Altered States 1980 Hey what's up guys. Today I'll show
you a sci-fi horror film: "Altered States"! Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care!
The movie begins in New York at Cornell Medical College, where professor Edward, teaches and
studies psychopathology. He takes a special interest in schizophrenia, because the symptoms
around the disorder prompt him to contemplate a concept, such as the possibility of externalizing
a person's consciousness into a physical state. His curiosity drives him to pursue the answer
with the assistance of a fellow scientist named Arthur. Together, they conduct "Sensory
Deprivation" with an isolation tank in New York Hospital. While Edward submerges into
the vertical isolation tank, Arthur tracks data, compiles results, so as to keep him from getting
lost in his consciousness amid the procedure. One day, Edward attends Arthur's house party,
where he meets Emily, an anthropology student at Columbia University. After some time,
Edward and Emily begin dating, and eventually decide to get married. However, Edward finds
the whole marriage confusing, but he agrees to marry Emily, believing he can't live without her.
Unfortunately, Edward can't proclaim that he loves Emily, because he can't understand its meaning.
Seven years later, the young couple raised their two daughters in Boston. Edward works
at Harvard Medical School, whereas Emily is a certified anthropologist.
Arthur and his wife visit them in Boston, but they learn that the young couple are separating and
planning a divorce next year. Arthur questions Edward about their separation, because he has
thought things are good between them. Apparently, Edward focuses more on his
research than his family, forcing Emily and their daughters to leave from his life. Still,
Emily loves Edward, even though he doesn't reciprocate the love and care she asks from him.
Once they separate, Emily will move to Cambridge with their daughters, after
attending her work in Africa. Meanwhile, Edward stays behind in Boston to resume his research.
But first, Edward, Emily, and Arthur eat in a diner to meet a Mexican Know-all, and Doctor
Mason, the Vice President of the Endocrinology Department of Harvard Medical School.
Edward shares his insights about his previous travel to India, where he learned "Yogic
Practice," whose practitioners believe in no deity, but only "Oneself." What Edward
acquired from their religion is that the mind is a form of human energy, holding the Ultimate
Truth and storing six-million memories equivalent to six-billion-year-old active atoms. Therefore,
memory is an immortal energy, and the physiological pathway to reach the
earliest consciousness hidden within a memory, is through the limbic system of the brain.
Amid the discussion, Mason intervenes and insults Edward for such crazy talk;
but Edward only intends to pursue self-discovery like everyone else. Edward surmises the "Original
Self," who knows the earliest of times and consciousness can manifest into a physical state.
Soon, Edward and Emily separate, and attend their jobs after the night out. Emily goes to Africa,
while Edward goes to Mexico with the Mexican Know-all.
In Mexico, Edward learns of the Hinchi Tribe, whose members consume a sacred mushroom,
that's proficient for a man to produce vivid dreams. the Mexican Know-all explains
the Hinchi Tribe annually gathers a special kind of mushroom and a plant called Heimia,
to be added into a special concoction. The Hinchi tribe locally calls the plant "Primordial Flower",
since it stimulates the earliest memories from the "first humans" once it's consumed.
Edward and the Mexican Know-all eventually arrive at the tribe. a witch doctor allows Edward
to participate in the sacred ceremony, where they're going to drink the special concoction.
Edward joins the tribe elders surrounding the pot of brewing concoction. The texture is gooey,
and the last ingredient missing is the mysterious plant's root. The witch doctor gives Edward the
root, and then abruptly slashes his hand to force a drop of his blood onto the potion mixture.
Next, each of the elders drinks a spoonful sip of the potion, including Edward. The
Primordial Flower quickly takes effect, as Edward encounters a series of odd and
incomprehensible vivid dreams in his mind. On his last hallucination, a komodo dragon appears,
and changes into a naked Emily. Edward next appears in front of Emily, where they slowly
turn into stones until their bodies crumble, as the wind blows them away completely. Edward wakes
up the next morning, and finds a gutted lizard in front of him, which is similar to his dream.
Edward soon returns to the city, to give the sample concoction to Mason. Edward drinks the
potion, and allows its purpose to take effect. Afterward, he soon falls into a blackout.
