Directed by: Richard Franklin
Starring: Robert Thompson, Susan Penhaligon, Maria Mercedes, Robert Helpmann, Rod Mullinar
From: Several different Australian companiesYep, it sure is an Ozploitation version of a telekinesis movie.
Tomorrow there will be no review as among other things, late tonight I’ll be viewing the Australian Football League Grand Final game between the Geelong Cats and the Sydney Swans. While I don’t watch as much Australian Rules Football as I used to it’s still a wacky fun sport so I’m not going to miss the championship game. Patrick was actually never seen by me until last night despite its fame in some circles and my liking of such Richard Franklin films as Road Games, Psycho II & Cloak and Dagger.
It is a rather slow burn as the titular Patrick is a comatose patient at a private hospital who apparently has taken a liking to newly-hired nurse Kathy. It’s rather obvious given that he experiences “arousal” at times! Yeah, it’s not always in the best taste… Kathy is often mistreated, sometimes in gross ways. Patrick can also astral project-now there’s another pseudoscience trope from the 70’s. The plot strands probably won’t raise too many eyebrows: Kathy’s superiors aren’t always great people, the husband she’s separated from is a creep, no one believes her claims, bad things happen to people she knows, Patrick has one hell of a unibrow-OK, you probably couldn’t predict that last point.
The movie doesn’t rise above being “fine” but that is OK. There’s some creepy moments, nice direction, and the expected Aussie Weirdness to entertain me. The movie wasn’t more methodical to me—that said, through the years I’ve learned that more than many I don’t get bored easy just because a picture has a measured pace. Admittedly at times even I felt the almost two hour length yet overall it was a fascinating journey.
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