Cast
Ron Perlman (Dr Harlan Jessup), Mary Ward (Captain Jean
Farrell), John Haymes Newton (Major Martin Richards), Richard
Tyson (Gunnery Sergeant Riggins), Persia White (Winslow).
Plot
Summary
In the heat of an American
desert, Captain Jean Farrell (Mary Ward) arrives at a secret
military installation, run by the enigmatic Doctor Harlan Jessup
(Ron Perlman). Jessup is conducting 'Operation Sandman', an experiment
involving a group of soldiers who have volunteered to be injected with
'the Juice', a drug which enables them to function without sleep.
The team of soldiers,
led by gruff and abusive 'Gunny' Riggins (Richard Tyson) continually
takes part in Virtual Reality scenarios whereby they face terrorists,
kidnappers, guerrillas and a plethora of other situations that demand
split-second timing, and undying obedience in the face of danger. They
have continued for nearly three weeks without sleep, and their response
times and reactions are better than ever.
But there is a problem.
As the test continues, the soldiers begin to see 'freaks', hallucinations
that intrude on their consciousness and disturb their concentration.
Jessup is on the point of getting government funding for the
project and cannot afford hiccups, so Army Psychologist Farrell
is called in to give the project a clean bill of health.
But when she arrives,
she discovers one of the soldiers is dead - he has apparently committed
suicide using a hand grenade. But, she discovers, the shredded body
contains no shrapnel, and there was no sound of an explosion. So, she
wonders, how can a soldier be killed by a grenade that never existed
…?
Doctor
Harlan Jessup (Ron Perlman)
Soft-spoken and menacingly
charming, Doctor Harlan Jessup is a leader in his field - that
of the study of sensory and sleep deprivation. A brilliant theorist,
his practical applications have not quite lived up to expectations -
hence his foray into military experimentation. Highly intelligent and
elitist, he believes completely in his work and is totally ruthless
in attaining his goal.
When the first death occurs,
he studies the bloody corpse of Sturner, the big bruiser of a
'grunt' who has become the first - but not the last - of the team to
die. His voice bland and sympathetic, he sighs with regret over the
dead soldier.
"Why would such a nice
young man do such a thing?" It is fairly obvious that he has every intention
of twisting the truth to suit his own ends, and it sets the scene for
ensuing lies and deception as Jessup seeks to hide the truth
of what he is doing.
Farrell's arrival
causes him but little discomfort to begin with - she is a woman, a psychologist
and a soldier, but Jessup is arrogant enough in his belief that
he is completely in charge of the situation. He is not afraid of her,
despite the influence she has on whether he gets his government funding,
and he listens to her intelligent and perceptive questions with barely
concealed amusement. When she queries the effect of 'the juice', he
interrupts.
"I might add that, ah,
not only does the juice eliminate the need for sleep, but hearing and
vision are enhanced and mental capacity increases." He smiles, his face
deceptively charming but his voice softly arrogant. " And … body fat
decreases." Just the comment, he decides, to either appeal to her insecurities
about her appearance or insult her sensibilities. He really doesn't
care which.
But Farrell becomes
tiresome as the investigation continues, and he listens to her arguments
that injuries have been caused not by anything physical - it is the
subject's mind that is causing the damage. Sturner thought
he saw a grenade explode, and his body created the wounds that killed
him. The whole effect is psychosomatic, as the drug enhances their adrenaline
levels to lethal proportions. Jessup decides it is time to make
this young upstart of a doctor face some realities - she is there to
give a positive report or her career is on the line.
"But now is not the time
to hide behind data - now is the time to take a position. A position
you need to think about … carefully …" The veiled threat in the soft
voice is chilling.
But Farrell won't
back down. When another of the team becomes crippled, Farrell
begins to realize Jessup is pushing the experiment not just to
the limit - but well beyond all safety parameters, with ruthless disregard
to the consequences. She shows Jessup the various medical test
results - MRI scans, CAT scans, blood tests, but he is not impressed.
She decides to call a halt to the experiment and test 'the juice'. For
the first time Jessup reacts with barely controlled anger.
"Y'know, it's easy to
pick apart somebody else's work when you lack the courage of an original
thought. Now, the next time you come at me, you'd better have something
other than an assumption …" his face tenses with anger and derision
"and some pretty drawings."
