Patrick [1978] Richard Franklin torrent

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Patrick (1978)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078067/

Patrick is a 1978 Australian horror film directed by Richard Franklin and written by Everett De Roche. Patrick is the pivotal film of respected Australian director Richard Franklin.

Susan Penhaligon ... Kathy Jacquard
Robert Helpmann ... Doctor Roget
Rod Mullinar ... Ed Jacquard
Bruce Barry ... Brian Wright
Julia Blake ... Matron Cassidy
Helen Hemingway ... Sister Williams
María Mercedes ... Nurse Panicale (as Maria Mercedes)
Walter Pym ... Captain Fraser
Frank Wilson ... Detective Sgt. Grant
Carole-Ann Aylett ... Patrick\'s Mother
Paul Young ... Lover
Marilyn Rodgers ... Day Desk Nurse
Peggy Nichols ... Night Desk Nurse
John Murphy ... Barman
Ray Chubb ... S.E.C. Worker

Thoroughly entertaining and intriguing, Patrick is one of Australia\'s commercially successful genre films of the 70s, a supernatural thriller about a bedridden young man who lies in a coma with his eyes wide open, apparently without any feelings. But we discover - as do some of the doctors and nurses around him - that he is capable of more than lying still and staring straight ahead. He has acquired telekinetic powers ... which are in harmony with electricity (and even electric typewriters).

Richard Franklin directs a clever script by Everett de Roche, both in complete synch with the material. Brian May makes a terrific contribution with his multi-coloured and apposite orchestral score, and the cast includes some of Australia\'s finest actors, from the classy Julia Blake as the mastiff of a matron to Robert Helpmann as the dangerous doctor. He\'s surprisingly good, except for a few scenes in the final act. Susan Penhaligon is feisty as the nurse who gets up close and very personal with Patrick - Robert Thompson in a demanding role as the comatose but not altogether incapable impatient patient. He does good eyes.

But it\'s the writing and direction that make the film such a populist pleasure, fresh ideas, good structure and all the pay-offs that the genre demands, from electrifying baths to sparky deaths. Telekinesis is the scientific word - creepy antics is the cinematic translation.

Richard Franklin will always be known as a Hitchcock Protégé – a moniker that is pretty tough to carry, let’s be honest. No one even came close to the master and Franklin was never going to be able to, especially in Australia with the budget restraints and cultural cringe problems. That said, with Patrick, his second feature (or maybe third if you count Fantasm) he came pretty close to creating a masterpiece of b-grade Hitchockian cinema. The title character Patrick (played by Robert Thompson) is a 170 pounds of limp meat attached to a comatose brain. Three years ago Patrick killed his mother and her boyfriend after having to listen to them bonking in the next room. Now he lays in a hospital bed, comatose and seemingly brain dead, apparently paralysed by grief over his deed. Enter nurse Kathy (Susan Penhaligon) who senses that there is something more than meets the eye with Patrick. His doctor played by the wonderful Sir Robert Helpmann disagrees though as does everyone else. But Kathy knows there is more to Patrick than just a body in a bed. Sure enough, it would seem that while his body has lay dormant his telekinetic powers have grown. At first we get subtle hints like the windows opening by themselves but soon it seems that his power is much stronger than we could imagine. Kathy comes home one night to find her flat trashed and blames her disgruntled hubby Ed. But was it Ed or was it Patrick power? With hubby Ed (Rod Mullinar) and Dr.Brian (Bruce Barry) by her side – or was it the other way around? Those Aussie Malboro Men of the 70s always confused me… no that’s right, that’s Ed trapped in the lift (you’ll see) and Dr. Brian with the strobe light… anyway, with her two men who don’t know whether to believe her or not but are willing to do anything she says just to get her into bed Kathy sets out to prove that Patrick is alive, kicking and what’s more in love with her. He tells her this via typewriter at one stage before doing bad stuff like roasting the Matron on the powergrid, making Sir Bobby eat frogs and trapping Ed in the lift for two days!

All this though is done in such a stylish and suspenseful fashion that you are able to suspend your disbelief and accept the story. That’s the strength of Patrick - that you are sucked into the story, that you believe in the characters. And I must make mention of Robert Thompson. It can’t be easy to just lay there looking like a deranged Marty Feldman with the occasional spit or twitch to show you’re alive but damn he pulled it off and did a beautiful job of it. And Sir Bobby was superb in his role as Dr. Roget, adding a touch of class to a role I’m sure many thought he wouldn’t be able to play straight.

Although this movie is lumped in with the OZploitation scene it is far too stylish, too well directed and just plain good to be left there. It’s not nearly nasty enough, exploitive enough or dumb enough for that. With Patrick you can see why Richard Franklin was given the director’s chair for Psycho II. In lesser hands it could have been dumb, trashy fun and we’d still love it but with Franklin’s Hitchcock fetish in full force he’s come up with a real genre classic.