Arthur informs Mason that during the "blackout" period, Edward experiences
a phenomenal acceleration, where he travels through billions of years until time itself
disappears. Unfortunately, the potion only gives a sensational hallucination, but no visions.
Therefore, Edward aims to leap beyond the blackout barrier, in order to perceive the visions he keeps
missing out during the phase. Unfortunately, they can't raise the dosage, since it'll be
too toxic for him to handle; so the best way for Edward to experience an in-depth hallucination,
is through combining Sensory Deprivation while administered with 200ml Heimia potion.
Afterward, Edward regains his strength, and Mason gives an honest overview of the research.
He refers to the Heimia potion as a dangerous drug, and thinks their research is nonsensical,
especially coming from two great scientists. However, Edward and Arthur desire to push
through the experiment; so they request Mason to fix the isolation tank in Harvard
Medical School, and allow them to use it. Mason is against the experiment initially,
but he can't let Edward and Arthur use the tank without his supervision. So he joins them two in
the underground lab to overlook the experiment. Arthur handles the computer to track the progress,
whereas Edward enters the metal-inclined isolation tank while under the influence of
the Heimia potion, to enhance the effects. In the first experiment, Edward describes
being a Hominidae himself, along with his fellow kind, hunting and eating a goat.
However, they are required to stop the procedure, because Edward encounters a
shock amid the experiment. Then, they fish Edward out of the tank,
and see him with a bloody mouth. Edward becomes disabled to speak due to shock, so he demands a
paper pad to write down his requests. He asks them to withdraw his blood, and have him scanned under
an X-ray before his body "reconstitutes." Mason is skeptical about the whole ordeal,
but he still follows Edward's list. At the hospital, they withdrew his
blood for a test, and an x-ray scanned his head for examination. They obtain his x-ray results,
and notice his throat structure has changed. Edward reckons that the hallucination of being
a Hominidae earlier, might've externalized and manifested into reality. However,
Mason finds it difficult to believe, and claims Edward only suffered from an ischemic attack.
For verification, Mason personally delivers Edward's recent x-ray result to a radiologist,
who examines the x-ray, and says it belongs to a gorilla. Therefore,
Edward is right that he indeed experienced a regression during his time in the tank.
Later on, Edward leaves to fetch Emily and their daughters from the airport. Then he
drops them off at Emily's new home in Cambridge. At Emily's house, Edward asks if he can borrow
her tape recordings of baboon sounds. Emily lends him the tapes, and proceeds to ask
about his progress on his new drug research. While Emily was in Africa, she maintained her
contacts with Mason and Arthur, to receive an update about Edward's status. According to Mason,
Edward has leukemia or lymphoma. Also, they discovered in Edward's blood test result, a
"simian" blood group with the antigen of a man. Edward confidently assures Emily that he's not
sick physically; and that it's all part of his experiment results. Emily then requests to see
his research; but Edward admits Mason got a hold of the research to modulate the risks included,
and even hired Arthur in his department, excluding Edward from more dangerous experiments.
At night, Edward hallucinates, seeing himself turning into a primitive hairy man. He wants
to confirm his hypothesis is true; so he sneaks into the campus laboratory,
to conduct a secret experiment behind Mason. In the second experiment, Edward enters the
tank without supervision, so as to verify his hallucination is becoming real. Shortly after,
he leaves the tank in a completely different form. He's not himself anymore, but a slim furry
primitive and feral anthropoid, because his body inexplicably underwent a biological regression.
Anthropoid Edward escapes from the campus, after assaulting two guards in the vicinity. He goes
out on the road, where street dogs chase after him, directing him to an animal zoo.
Since he's a primitive, he naturally aims to survive the night, and so he drinks from
the nearby pond, and kills one of the goats for food. A while later, the zoo employee notifies
the police to report a break-in. The police officer arrives at the zoo, only to see Edward
sleeping naked beside the gutted goat. Edward ends up in jail for trespassing
the public zoo. Emily and Arthur arrive at the precinct to bail Edward out of the cell. Next,
they drop him off at his apartment in Boston. Emily temporarily stays behind to take care
of him. while she's with him, she personally hears from Edward what happened to him earlier.
