I'm looking for a movie that was made in the 1970s and is about a doctor who performs sleep studies. A friend of mine mentioned it to me and I want to get it for her on DVD. She said there's a famous actor in it but she wouldn't be able to remember who it is unless someone mentioned his name.

Dreamscape with Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw?

Coma with Michael Douglas?

'Altered States' with William Hurt might be a candidate?

It's not sleep studies, but could she be thinking of Altered States with William Hurt.

Altered States with William Hurt?

That must be it. Starring Louie the Lizard in his most well-known role:



Trivia: Louie's son took up acting like his father. He can be seen on TV (daily) as the star of the GEICO commercials.

"Brainwaves" with Tony Curtis?

My friend told me she likes the movie Coma, so I might consider getting that for her...
About the movie I'm still looking for: she told me that one of the cast members is someone who was in a movie called Chaos. I've noticed a lot of movies with that title on IMDB... But apparently Chaos was about a type of human behavior study where people were locked in a room to see what it would take for them to go insane.
She sees all of these odd movies I've never heard of, lol.

^ That must be The Chaos Experiment, aka The Steam Experiment. Starred Val Kilmer, Armand Assante, & Eric Roberts.

yeah I noticed that on IMDB so I looked at the filmographies of some of the actors. Didn't see anything close to the movie she's trying to describe to me.
Maybe I'll just get her a few of these movies you've all been nice enough to recommend.
Altered States definitely sounds like it. I'll be getting that one for her.

"The Mind Snatchers" (aka "The Happiness Cage") 1972 with Christopher Walken loosely fits the description.

Since you mentioned Walken, 'Brainstorm' might also be one to look at.

That stuff could be remembered as 'sleep' research' I guess.

Make them die slowly?

OK but let's try to tell them the movie title first.