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21
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / Altered States on UHD and Blu-Ray
« Last post by Iain Fisher on October 10, 2025, 05:53:15 PM »
Altered States issued on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray by Criterion in UK and USA editions.

"The ultimate cinematic head trip of the 1980s, British renegade Ken Russell’s first Hollywood film—adapted by the legendary screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his own novel—is part hallucinogenic freak-out, part gonzo creature feature, part transcendent love story, all played at a fever pitch. When researcher Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) begins using himself as a test subject for his mind-expanding psychological experiments, it sends him on an increasingly dangerous, substance-fueled odyssey from humankind’s primordial past to the outer limits of consciousness. It’s all visualized by Russell in a psychedelic supernova of out-there imagery that encompasses everything from the pagan to the cosmic sublime, culminating in a brain-wave-blasting battle between the mind and the heart".

The features include
  • New 4K digital restoration, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • New audio commentary featuring film historian Samm
  • Archival interviews with director Ken Russell and actor William Hurt
  • New interview with special-visual-effects designer Bran
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
For more on Altered States click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-altered-states.html

To buy on Amazon UK click here
https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0FJYJJ9ZK/savagmessiakenru
To buy on Amazon USA click here
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0FHSC1TK8/savagemessiah
22
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / Billy Williams passes away
« Last post by Iain Fisher on October 10, 2025, 04:33:02 PM »
Billy Williams was cinematographer on Russell's Billion Dollar Brain in 1967 through to Women in Love, The Rainbow and Dusk Before Fireworks in 1990, being nominated for an Oscar for Women in Love.  His 46 film credits also include Sunday Bloody Sunday and Gandhi as well as the opening (Iraq) sequence of The Exorcist.  Williams said  he moved from documentaries to commercials, working with Russell, to films.

Above Williams with Ken Russell, below his cinematography with Alan Bates reflected in the mirror.

For more on Billy Williams click here.
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-people-technicians.html

There is an interview with Williams talking of The Exorcist here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTEQ46Lv5NU&t=176s
23
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / The Lair of the White Worm in St Louis, USA
« Last post by Iain Fisher on October 10, 2025, 03:42:11 PM »
Arkadin Cinema in St Louis present The Lair of the White Worm on 23 October 2025.

"Unfairly dismissed as an aging auteur’s bid at serious horror, THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM is Ken Russell’s typically extravagant exercise in camp absurdism. Drenched in phallic imagery, folkloric terror, and a masculine battle of wills between, of all people, Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi, Russell’s sublimely silly tale of a gigantic white serpent monster who feeds on the flesh of virgins. Posh nobleman James D’Ampton (Grant) dismisses these tales until archaeology student Angus Flint (Capaldi) unearths a massive reptilian skull. Could lubricious local temptress Lady Sylvia Marsh (Amanda Donohoe) be involved?"

The screening includes a pre-show "Come out early for 30 minutes of slimy slithery terror with our Creepy Crawlies Pre-Show featuring the ickiest worms, snakes, slugs, and bugs in cinematic history".

For the Arkadin Cinema click here
https://arkadincinema.com/
For more on The Lair of the White Worm click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-lair-white-worm.html


24
Steven Berkoff discussion / Re: Steven Berkoff analysis
« Last post by Iain Fisher on October 08, 2025, 02:44:54 PM »
There are a number of longer articles on the site
https://iainfisher.com/berkoff/berkoff-study.html

Two might be of interest here
  • Creating the "Berkovian" Aesthetic
    An analysis of Steven Berkoff's Performance Style
  • Figuring Figuration and the Works of Steven Berkoff

Do these help?
Iain
25
Steven Berkoff discussion / Re: Steven Berkoff's set designs
« Last post by dex on October 07, 2025, 11:16:13 PM »
me too rosie. me too :'(
26
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / Updates on Ken Russell's Dracula
« Last post by Iain Fisher on September 18, 2025, 08:10:14 PM »
Update on the film script of Ken Russell's never-filmed Dracula.  The poster on the wall is from the proposed film.

The first half of the script follows Bram Stoker's novel but the second, more interesting half, has Dracula philosophising "When one is immortal, one cannot live by blood, alone" and "How jealously God guards his immortality. Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky: as soon as they challenged him with their vision of heaven he cut them down".

For more on the book click here
https://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-projects.html


27
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / Altered States in Chicago, USA
« Last post by Iain Fisher on September 18, 2025, 08:07:47 PM »
Music Box Theatre present Altered States on 19 September 2025.

"In an attempt to experience higher mental and physical states, psychology professor Edward Jessup (William Hurt) combines sensory deprivation and psychotropic drugs to try to unlock higher states of consciousness. But as Edward is more successful with his experiments, he starts to lose grip with reality and alters his state of mind.  This daring Hollywood film from Ken Russell (The Devils, The Music Lovers) attacks the viewer with lo-fi effects, immersive sound, and a relentless story that combine to overwhelm the viewer's senses".

For the Music Box Theatre click here
https://musicboxtheatre.com/
For more on Altered States click here
https://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-altered-states.html



28
Sarah Kane discussion / Re: update to Blasted
« Last post by Iain Fisher on September 15, 2025, 04:02:55 PM »
Hi Leland,

Thanks for this and I have updated the page
https://iainfisher.com/kane/eng/kane-live-chronology.html

If you have any photos etc of the performance they are welcome.

I like the "Don't Point" comment.

Iain
29
Sarah Kane discussion / Re: update to Blasted
« Last post by Leland Kean on August 25, 2025, 01:21:12 AM »
Hello Iain, I'd just like to add a note to your archives of Sarah's work that Blasted had its Australian premiere in 1997. I directed the work at NIDA. My partner at the time met Sarah in London and she was blown away that the work had reached Australia. She also passed on only one note to me about directing the production- Don't Point.
30
Athol Fugard discussion / "Master Harold"... and the Boys in the USA
« Last post by Iain Fisher on August 18, 2025, 05:57:32 PM »
Santa Cruz Shakespeare present "Master Harold"... and the Boys from 4 - 20 September 2025.

The director is Rebecca Haley Clark under the stage management of Daniel J Hanson, with dramaturgy by Susan Myer Silton.

The players are Corey Jones, Nick Rossi and Elliot Sagay.

"As we watch the massive shifts in the world rock the very foundations beneath our feet, we are confronted with a call to action: What am I going to do about all this?  Working on Master Harold…and the Boys, has further solidified that gnawing question of what would I do if I were in those circumstances, the question that always reveals itself during times of immense change and social upheaval. Who am I really? This play forces us to consider three different time periods. 1950. The time period of the play itself, just after the enactment of the system of apartheid in South Africa. 1982. The time period in which the play was written, less than a decade before the official end of apartheid. And 2025. The here. The now. The crossroads".

Thanks to Susan for the information.

For the theatre website click here
https://santacruzshakespeare.org/
For more on the play click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-plays-port-elizabeth.html

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