Edward claims he can only recall being chased by the dogs and eating a goat; but the rest of the
night is all blurry. Additionally, he feels like his consciousness is in a primitive state, causing
him to act like one in his physical state. Emily eventually returns to her house to rest;
but Edward's testimony makes it difficult for her to sleep. That night, she stays late to study
Edward's research and its results. she listens to the first recorded experiment on tape, hearing
Edward described as being a Hominidae, eating a goat, and lastly producing a "simian" sound.
Emily wants to learn more, and invites Edward to her house to discuss the experiment. Edward
eventually arrives at her house, and Emily admits she's worried that he'll face irreversible
genetic damage if he continues. She suggests minimizing the procedure to prevent more risk;
but Edward disagrees, because the usual process has given them the results they need.
Emily only wants Edward to conduct his experiments safely because she loves him; but Edward can't
comprehend her emotional concern, since his primary priority is the research and its results.
The next day is the third and final attempt of the experiment to break through the
blackout barrier. During this time, Emily joins them to directly see the results.
Before starting, Mason examines Edward's health, to evaluate if he's stable enough to proceed
with the experiment. Amid the examination, Edward reminds Mason to quickly sedate him, right after
he leaves the tank as an anthropoid; otherwise, they'll have to pursue and subdue him around the
campus, since he'll be in a primitive state. Meanwhile, Arthur assures Emily that they're
prepared for whatever happens to Edward. However, Emily can't help but feel agitated about the
whole ordeal, but she believes that it'll work. Two hours later, nothing is happening to Edward;
so Emily suggests ending the procedure before things get worse. However, Arthur refuses
because Edward would suffer from soreness, if they intervene in the blackout phase.
Suddenly, the monitor screen where they watch Edward in the tank, begins flickering rapidly,
and quickly followed by a crack of light radiating off Edward. Edward soon transforms into an
amorphous photon of the earliest consciousness, finally attaining the "Original Self."
Subsequently, a bright strong energy erupts from Edward, stunning everyone who looks at him
on the screen. Emily wakes up eventually, and discovers a whirling vortex filling the room,
and has replaced the missing tank. Emily runs to Edward, who's on the
verge of becoming a complete photon mass of consciousness. Edward not only manages to reach
beyond the blackout phases, but he also travels to the beginning, where nothingness only exists. If
he finishes regressing, Edward is seized to exist, as he becomes part of the earliest consciousness.
Fortunately, Emily saves Edward right before he disappears entirely from the world.
Eventually, Arthur and Mason wake up, after Emily recovers Edward from the vortex. Soon,
they return to Edward's apartment to let Edward rest, after encountering an inexplicable
breakthrough in the scientific world. While Edward sleeps, Arthur and Mason get
into a heated argument over what happened to Edward. Arthur exclaims it's an extraordinary
physical phenomenon, and wants to continue, but with more test subjects this time,
just to fully understand what just happened in the tank. However, Mason argues he forbids
the experiment because of its risks and dangers, and he's also against including innocent people,
and forcing them to intake an untested drug for the sake of scientific breakthrough.
Realizing their loud shouting has woken up Edward, Emily intervenes in their fight.
Eventually, the two men stop arguing, because Mason needs to briefly examine
Edward, before he goes back to sleep. Later, Edward and Emily spend the night
together. The following morning, Edward admits he expected more after breaking through the barrier,
but he only found "nothingness" on the brink of his regression. However, even if they stop
the experiment, the devolution in his body has already happened, and there's no way to
prevent it anymore. Suddenly, Edward's body starts regressing again, even without the drug or Sensory
Deprivation. He slowly transforms into a void of photon mass again. Emily tries to save him,
but the energy from Edward only consumes her. Emily changes into photon energy too, but the
transformation hurts her. Her evident agony provokes Edward's consciousness to revert,
and fight back against his devolution phase. Finally, Edward wins back his body,
as he returns to his human self, including Emily. They sit bare on the floor, embracing one another,
for they just survived the regression. Ultimately, Edward realizes his underlying love for Emily is
the main reason he won against the regression. Their love for each other anchored and pulled
him back to his original self, that didn't require fancy experiment or drugs. He only needs to learn
that self-discovery can also be seen through the help of validating emotions and intimacy,
like "love." At that time, Edward finally says to Emily, "I love you"!
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