Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent Visuals, Competent Performances
Review: Firstly, I rated this film five stars because strong audiovisual elements are what I believe make a movie memorable. It concerns Doctor Eddie Jessup, who is, in his own words, fascinated by "interior experiences". With his hippie colleague Arthur, he begins experimenting with sensory deprivation. He believes that his hallucinations are connected with "race memory", the idea that "memories" of conditions that produced morphological adaptations in our species are recorded in our genes. He becomes convinced that his deprivation experiments are the key to accessing them, and in frustration he uses Mexican mushrooms to intensify the experience. His excitement turns to obsession when his wife and friends discourage his ambitions, and it becomes a struggle for vindication as well as a search for knowledge. The purity of his quest is diluted by this element, thus exposing the character flaw that gets the protagonist into his plight in the first place. He continues the experiments even when a bizarre genetic regression suggests that they can produce physical changes in the structure of his body, and his cohorts refuse to continue assisting him. His recklessness results in a full-blown regression incident, in which he devolves into a "quasi-simian creature", ie. an apeman. His Frankensteinian obsession alienates his wife, but she returns to help when it becomes clear that even his monkey episode will not deter him from proceeding. The cumulative effects of Jessup's exposure to the experience (isolation in conjunction with other hallucinatory agents) releases enormous quantities of quantum-mechanical energy, and produces a grotesue, though temporary mutation. As he lays recovering from the ordeal, he begins to revert without provocation. He has initiated a self-sustaining cycle, and appears doomed to mutate himself right out of existence. He finds his answer to the question of the origin of awareness, but it threatens to consume him, and only the love of his patient, ever-faithful wife can redeem him. You won't find more stunning visuals, and its authenticity is dramatically enhanced by its scientific foundation. Only the controversial concept of "race memory" is an issue we must be willing to consider in order to appreciate this movie. Thematically, it seems to remind us that we are defined as much by our choices as by our beliefs, and that will-- more specifically, the will to love one another -- is the only path to true enlightenment; that is to say: to exercise our consciousness is more important than to understand it. This is not a light-hearted movie; there's little in the way of comic relief. So if you're not inclined toward serious, philosophically provocative films, you probably won't enjoy this. But if you don't consider thinking a burden, then give it a shot.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: This originally was one of those "Wow, it's on sale so why not?" deals but I was so surprised to take this home and marvel at the effects and the surprisingly complex plotlines. I was just speechless afterwards. Not only did it combine elements of romanticism while also appealing to horror and sci-fi movie fans but the fast pace and the characters are just so out of the ordinary that you can't help but become entranced by them. Just when you think you have the movie figured out, it spins you in the complete opposite direction and then takes you to places you never thought existed. An especially memorable scene is one of the hallucination scenes in which everyone just turns to sand. Remarkable. I would highly recomend this movie to anyone even slightly interested in things such as philosophy, religion or even just interested in watching a good movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing albeit silly at times
Review: My mother recommended this film to me and I found it was definitely worth watching at least once. The premise is that a brillant scientist desires to transcend our human limitations and conducts experiements using himself as the subject in isolation chambers. He visits a Spanish speaking tribe who offer him a potent drink that has halluncinatory side effects and it is extremely freaky to see the healthy, tan tribe members turn to ghost white ash when the scientist glances at them under the influence of the drink. The visual assault certainly is stunning and I thoroughly enjoyed explosions of fire, religious scenes, crazy images a wild imagination would reel out. I found it diffuclt to sympathize with the scientist because his desire to pursue his experiments overrides his commitmment to traditional values such as family. He does manage to change into a fierce, primitive creature that reminded me of a cross between a rabid wolf and a prehistoric caveman. The change lasts a short while before he reverts to his human form, however, his skin tends to shudder and undulate helplessly after his first regression and he watches in interest. It's a good movie to see at least once because it explores a realm not dealt with often and the often outright silliness of the film downplays any terror one might be consumed by otherwise.
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