Patrick Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Patrick Blu-ray Movie Review

He's psycho, mate.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 22, 2014

Did Norman Bates have an Australian cousin he never knew about? There are manifold connections between Alfred Hitchcock’s immortal Psycho and Aussie helmsman Richard Franklin’s 1978 opus Patrick, and for once, they’re intentional. Franklin, who would go on to direct the much better than might have been expected Psycho II, had long nurtured a Hitch fascination, and Franklin put that obsession to good use throughout much of Patrick. While some of the hommages are relatively inconsequential (Patrick’s original logo design owed a debt of fractured gratitude to a similar look in Psycho), there’s a more direct analogy between Psycho’s Norman Bates and Patrick’s titular character with regard to their Mommy complexes, not to mention certain murderous tendencies that push each of them over admittedly variant deep ends. If Norman likes to play dress up (with a kitchen knife) to assuage his roiling psyche, Patrick on the other hand has more or less completely shut down, having spent several years since the death of his mother in an apparently comatose state in a small Australian clinic where he’s seen as something of a vegetative parlor game by some of the staff. It of course turns out that Patrick isn’t quite as comatose or vegetative as he might seem, and in fact his powers of concentration allow him a rather broad reach. Patrick is an often surprisingly effective little thriller, even if it lacks any outright debilitating scare sequences.

Patrick has become something of an experimental pet to the clinic’s sadistic Dr. Roget (Robert Helpmann, whom film fans may recognize as the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but who is just as well known to classical music aficionados for being one of the most iconic ballet dancers and choreographers of the 20th century). Dr. Roget is intent on figuring out just what —and exactly how much—is going on in Patrick’s apparently disconnected brain. That approach is frowned upon by the clinic’s prim matron, Cassidy (Julia Blake), who looks at Patrick as an almost demonic presence in her otherwise tidy little base of operations. (Can it be mere coincidence that the character of Cassidy is rather like a number of not especially well sublimated females who run rampant in several Powell and Pressburger films—notably Black Narcissus—when Helpmann himself was a co-star in two of the pair’s most famous dance related films, The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann?)

Roget is supposedly investigating the “gray area” between life and death, and so Patrick has become the perfect guinea pig, and while claims to be guided by a “code”, there’s little question that the good doctor is intrigued by some aspects of Patrick’s case, especially once new nurse Kathie Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon) starts working at the clinic and becomes convinced that Patrick in fact is very conscious and is even able to affect his environment through mind control.

Patrick is admittedly slow going (the film easily could have been tightened by a good half hour, even if director Franklin laments the fact that his first cut ran even longer than this Australian theatrical version does), but it builds up a fair amount of spookiness that includes an increasing amount of mayhem caused by Patrick’s attachment to his new caretaker. Kathie is a bit slow on the uptake, initially thinking that her estranged husband Ed (Rod Mullinar) is behind things like her apartment getting torn to pieces, but ultimately she becomes aware of just how conscious Patrick is when an electric typewriter she utilizes in Patrick’s room starts delivering messages from the supposedly comatose patient. There’s a certain salacious aspect to Patrick’s “awareness” that is hinted at a time or two, including in a patently hilarious letter that Patrick “types” at one point (you may need to use the pause on your remote to fully appreciate the humor).

While there are admittedly only a couple of flat out shock moments in the film (one of them literally a shock moment, when a character gets fried on an electric circuit), the film has an undeniably effective mood that has a nice psychological underpinning. The performances are uniformly excellent, with Helpmann’s Roget turning out to be not quite the villain he seems, and Blake’s Matron Cassidy similarly having some unexpected depth to her almost Biblical uptightness. Penhaligon makes a believably spunky heroine, and her final showdown with Patrick is both frightening and funny. Franklin directs with economy and occasional flair, and the film was actually lensed by Donald McAlpine, who would go on to act as cinematographer for such varied fare as Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! and the recent Ender's Game.

Patrick Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Patrick is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As with Severin's other recent "Ozploitation" horror releases, Dead Kids and Thirst, this transfer was reportedly sourced off the original camera negative, with results that come in somewhere between the two other films. While things aren't quite as odd as with Dead Kids, as with all three of these films in varying degrees, the color timing does not seem completely accurate, once again skewing rather noticeably toward the yellow end of the spectrum, something that makes reds read more orange-like, and flesh tones appear jaundiced. Contrast is generally decent if not overwhelming, and the overall appearance of Patrick, while not "sharp" by contemporary standards, is relatively well defined. There are some slight instability issues at times that lead to very minor but noticeable judder.

Patrick Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with Thirst, for some reason Patrick has only a Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track. This nonetheless adequately supports the film's dialogue and moody Brian May score, as well as a couple of more standard "shock" moments with some quasi-low frequency effects. Fidelity is fine and there is no damage to report.

Patrick Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Richard Franklin. Franklin, who sadly passed away in 2007, delivers an interesting if at times sporadic commentary where he doesn't shy away from repeatedly mentioning how Alfred Hitchcock's shadow looms rather large over huge swaths of the film, though rather incredibly Franklin also mentions Uri Geller and psychokinesis at one point. Though he's not credited, writer Everett De Roche shows up at around the 46 minute mark to contribute some memories.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1:52)


• Interviews with Director Richard Franklin, Screenwriter Everett De Roche, Producer Antony Ginnane, and Stars Susan Panheligon and Rod Mullinar (480i; 1:01:06) features some great interviews culled from Mark Hartley's 2008 piece Not Quite Hollywood.


• Vintage TV Interview with Director Richard Franklin (480i; 20:25) has a nice overview of Franklin's schooling and career before settling down to some interesting interview segments. The piece features some great clips from a number of Franklin's films.


• TV Spots (480i; 00:55)

Patrick Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Patrick definitely could have used some judicious editing and the film will probably strike younger horror fans as a monumental bore, but it has a definite mood and ends up being surprisingly effective. Bolstered by very good performances and Franklin's directorial skill, as well as a smart if a bit talky screenplay by Everett De Roche, Patrick is an unusual film that deserves a wider audience (a new remake is due very soon, something that no doubt contributed to the release of the original on Blu-ray). Though there are some issues with the video and the audio is lossy, there are some nice supplements and Patrick is Recommended.