The Medusa Touch

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.

'The Medusa Touch' fits as one of those films that certainly deserves to be called a masterpiece that became a well kept secret. If you are a fan of the genre and haven't seen it, what a rare find it is! Contributors to threads of a remake of this film are filled with screams against that idea. And deservedly so. Any attempt to remake this classic would be a travesty.

Richard Burton's excellent performance, and surly the role fits Burton's acting style like a well tailored glove. Casting him as an intelligent and well versed author, whose spoken (and written) dialog is scripted to delve deep into a profound command of the English language, is right up Burton's alley. I see much written here about Burton's outstanding performance and they are certainly correct.

It almost seems an oversight however, that the performance given by Lino Ventura (Inspector Brunel) is as fine a work of acting as can be. Officially a 'supporting actor' in the film, one could hardly tell. Cast as a French Exchange Detective who has a suspicious, slightly non-trusting relationship with his English Scotland Yard counterparts, Ventura turns in a nearly flawless role, and makes the idea work exquisitely.

Often while deep in puzzled thought and shock, mere facial expressions from Inspector Brunel are perfect additions to Ventura's role. To many thread do not topic Lino Ventura's excellent acting in this outstanding classic gem of a thriller. Perhaps due to many fans in the English speaking world never having heard of Lino Ventura, and figuring he was a 'small-fame' actor. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ventura was Italian citizenship and birth, while living the majority of his life in France.

Ventura was a hugely acclaimed and decorated actor in France, who played some iconic roles there. Casting Lino Ventura in this film was no stretch, as his timeless performance attests. The filmmakers were fortunate to land him. In many ways, Ventura's performance helped mold this movie into the hidden classic 'The Medusa Touch' will forever be.

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.

"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!

This supernatural thriller deals with John Morlar (Richard Burton) , while he's watching a British television broadcast an anchorman explains that American astronauts are trapped in orbit around the moon. Suddenly someone in Morlar's room picks up a figurine and strikes him on the head repeatedly. His blood splatters the television screen. French Detective-Inspector Brunel (Lino Ventura) along with his helper (Michael Byrne) arrive at Morlar's flat to start the criminal investigation. At first he thinks Morlar is dead, but soon he hears him breathe. As the man was struck over the head and being admitted to a hospital . Meantime, weird disasters befall the surrounding city . At the hospital, Morlar is hooked up to life support systems, one machine in particular monitors the activity of his battered brain . It seems that despite his unconscious state, the man is using his telekinetic powers to will things to happen. As Morlar states : ¨I am the man with the power to create catastrophe¨, as he has the power to move objects , to cause the death of anyone who stands in his way . Richard Burton is the man with the medusa touch ... he has the power to create catastrophe! . As he possesses a powerful gift , Telekinesis : A mental force that enables this man to move objects and control events. Science cannot explain the awesome power of the mind. And nothing can control it ! .

This horror-style story contains intriguing events, thriller , chiller , suspense , tension and disaster images . Main and support cast are pretty good , as Richard Burton playing the telekinetic novelist who causes disasters simply by thinking about them , he's top-notch , especially when scathingly giving a vitriolic disection of his faithless wife , but the real starring is the French Lino Ventura who is terrific as the stubborn police inspector . Support cast is magnificent with plenty of notorious British secondaries , such as : Michael Hordern , Alan Badel , Gordon Jackson , Michael Byrne , Derek Jacobi , Robert Lang , Robert Flemyng, Philip Stone , Malcolm Tierney , Jeremy Brett and Harry Andrews .

It displays a thrilling and exciting musical score by Michael J. Lewis . As well as colorful and appropriate cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jack Gold. Jack was born in London and being a prestigious director and producer , known for Bofors guns (1968) , The Reckoning (1970) , Man Friday (1975) , Aces high (1976) , The Medusa touch (1978), The Chain (1984) , Escape from Sobibor (1987), and Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998). ¨The Medusa Touch (1978) is a rehash of the catastrophe genre along with supernatural powers clichés in which the splendid casting stands out . Rating : 6.5/10, nice and entertaining . It's a fairly watchable and breathtaking film and it results to be a good treatment of telekinesis theme along with disaster movies. Enthusiasts of horrific hokum will enjoy themselves ehile cynics chuckle . Essential and indispensable watching for Lino Ventura, Lee Remick and Richard Burton fans.