Morlar & Me

The Medusa Touch (Jack Gold, 1978)

Back in the day, Roger Ebert proclaimed Jack Gold's The Medusa Touch (1978) his worst film of the  year. That's one reason, amongst a list of many, why I never cared for his opinions on film. From overrated hack to underrated gem, this is an opportune time to revist the supernatural thriller since it features one of my favourite roles played by Richard Burton. The Welsh actor made amends with this film after the godawful Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). Other than Morricone's music, there's nothing else worth salvaging from that abomination.

Burton plays misanthropic writer John Morlar; "the man with the power to create catastrophe". The film unfolds as a kind of whodunnit? While Morlar lies comatose in hospital and in the immediate wake of a horrific airplane disaster in London, it's left to French exchange copper, Detective Inspector Brunel, played by a dubbed Lino Ventura (this is a British and French co-production, afterall), to put the pieces together like they were Morlar's brains. 

What makes the film so deliciously enjoyable are the various events from Morlar's life. These are told through a series of flashbacks via people who knew him; mostly by his psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfeld, played by Lee Remick. Burton makes these scenes the highlights of the film; which means alot as he got paid half a mil for three weeks work before bouncin' and there are a bunch of crazy setpieces happening while someone else pretends to be him under all those bandages. Fave of the lot is when Morlar's neighbours are having a domestic over a rotten fish and Burton ends up losing his shit from all the noise leading to a comedic conclusion.

The Medusa Touch shares common DNA with a range of other seventies films revolving around the theme of telekinesis: Carrie (1976), Ruby (1977), The Fury (1978), but most of all, the classic Australian horror, Patrick (1978). The latter moreso, largely because both leads are lying in comatose state while causing mayhem from their hospital bed. The Medusa Touch also shares the whole prophetic doom and gloom associated with Damien: Omen II (1978). Both films also share a classroom scene where the "protagonist" displays the upperhand over their respective teachers. The film also has a common association with the disaster films which were popular during that time; including an Irwin Allen style plane crash, that's surprisingly poignant after 9/11.

The film's pacing is also a breeze to sit through. Brunel's investigation is rarely stifled by any constant gas lighting once he realises Morlar isn't exactly an innocent victim, and may indeed contain supernatural powers. All too often in any film, particularly in horror, a fantastical concept can often be met with so much resistance, the flow of the film becomes potentially hampered. Not so in The Medusa Touch. Harry Andrews, who plays the Assistant Commissioner, diverges away from the traditional secondary villain you would come to expect in a film of this type, with an act of heroism for the film's big cathedral scene, while Morlar literally brings "the whole edifice down on their unworthy heads". A refreshing break from the traditional norm.

In retrospect, The Medusa Touch serves as another example of that whole dark pessimism which was so prevalent in seventies cinema. What makes the film a notable standout from its other supernatural brethren is its occassional levity. Hardly enough to ruin the film's doomer tone, but it's a welcome breather from all the seriousness going on; giving it a distinctive British charm all of its own. The Medusa Touch is an underrated gem and well worth checking out.