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7
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7 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
After
Carrie (1976) the cinematic gloves
were off and floating. Telekinesis was suddenly a part of the
language of horror movies and it was time to catch that bandwagon
and jump aboard before it trundled off the cliff. It was time
to attach invisible wires to objects, fling them around rooms
and marvel at the terror generated by the power of the unleashed
mind. It helped that in Carrie
and most of the follow-ups/rip-offs the individual slinging
deadly things about was a late blooming teenager suffering through
puberty in a way that made the average first menstruation, ball
drop or voice change seem like a grand day at Six Flags. These
movies represented every parent's greatest fear and simultaneously
embodied one parental great hope. What mater doesn't wish for
their offspring to be able to stand on their own two feet and
deal with bullies in a confident, decisive manner? What dad
doesn't wish for their daughter the ability to fend off slimy
grab-handers with a flick of her princess eyes? Make no mistake
—
for every nightmare scenario that telekinetic powers conjures
up it offers a similar fantasy of effortless, unstoppable strength
with few, if any, restraints. The supernatural powers that Carrie
White uses to enact her vengeance on her schoolmates are the
daily dream of every picked upon, mistreated, pushed around
kid on every playground and schoolyard on the planet Earth.
It is the ultimate "I'll show you!" desire that wells
up inside anyone being slapped around by others with strength
but no honor. The beauty of the Australian produced Patrick
is that the film doesn't take the easy path to have you identify
with its title character. Instead it shows him to be what he
truly is —
a spoiled child in an adult body with no sense of or concern
for the harm he does each time he acts out against those around
him. Of course, not everyone in the film has his best interests
in mind... but that's where things get interesting.
In
a pre-titles sequence we see blonde, curly-haired Patrick (Robert
Thompson) murder his mother and her lover by tossing a plugged-in
heater into their post-coital bathtub. Cutting to several years
later Patrick has become a comatose patient in the private Roget
Clinic, run by the rather sadistic Dr. Roget (Robert Helpmann).
The doc is keeping his latest coma patient alive to study the
effects of various nonstandard treatments on his condition.
Along comes a young, pretty, recently separated nurse named
Kathy (Susan Penhaligon - The
Land That Time Forgot, The
Confessional) who takes a job at the clinic after passing
a tough interview with the prudish head nurse, Matron Cassidy
(Julia Blake). The Matron has no love for her new nurse but
seems to have no love for anyone else either, and appears to
fear our boy Patrick — she won't step foot inside his room!
Kathy is placed in charge of Patrick's room for the second shift
hours. She is obviously sympathetic towards him as he lies bedridden,
unable to move or show any measurable brain activity. After
a few days something strange occurs and Nurse Kathy begins to
think her patient is trying to talk to her. By telepathically
working the keys on a typewriter Patrick is able to communicate
with her but refuses to repeat these amazing feats for anyone
else. These telepathic abilities also allow Patrick to wreak
havoc at a distance, which translates into trashing Kathy's
new apartment out of anger and burning her estranged husband's
hands. Once she realizes what is happening an earlier near-drowning
of her new lover (Bruce Barry) fits the pattern of jealous rage
directed at sexually misbehaving women that started Patrick's
story. How far will the lad go before he is stopped? And how
do you stop someone capable of tossing you around a room with
the power of his mind?
Patrick
is a well regarded horror film but not a well loved one. Many
times I've heard people complain about the fact that almost
nothing of a horrific nature takes place in the movie for nearly
half of its running time. I can understand this gripe because
if all you're looking for are shock moments, gore or archvillainy
this film offers little to sate you. But if you have the patience
to simply watch the movie and let it tell its story at its own
pace it's an engrossing piece that creeps under your skin and
pulls you into it. The movie is very much from the point of
view of Nurse Kathy as she notices each small clue about Patrick's
abilities and begins to communicate with him. I suppose the
script was written to carefully introduce the fantastic element
slowly in an attempt to slide it past more resistant viewers
until they could be caught up in the story. For my money it
works for many reasons, not the least of which is down to the
fine craftsmanship involved. Make no mistake — this is a well
made film. Director Richard Franklin would go on to make two
more brilliant thrillers after this one (Road
Games and Psycho 2) before
an almost criminal career slide into TV work and only occasional
features. A damned shame, as he clearly knows how to make a
suspenseful movie build scene by scene to a satisfying, electrifying
climax.
The film also has
a nice, adult sense of reality about its character's relationships
with each other. Kathy is conflicted at the beginning of the
story, unsure if she should return to her husband or start an
affair with the handsome playboy doctor she meets at a party.
She isn't trying to play both sides of the field but her search
for what is best for her is interesting and well played enough
to have kept me interested even without the telekinetic plot.
I will admit that the film hovers between being a little too
long and being lengthy enough to let its story breathe. I'm
on the fence about whether it's overlong for the tale it has
to tell, but I have to say that I like the fact that time is
spent getting to know the characters well enough to make them
more than waiting victims or screaming ciphers. Also, I love
the small touches placed throughout the film that pay off if
you pay attention, like the flickering sign under Patrick's
window and the sound of Matron Cassidy's stocking clad feet
as she sneaks around the clinic. And even if I feel that Brian
May's very effective score sounds like 'Bernard Herrmann Lite',
that's really not a bad thing at all.
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| Synapse
has brought Patrick back to DVD in
a package that presents the uncut film extremely well. The image
is beautiful; sharp and detailed, there are very few blotches
or blemishes to date the enhanced for 16X9 picture. Mono audio
options are available in English, French and Spanish, with the
English track being the correct Australian version and not the
altered dub done in the late '70s to remove those troubling accents
(shades of Mad Max). The extras are
slight but good. The original trailer is presented, along with
a handful of TV spots ballyhooing the film with every shock moment
that can be culled from it. The best extra is a feature-length
commentary track with the director, recorded a few years ago.
Franklin calmly goes through the film, relating production information
and details. He apologizes at a couple of points about not being
as prepared as he should be but is talkative enough even if his
delivery is rather monotone. I was fascinated to learn that the
original cut of Patrick was about
140 minutes long and had to be trimmed down to its current length.
Sadly all the excised material is lost. This is a good disc and
a fine way to see this underrated thriller from Down Under. 3/23/09 |
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