WATCH PARTY: Altered States (1980) dir. Ken Russell @ Richard Tucker Library

This sounds kind of Cronenberg-esque. (H/T cinephile Charles)

RUNTIME: 102 minutes

SYNOPSIS: Respected scientist and psychology professor Edward Jessup (William Hurt) decides to combine his experiments in sensory deprivation tanks with powerful hallucinogenic drugs, convinced that it may help him unlock different states of consciousness. The experiments are a success at first, but as Jessup continues his work, he begins to experience altered mental and also physical states. As he spends more time in sensory deprivation, his grip on reality begins to slip away.

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

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

"I was overwhelmed, I was caught up in its headlong energy." - Roger Ebert