- In the House episode "House's Head", Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), who is still recovering from a bus crash, mentions this movie to Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (Olivia Wilde).HADLEY: Hallucinations and smells were kind of working, right? Why the bath?
HOUSE: Hypnosis gave me a nose picker. Smells set off hallucinations. Sensory deprivation should get the brain into an alpha-theta phase. Didn't you see Altered States?
HADLEY: I don't think I was even born when that movie was out.
HOUSE: Well then you're too young to be a doctor. That movie was released in 1980.
HADLEY: That was twenty-eight years ago.
HOUSE: No, it wasn’t, shut up.
HADLEY: Did you just forget what year it is?
HOUSE: No. I just remembered how old I am.
Music
- The John Askew song "Through the Looking Glass" samples this movie to a large extent. In particular, the line, "I don't expect I'll go to sleep for a year - I'm on fucking fire!" is the song's hook.
