IMDb-BEWERTUNG
6,9/10
8063
IHRE BEWERTUNG
Psychothriller über einen telekinetischen Romanschriftsteller, der Katastrophen verursacht, indem er einfach an sie denkt.Psychothriller über einen telekinetischen Romanschriftsteller, der Katastrophen verursacht, indem er einfach an sie denkt.Psychothriller über einen telekinetischen Romanschriftsteller, der Katastrophen verursacht, indem er einfach an sie denkt.
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Don't you just hate it when you think of a review title only to find that somebody has beaten you to it!!?? So "I have a gift for disaster" was to be my first choice.
Anyway the late, great Richard Burton is sat at home watching the TV when a visitor calls by and bashes him over the head. The police are called for an apparent murder but turns out that he's not dead. Taken to hospital he remains in a comatose state apart from his brain which is driving the attached monitor nuts! Burton plays a writer with telekinetic powers, he discovers these when a boy and uses them to kill his nanny, then his parents. Much of the film has him telling his life story in a series of flash backs, I liked this part of the plot a lot. As a middle aged man he has now set his sights on the mass destruction of innocents. Can he be stopped?
These type of movies were popular around this time, titles such as Carrie, Patrick, Psychic Killer and The Fury spring to mind, even The Omen, and The Medusa Touch is a good addition. I can remember watching this on TV at least twice when I was a kid and several decades later I came across a nice print being screened on a British TV channel that specialises in older movies. It was great to revisit it. Burton was without question one of the finest actors to come out of the UK and I really enjoyed his performance here, but I thought the rest of the cast that includes many familiar faces to be good also. The movie does build to a gripping finale, this film is horror, thriller and disaster all rolled into one.
Hmm. Some of the reviewers here have complained about the film's slow pacing. Well, yes...compared to the MTV style edited movies of the past 5 years, I'd have to agree. But, the pacing is also necessary in order to show the slow psychological breakdown of the lead character. It's a slow burn type of story, and the filmmakers were much more concerned with building a creepy atmosphere than bombarding us with CGI effects, blood and gore, and whatever else passes for supernatural horror these days.
Besides, Richard Burton on a bad day is better than most actors at their best.
If "Jason X" and other hollow, special effects driven films are your idea of horror...then this isn't the film for you. The Medusa Touch is a methodically paced thriller, aimed at genre fans who enjoy a more thoughtful kind of horror film. If you enjoyed "Don't Look Now," then this is the type of film for you.
If you have the rare opportunity to catch this obscure film, you should at least give it a fair shake. Then you can decide for yourself.
Besides, Richard Burton on a bad day is better than most actors at their best.
If "Jason X" and other hollow, special effects driven films are your idea of horror...then this isn't the film for you. The Medusa Touch is a methodically paced thriller, aimed at genre fans who enjoy a more thoughtful kind of horror film. If you enjoyed "Don't Look Now," then this is the type of film for you.
If you have the rare opportunity to catch this obscure film, you should at least give it a fair shake. Then you can decide for yourself.
"The Medusa Touch" is a typical seventies "devil conspiracy" movie like the popular "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" series combined with the typical paranoia and disaster movies between "Earthquake" and "Airport". The late Richard Burton plays an obsessed psychic who tries to convince a psychiatrist (Lee Remick) of his demonic power to kill people and to cause disasters just by the strength of his thoughts. Being a victim of an assassination and a coma patient in a hospital, his mad thoughts are causing even worse attacks on buildings that are causing the death of hundreds of people. French cop Lino Ventura, working as a guest policeman in London, tries to find out the mystery of Burton's dark life.
Although there's not much action, this horror movie is thrilling and dominated by the convincing performances of the actors. There is a sinister atmosphere of terror and paranoia all around, and you expect the unexpected in every single moment. A fine psychological terror movie in typical seventies style that is worth being watched!
Although there's not much action, this horror movie is thrilling and dominated by the convincing performances of the actors. There is a sinister atmosphere of terror and paranoia all around, and you expect the unexpected in every single moment. A fine psychological terror movie in typical seventies style that is worth being watched!
