Kathie Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon) following a separation from her husband Ed (Rod Mullinar) takes a job at the Roget clinic headed by Dr. Roget (Robert Helpmann). Under the strict and watchful eye of supervisor Matron Cassidy (Julia Blake), Kathie takes care of the patients at the clinic including a comatose man named Patrick (Robert Thompson). As time rolls on, Kathie begins to notice begins to notice Patrick communicating with her by spitting (once for yes, twice for no) and channeling words into her typewriter but only in her presence and refusing to exhibit for anyone else. Patrick's abilities extend to manifestations of telekinesis that wreak havoc on both Kathie's life and the men inside it.
Born in Australia, director Richard Franklin attended University of Southern California alongside the likes of George Lucas, John Carpenter, and Robert Zemeckis. An afficionado of the style and works of Alfred Hitchcock, Franklin had the opportunity to meet his mentor when he arranged a screening of Rope (1948) and became good friends with Hitchcock thereafter. After directing some local Ausie television work, Franklin directed both the low budget sex comedy Eskimo Nell and softcore porno Fantasm which were successful enough though Franklin doesn't consider them "his" films. The success if his low budget high return work enabled him to get support for Patrick which would be the first of a number of collaborations between director Franklin and screenwriter Everett De Roche. The movie was not a success in its native Australia, but did find more success internationally including in the United States and gave Franklin the clout to produce follow up Roadgames as well as secured him the job of directing Psycho II. Patrick is the kind of movie where you can see a director's identity being forged, but with that comes the evitable rough spots that come with an initial debut.
Franklin and De Roche do a good job of establishing mood, character, and atmosphere as a way of compensating for the fact they're working on a tight budget. Susan Penhaligon makes a sympathetic lead with her troubled domestic situation leading to harsh judgments and whispers from the hospital staff as well as the judgmental Matron Cassidy. There's also some strong build up with Patrick played by Robert Helpmann who despite being comatose is intimidating with his eyes wide opened through much of the movie and his "spitting". The gradual reveal of Patrick's abilities is pretty well handled and despite the limited effects work we do get a strong sense of Patrick's strengths and abilities.
What doesn't work as well is the pacing and structure. Apparently the initial length of De Roche's script was a whopping 250 pages (and to give you an idea, general rule is 1 page=1 minute of screentime) and even with Richard Franklin trimming it down and making the film more streamlined it still feels really stretched and padded at its just under two hour runtime. There's a character named Dr. Brian Wright played by Bruce Barry and his existence feels like a pretty extraneous element all things considered, it feels like he's set up as a love interest/ally but he's basically tossed aside at the end of the second act in favor of setting up her separated husband instead, I think the movie also does a disservice by showing the opening scene of Patrick killing his mother and her lover and feel like that maybe would have been better situated being revealed to her in the third act. Patrick's motivations for what he's doing are solid enough, but there's not much building to the big reveal and because Patrick is mute he never really feels like a fully formed antagonist. The Medusa Touch was released the same year as Patrick and also focused on a person with Telekenesis, but we got a greater sense of who Richard Burton's character was in that movie and Burton being a more commanding presence in general made for a richer antagonist.
Patrick despite not landing completely is a strong showcase for the talents of director Richard Franklin and screenwriter Everett De Roche. There's a strong sense of style behind the camera with Franklin trying to emulate the Hitchcokian style, and De Roche creates rich characters and conflicts that do engage the viewer, the only thing holding them back is the "roughness" that comes with the emergence of any talent. While it's not perfect, it is a strong debut for promising talents.
Born in Australia, director Richard Franklin attended University of Southern California alongside the likes of George Lucas, John Carpenter, and Robert Zemeckis. An afficionado of the style and works of Alfred Hitchcock, Franklin had the opportunity to meet his mentor when he arranged a screening of Rope (1948) and became good friends with Hitchcock thereafter. After directing some local Ausie television work, Franklin directed both the low budget sex comedy Eskimo Nell and softcore porno Fantasm which were successful enough though Franklin doesn't consider them "his" films. The success if his low budget high return work enabled him to get support for Patrick which would be the first of a number of collaborations between director Franklin and screenwriter Everett De Roche. The movie was not a success in its native Australia, but did find more success internationally including in the United States and gave Franklin the clout to produce follow up Roadgames as well as secured him the job of directing Psycho II. Patrick is the kind of movie where you can see a director's identity being forged, but with that comes the evitable rough spots that come with an initial debut.
Franklin and De Roche do a good job of establishing mood, character, and atmosphere as a way of compensating for the fact they're working on a tight budget. Susan Penhaligon makes a sympathetic lead with her troubled domestic situation leading to harsh judgments and whispers from the hospital staff as well as the judgmental Matron Cassidy. There's also some strong build up with Patrick played by Robert Helpmann who despite being comatose is intimidating with his eyes wide opened through much of the movie and his "spitting". The gradual reveal of Patrick's abilities is pretty well handled and despite the limited effects work we do get a strong sense of Patrick's strengths and abilities.
What doesn't work as well is the pacing and structure. Apparently the initial length of De Roche's script was a whopping 250 pages (and to give you an idea, general rule is 1 page=1 minute of screentime) and even with Richard Franklin trimming it down and making the film more streamlined it still feels really stretched and padded at its just under two hour runtime. There's a character named Dr. Brian Wright played by Bruce Barry and his existence feels like a pretty extraneous element all things considered, it feels like he's set up as a love interest/ally but he's basically tossed aside at the end of the second act in favor of setting up her separated husband instead, I think the movie also does a disservice by showing the opening scene of Patrick killing his mother and her lover and feel like that maybe would have been better situated being revealed to her in the third act. Patrick's motivations for what he's doing are solid enough, but there's not much building to the big reveal and because Patrick is mute he never really feels like a fully formed antagonist. The Medusa Touch was released the same year as Patrick and also focused on a person with Telekenesis, but we got a greater sense of who Richard Burton's character was in that movie and Burton being a more commanding presence in general made for a richer antagonist.
Patrick despite not landing completely is a strong showcase for the talents of director Richard Franklin and screenwriter Everett De Roche. There's a strong sense of style behind the camera with Franklin trying to emulate the Hitchcokian style, and De Roche creates rich characters and conflicts that do engage the viewer, the only thing holding them back is the "roughness" that comes with the emergence of any talent. While it's not perfect, it is a strong debut for promising talents.