Friday, October 2, 2009

The Fury (1978)

Holy shit does this movie go hard. From the action-packed opening shootout set in the middle east all the way to the 'explosive' ending. This paranormal thriller gets a helping hand setting the mood with John Williams' excellent score. His use of a theramin in some scenes add a real sense of eeriness. And to think he did this a year after making the Star Wars soundtrack.

Kirk Douglas plays Peter, the protaganist pitted against a former colleague Childress, played by John Cassavettes. Childress kidnaps Peter's son, Robin, and wants to use his supernatural powers for some unpleasant top secret government agency's use. The exposition in this movie is so fun to watch with DePalma at the helm (some great mall shots a la Body Double).

Peter uses his handsome good looks (and hard body) to infiltrate the curious Paragon Institute to find a young psychic reciever, Gilian, who also has great telepathic and destructive powers. Together they set out to find Robin.

John Cassavettes sure is great at playing a villian. He doesn't let his wife sleep with the devil in this one but his character is so sinister you know he would if he had the chance.

Near the end things really get out of control. When Robin's veins pop, people drop. This movie is a step up from DePalma's previous film, Carrie, which is also based around supernatural mind powers (pyrokinesis/telekinesis). Alls I can say is I wouldn't want to suffer from 'the fury' of Gilian or Robin. No thanks.

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