis Koo Cinema (Venue)
EMP Cinemas iSQUARE (Venue)
Chinese Subtitles
Category III
Post-screening talk
Full House
