<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Warner Bros. released Altered States in 1980. The film was directed by Ken Russell, based on the novel of the same name by Paddy Chayefsky, which was published in 1978. Chayefsky also provided the screenplay, his last.

William Hurt makes his film acting debut, as Professor Eddie Jessup, a research scientist who uses hallucinogenic drugs and a sensory deprivation tank in his experiments with altered states of consciousness. Blair Brown plays Emily Jessup, his wife, and Drew Barrymore also makes her first film appearance, in the role of their daughter, Margaret. Other major characters include Arthur Rosenberg, played by Bob Balaban, and Mason Parrish, played by Charles Haid.

With his mind cut off from external reality during his immersions in the tank…