7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
London police are called to the apartment of murder victim John Morlar. As they investigate his death, they learn about a man who claimed to be responsible for numerous deaths and disasters due to supernatural powers -- and somehow he's still alive.
Starring: Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, Lee Remick, Harry Andrews, Alan BadelHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The 1978 film, The Medusa Touch, is a cult classic for some, but for most it's completely forgotten, which places it squarely in the wheelhouse of specialty publisher Hen's Tooth Video. Even on paper, the film has elements that make it historically significant. It was the first movie produced by Arnon Milchan, who has since produced numerous important projects, including Fight Club, J.F.K. and Once Upon a Time in America. It was a feature film made in England at a time when the English film industry was in the doldrums; its director, Jack Gold, worked primarily in TV and on the stage, but succeeded in partnering with Oscar-winning editor Anne V. Coates (Lawrence of Arabia) to get Medusa funded and cast with a glittering roster of English acting talent. The film was the only adaptation of a novel by author Peter Van Greenaway, who trafficked in political paranoia, science fiction and, in the case of Medusa, telekinesis, all popular elements in contemporary cinema across the channel (Carrie was 1976; The Fury was 1978; Scanners, 1981; Firestarter, 1984). Medusa's depictions of disaster eerily anticipated such events as Chernobyl and 9/11. Of course, the most obvious distinction of The Medusa Touch was the element used to advertise it at the time: the presence of Richard Burton, billed as the film's star, although his appearance is relatively brief. At one point on the commentary included with this release, it's referred to, half jokingly, as an extended cameo. Still, his character is the center of the film. One commentator compares him to Orson Welles in The Third Man. Even when he isn't on screen, everyone talks about him. Burton was on the downward slide of his movie career at the time, his health undermined by years of drinking and hard living. He had to be persuaded to take the role of John Morlar in Medusa, because he was reluctant to do another film with supernatural elements after just completing Exorcist II: The Heretic. He filmed all his scenes and recorded his voiceover narrations in just a few weeks, but his presence is a big part of what elevates Medusa above the forgettable B-movie it might otherwise have been. Additional class is added by the elegant Lee Remick in the role of a Morlar's skeptical psychiatrist. She too initially refused the role in Medusa, having recently starred in another devilish franchise, The Omen , but it's fortunate that she changed her mind. Her scenes with Burton, and with the police investigator looking into John Morlar's past, are some of the film's best.
The Medusa Touch was photographed by Arthur Ibbetson, who knew Burton from better times as the cameraman on Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). Ibbetson's best known work in a long and varied career is probably Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). In The Medusa Touch, his primary challenge was mixing live action shots with complex opticals and miniatures depicting disasters caused by John Morlar's strange powers. Hen's Tooth Video's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray has been taken from good quality source materials with only some minor weave in the beginning and end titles betraying any instability in the film elements. The image is remarkably clear and well defined for a film of this era, a tribute to Ibbetson's lighting, which was obviously designed to increase the sense of Morlar's strangeness by making everything else in the world visible and normal (with the exception of the opening sequence, where it is essential that the audience not be able to make out precisely what is happening). Colors are rich and saturated, which is often the opposite of what one sees in Seventies films. Black levels and contrast appear to be accurate, and these is no evidence of inappropriate digital tampering. The film has a natural-looking grain pattern that is visible but never distracting. Complaints about "softness" will inevitably be heard from eyes conditioned by the digital era, but they are misplaced. Because it uses the format of a police procedural, The Medusa Touch has many scenes of basic conversation. For such material, the relatively low average bitrate of 20.00 Mbps is sufficient, but only just. No compression artifacts leapt out at me, but I would like to see the Medusa Blu-ray again on a much larger screen.
The Medusa Touch's original mono mix has been reproduced in the front left and right channels and presented in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. It's a strong, solid mono mix with wide dynamic range and remarkably good bass extension for the era. The soundtrack's effects may not reach around into your surround speakers, but delicate small effects designed to be unsettling (they discuss a few of them on the commentary) can be clearly heard, along with crisply delivered dialogue and a suitably spooky score by Michael J. Lewis (Theatre of Blood).
The Medusa Touch often teeters on the edge of the ridiculous, but it's always Burton who pulls it back. It's easy to understand why the filmmakers wanted him so badly. Even past his prime, his gifts were so formidable that he makes Morlar a convincingly haunted and ultimately demonic presence. Without Burton, The Medusa Touch simply wouldn't work (and I concede that, for many contemporary temperaments, it still may not). The Blu-ray, however, is well made, and I don't hesitate to recommend it.
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