I remember seeing this on TV many years ago, and I'm glad I caught it at such a young age. Back then it was really scary, but even today - when we're blessed (or cursed) with visual effects that are so convincing - it is still capable of sending a shiver up my spine.
The film's pace is methodical, but Richard Burton admirably conveys a sense of quiet menace as he loses his grip on sanity during a series of flashbacks. The acting by the other leads is solid enough, but the film is all about Burton's chilling psychic powers, and when they are let loose at the film's climax, the result is genuinely shocking.
The film's pace is methodical, but Richard Burton admirably conveys a sense of quiet menace as he loses his grip on sanity during a series of flashbacks. The acting by the other leads is solid enough, but the film is all about Burton's chilling psychic powers, and when they are let loose at the film's climax, the result is genuinely shocking.
And he isn't kidding! An unusually rigid, dark and hazy telekinetic crossed disaster driven supernatural-thriller, predictably told and methodically directed, but the spectacle starts out like a cerebral murder-mystery before the bleak, schlocky mayhem bursts from the seams. Once a weary-eyed Richard Burton starts staring into your soul... only means upcoming doom is near. About an hour away... give or take.
The story follows a French detective Brunel (Lino Ventura who's great here) on temporary assignment for Scotland yard, as he investigates the attempted murder of a writer, John Morlar, who now lays comatose in a hospital bed. However there's something strange about this case, and this man. He learns from Morlar's psychiatrist Dr Zonfeld (a really cold Lee Remick), and Morlar's journals, he believed he could predict the future, and eventually cause disasters, or even death.
This leads to a lot of red herrings, where motivations are unravelled through Brunel's consistent digging of the facts, although it's not hard to figure who was the attempted murderer. So when that's finally revealed, everything suddenly changes and the story comes into its own feeling like there's a lot more at stake. The script through flashbacks, interestingly gives an insight into Morlar's decaying mindset, as his psychic ability grows and bitter distain for life (especially for the establishment) festers. Therefore the morbid nature of its bubbling intentions builds and shocks begin to multiply, which always seem to end in tragedy, and once its starts... there's no going back. It's going to end, like it began... Morlar will see to that with an excellent, fitting ending.
The story follows a French detective Brunel (Lino Ventura who's great here) on temporary assignment for Scotland yard, as he investigates the attempted murder of a writer, John Morlar, who now lays comatose in a hospital bed. However there's something strange about this case, and this man. He learns from Morlar's psychiatrist Dr Zonfeld (a really cold Lee Remick), and Morlar's journals, he believed he could predict the future, and eventually cause disasters, or even death.
This leads to a lot of red herrings, where motivations are unravelled through Brunel's consistent digging of the facts, although it's not hard to figure who was the attempted murderer. So when that's finally revealed, everything suddenly changes and the story comes into its own feeling like there's a lot more at stake. The script through flashbacks, interestingly gives an insight into Morlar's decaying mindset, as his psychic ability grows and bitter distain for life (especially for the establishment) festers. Therefore the morbid nature of its bubbling intentions builds and shocks begin to multiply, which always seem to end in tragedy, and once its starts... there's no going back. It's going to end, like it began... Morlar will see to that with an excellent, fitting ending.
Wusstest du schon
- WissenswertesJack Gold did not want Richard Burton and instead suggested Nicol Williamson for the lead role. The producers told him it would be easier to get funding with Burton, who had just made his "comeback" movie Fliehende Pferde (1977).
- PatzerAs Inspector Brunel watches the TV news, a close-up of the screen reveals that the caption saying "Minster Cathedral" is actually applied to the TV screen rather than forming part of the TV picture. The letters cast shadows on the glass.
- Zitate
[last lines]
John Morlar: [voiceover] I am the man with the power to create catastrophe.
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- Bristol Cathedral, College Green, Bristol, England, Vereinigtes Königreich(Minster Cathedral, London)
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By what name was Der Schrecken der Medusa (1978) officially released in India in English?
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