Altered States 1980

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: It opens at fever pitch and then starts soaring -- into genetic fantasy, into a precognitive dream of delirium and delight. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Dependably -- even exhilaratingly -- bizarre. Its strangeness, which borders cheerfully on the ridiculous, is its most enjoyable feature. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: There 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. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I was overwhelmed, I was caught up in its headlong energy. Read more

Jennifer Selway, Time Out: [Director] 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. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Direction by Ken Russell has energy to spare, with appropriate match-up of his baroque visual style to special effects intensive material. Read more