But Farrell is
like a terrier with a bone - she won't leave well alone, and unbeknownst
to both Farrell and the team, he is injecting himself with 'the
juice', another of its side-effects being growing psychosis and paranoia.
Farrell has an
uneasy ally, however, in Major Martin Richards, the military
commander on the installation. He is becoming increasingly unhappy as
the situation worsens and the team begins to fragment, and after Farrell
does an autopsy on one of the team that has died of an apparent heart
attack, he is convinced Jessup is pursuing a decidedly unhealthy
goal; success must be gained whatever the cost. Farrell has discovered
the presence of psychlo-drenalin, a synthetic adrenaline that increases
brain and body functions to an unacceptably high level. The team's 'freaks',
or hallucinations, are a physical personification of each member's fears
and nightmares.
Jessup is confined
to his fish-bowl of an office and his papers removed, but the mental
stability of the soldiers around him put the installation in jeopardy
and Jessup escapes. Team members begin to die at the hands of
their hallucinations, fear made physical, and when Richards and
Farrell go to fetch Jessup before leaving the installation,
they find the glass walls of his office covered with graffitti; mathematical
equations, Latin proverbs, psychobabble - Jessup has finally
gone over the edge, 'the juice' pushing his paranoia to breaking point.
Even his transmissions
to his military supporter Art - who is determined that Jessup
gets the funding for his project - are calm but frightening. Jessup's
eyes are wide with incipient insanity. When Art begins to panic
about the situation, Jessup leans forward and stares into the
camera. His voice is low and conciliatory, but ultimately threatening.
"Don't worry …" he whispers.
'Gunny' Riggins
has finally given in to his hatred of women, and gone on a search to
destroy the women who have thwarted him during his lifetime, and Jessup
- now roaming the corridors of the installation - apparently comes upon
the deranged sergeant in the gym, Jessup telling him how he should
'do his patriotic duty' and rid them of all those who oppose the experiment.
But is it Jessup, hiding in the shadows, his white smile catching
the odd ray of light? Riggins is convinced it is, and decides
the whole situation must end. He finally goes outside and waits for
his victims to come to him …
Jessup meanwhile
is deep within the grip of his own drug-induced paranoia, and manages
to catch Farrell. He decides she must understand his work, and
the only way she will do that is if she gets a taste of 'the juice'.
Jessup fills the gas-operated syringe, and tries to make her
realize the purpose of his work.
"I'm going to give you
a chance to experience what you've been missing out on … you'll see
things you never dreamed were possible …"
But Major Richards
becomes Farrell's saviour, arriving in the nick of time to knock
the syringe from Jessup's hand. But his punch to Jessup's
face barely fazes the big doctor, and Jessup smiles with triumph,
the drug in his system enabling to take the punishment without turning
a hair. But Richards tries one more desperate blow and manages
to unbalance Jessup, who staggers backwards through one of the
windows of his office, shattering it into a million pieces, his body
falling to the floor below.
Farrell, Richards
and the remaining members of the team make good their escape, and the
installation explodes … but back in the living quarters, Jessup
is not done for. His body stirs, and although injured, it is apparent
the drug has shielded his body from any great harm. He hears the tramp
of booted feet, and sees four soldiers coming towards him, and he laughs
with pleasure. The military have sent men to rescue him, and he will
be able, no doubt, to continue with his work.
But when they remove
their masks, his own fear has been made physical - they are the men
who have died from the effects of his drug, and they have returned to
wreak their revenge. And so Doctor Harlan Jessup becomes the
victim of the very drug he fought so hard to create and use, and his
body reacts to the hallucinations running havoc through his mind - he
is hauled roughly to the waste disposal unit, the door is opened, and
he is unceremoniously pushed down a twenty-storey drop into the garbage
pile below …
Trivia
This is the second time
Ron Perlman has played a character called Jessup. Well, almost.
He performed on Broadway in 1990 in A Few Good Men, playing Colonel
Nathan Jessep.
In Ken Russell's film
Altered States (1980) William Hurt plays a character called Doctor
Eddie Jessup - who is doing research into the effects of sensory
deprivation.