58
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAltered States is a superbly silly movie, a magnificent entertainment, and a clever and brilliant machine for making us feel awe, fear, and humor.
- 80TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissOrchestrating the efforts of a superb production team — and of the reluctant Mr. Chayefsky — Russell has devised a film experience that will astound some viewers, outrage others and bore nobody. Laugh with it, scream at it, think about it.
- 63Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.The most interesting dimension of Altered States has to be the way Russell sexualizes Eddie’s relationship with godly figures, most notably symbols of Jesus, crucifixion, and his father.
- 60EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanNot one to let slow-building tension and mystery get in the way of wild flourishes of extremism and shock, Ken Russell hit upon a story that more or less handled his structural excesses and tendency toward blasphemy.
- 60The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinThe film is in fine shape as long as it revels in its own craziness, making no claims on the viewer's reason. But when it asks you to believe that what you're watching may really be happening, and to wonder what it means, it is asking far too much.
- 60Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrThere isn't a lucid moment in it (and much of the dialogue is rendered unintelligible by Russell's subversive direction), but it has dash, style, and good looks, as well as the funniest curtain line since Some Like It Hot.
- 40TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineEssentially a big-budget, modern-day version of a 1960s acid-trip film, ALTERED STATES was helmed by flamboyant, talented, but frequently self-indulgent director Ken Russell, who takes a confusing Paddy Chayefsky story and wraps it in a pretty package, but fails to bring any clarity to the silly affair.
- 40Time Out LondonTime Out LondonBased on a novel and a disowned script by the late Paddy Chayefsky, Russell's noisily grandiose swipe at psychedelia embellishes what is no more than the cosily familiar story of the obsessive Scientist Who Goes Too Far and Unwittingly Unleashes, etc.
- 40Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenUneasy blend of the extreme visuals of director Ken Russell and the bloated dramaturgy of writer Paddy Chayefsky (who disowned this adaptation of his novel).
- 40The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelAn aggressively silly head-horror movie, the result of the misalliance of two wildly different hyperbolic talents-the director Ken Russell and the writer Paddy Chayefsky.