PODCAST:
S4E1M – Altered States (movie)*
SHOW NOTES:
Wherein Wilk (former co-host) regaled us with his silly demands to his family regarding a vacation they were all to take together. Dustin and Wilk both mentioned how this movie was something they had heard about for many years and were looking forward to finally check out. Although Dustin thought the “volcano wife” was humorous and Ryan laughed at the “hobbit feet” in the film, we were overall impressed with the various special effects and production elements of this film. Infamous incidents of tension and drama between the author (who also wrote the screenplay) and the director (whom never worked in Hollywood again after this) were also discussed by the group. The ending struck us as abrupt, but everyone generally everyone felt the film was a much better adaptation of the underlying story than the book itself and a worthwhile watch over a reading of the book. An atypical conclusion on this podcast.
– Ryan
Ryan, Wilk and Dustin ready to record. ++
WRITTEN FILM REVIEWS:
“Altered States (1980)” by Ken Russell (William Hurt) (movie)
Ryan: 4 Stars “…Pitting ordained Hollywood royalty against a self-indulgent outsider–the result, a perfect clash of expression that elevates this already superior book material into something even better; a rarity…”
Wilk: 4 Stars “…I loved this movie. I watched it at one o’clock in the morning. I didn’t fall asleep. I wish I had more drugs when I watched it…”
Dustin: 4 Star “…I thought it was enjoyable…it summed up…the story much better than the book did and it’s obvious that…his screenwriting talents were evident in this film…”
FUN FACTOIDS:
Marc Maron did a podcast interview on his show “WTF” with actor Bob Balaban who played Arthur Rosenberg in the film. Balaan recounted working with director Ken Russell on this film at about the one hour mark into the podcast on Episode 923: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-923-bob-balaban. Here is an article on the dancer who played the primal man in the film which we mentioned: Miguel Godreau – https://mobile.nytimes.com/1996/09/02/arts/miguel-godreau-a-lead-dancer-with-alvin-ailey-dies-at-49.html?referer=https://www.google.com. A screenshot from this movie was utilized by the English metal industrial act “Godflesh” on their critically acclaimed debut album “Streetcleaner.” Ryan and Dole went to see this band at Chicago’s famous venue the Metro a while back.
Not mentioned on the show, but also noteworthy is that Brazilian metal act “Sepultura” wrote a song called “Altered State” for their fourth album “Arise” inspired by the Ken Russell movie. An article quoting their original singer Max Cavalera can be found here: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/sepultura/altered-state. A live video of their 1991 tour in Barcelona playing this song can be watched here:
Ryan and Dole also saw the brothers from Sepultura touring through Chicago a while back with their newer band “Cavalera Conspiracy.” Check it out:
Wilk and his wife Laura Valle started a true crime podcast called, “How to Avoid Murder …and other awkward situations,” which he talked about on the show. The website for their podcast is: http://www.avoidmurder.com/. Please note that the recording of the episode took place some time ago, and Wilk’s true crime podcast is on indefinite hiatus as of the date of the release of this episode.
Dustin is the lead singer for the heavy metal outfit “I Decline.” Long-time NDIOS contributor Dole plays drums in this band. Check out their on their website: http://www.i-decline.com. We also mentioned that it’s available for steaming on such platforms asiTunes, YouTube, Amazon, and Spotify. Please note that as of the release of this episode the band’s long-standing unreleased project tentatively known as “The Galaxies” is still in a state of incompleteness. Many of the songs have been recorded and mixed, but final mastering and other administrative decisions remain. There is currently no set release date scheduled for this project, but we are hopefully that it will eventually see the light of day in the future at some point. Until that time, you can view some live videos for earlier versions of a few of these spacy sci-fi like songs on the band’s YouTube channel: Galaxy 1 and Galaxy 3.
++ Illustrated artwork in group photo is by Arik Roper for a Limited Edition poster for Ithaca Fantastik’s 2016 Retrospective Film Festival (see http://ithacafilmfestival.com/spotlight-arik-roper.php).
* DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the views and opinions of the hosts and guests of NDIOS are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the other hosts and guests or that of NDIOS.
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