Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Patrick: Evil Awakens Blu-ray Movie Review

'Patrick' won't put you to sleep. He won't really fully engage you, either.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 27, 2015

The only thing more dangerous than his hate is his love.

Patrick: Evil Awakens is a remake of the 1978 film Patrick starring Robert Helpmann and directed by Richard Franklin. The new film makes use of modern technology in furthering story, incorporating cell phones and computer screens as key plot drivers. Otherwise, it's a fairly static, simple formula Horror/Chiller film that shares the same basic notes with the original cult favorite. Imagine Stonehearst Asylum meets Carrie meets pick-a-movie in the "coma" genre (say The Cell), and that's pretty much Patrick: Evil Awakens: a dark, dreary, out-of-the-way hospital housing a comatose patient who has amazing powers of perception and supernatural control over others. It's a fair little venture, not particularly memorable or distinctive but not immediately forgettable or in any way bad. It's filler cinema, essentially, a movie that doesn't insult the audience but that likely won't stick with audiences, either, or be remembered in all that many top 10, 50, or even 100 list unless, of course, one counts down a list of the best "dreary hospital+comatose patient+telekinesis" sub-genre films of all time. But who does that?

Hello Patrick.

Kathy (Sharni Vinson) is the new nurse at a secluded, eerie, perpetually dark and gray hospital that cares for a handful comatose patients (and one man who runs around the facility). She's hired by Dr. Roget (Charles Dance), welcomed and befriended by co-worker Williams (Peta Sergeant), and falls under the watchful eye of head nurse Matron Cassidy (Rachel Griffiths). She quickly finds herself drawn to one of the patients, a handsome young man by the name of Patrick (Jackson Gallagher) whose body remains in top form despite his vegetative state. His only movement is an occasional bout of involuntary spitting. It doesn't take long for Kathy to learn that Patrick is being subjected to an antiquated form of shock therapy under the guidance of Dr. Roget and, maybe worse, that he's aware of what's going on around him. As Kathy searches for answers, she unearths shocking truths about Patrick that could have dire consequences for all involved.

Patrick: Evil Awakens favors style over substance, but both wind up only elevating to the level of "serviceable." The film is appropriately moody and dark, a bit edgy, and photographed with a smooth, but not invasive, accentuating styling that's oftentimes intimate but occasionally distant, two distinct styles that help define both characters and the larger, broader arc. The story develops assuredly but a little slowly, particularly in its middle stretch; it's best in its alluringly drab and subtly uneasy open and its more aggressive, if not fairly trite, violent final act. The middle stretch is arguably the most important, where Kathy begins to piece together the clues around her, dig towards true motives and character connections, but it feels a little overextended and dull, not quite as captivating as the open and not as frenetic as the end. Still, the full movie arc is serviceably entertaining, if not mostly predictable -- the audience pretty much knows how things will play out for Kathy after the prologue -- but the movie stands tall enough as a decent little escapist Horror film that's not the stuff of nightmares but that should, at the very least, satisfy a base craving for a mildly smart, somewhat engaging, and competently assembled film.

Technically, the film's only true drawback comes at the expense of some shoddy digital effects, whether fully digitized backdrops and exteriors seen in several shots or a few phony bits of gore, notably an impalement. Otherwise, Director Mark Hartley's (Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films) picture is a model for midlevel genre moviemaking done right, keeping cheap jump scares to a minimum and depending on core story, characters, and the supportive background mood to build the story and spook audiences. Performances satisfy all around, too, but don't stand apart. Nobody -- not even the venerable Charles Dance -- delivers a career-defining performance (and, certainly, the script isn't that good, anyway), but every lead, from Sharni Vinson to Jackson Gallagher as the comatose patient who does quite a bit of convincing work by way of simple eye movement and spitting, performs admirably, buys fully into the core story, and settles into and understands the film's mood and purpose with commendable effortlessness. `

Patrick: Evil Awakens Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Patrick: Evil Awakens features a simple and straightforward 1080p transfer. The image is deliberately dreary with a predominantly gray feel to it. Colors are heavily muted or not even woven into the production all that much, for that matter. The brightest shades come in a single shot of a potted plant that reveals some nicely vibrant greens and purples. Details satisfy but never get down into the nitty-gritty of skin or hospital structural textures. The image is fairly smooth and somewhat pasty, revealing decent clarity but too little in the way of healthy complexity. Black levels aren't too troubling. Flesh tones satisfy under the movie's basic visual style. Light banding and moderate noise are visible throughout.

Patrick: Evil Awakens Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Patrick: Evil Awakens features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that's not at all bad given the lossy constraints. It's healthy and active and shows a fair bit of musical clarity, definition, space, weight, and surround support. Eerie little sound effects drift through the stage, and the movie is packed with more distinct support pieces like a roomful of ticking clocks, electrical currents waving through the listening area, heavy iron gates sliding to the side, and chilly wind effects blowing through the listening area. The track features some quality dialogue reverberation in a museum in chapter five, and general dialogue plays with a positive and balanced center-front presentation for the duration. This is around the high end of lossy sound.

Patrick: Evil Awakens Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Patrick: Evil Awakens contains only a selection of interviews (1080p) with key cast and crew, including Actors Charles Dance (3:53), Sharni Vinson (1:56), and Rachel Griffiths (2:10); Director Mark Hartley (1:31); Producer Anthony I. Ginnane (3:13), and Co-Writer Justin King (1:58). The "Behind the Scenes" supplement listed on the back of the box does not appear to be included.

Patrick: Evil Awakens Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Patrick: Evil Awakens isn't a budding classic, nor is it a throwaway film. It falls into the happy medium of midlevel moviemaking. It's hardly original -- it's a remake, after all -- and doesn't do anything exceptionally well in terms of plot, performance, or mood, but it's a nice little genre time killer that plays it straight, refuses to depend on jump scares, and even if it gets a little wild-eyed and convoluted in its final act, still makes for a movie with a nice, if not generic, overall flow and arc. In short, viewers could do much better, and they could do much worse. Phase 4's Blu-ray release of Patrick: Evil Awakens features fair video and lossy audio. A handful of interviews comprise the entire supplemental tab. Worth a rental or a buy on a very steep sale.