The Medusa Touch (1978)

Wuchak April 5, 2022

★ 6/10

_**Beware the ‘deathlook’ of Richard Burton**_ A writer in London is convinced he has the power to cause destruction at will (Richard Burton) and it’s driving him mad. Lee Remick plays his psychiatrist while Lino Ventura is on hand as a Scotland Yard detective. "The Medusa Touch" (1978) is a slow burn psychological thriller/horror that takes the psychokinesis element of “Carrie” but throws in the mass disaster angle of the later “The Mothman Prophecies” (2002). Other films covering this kind of mind power include "Powder" (1995), "Phenomenon" (1996) and “Youth Without Youth” (2007) with the difference here being that the protagonist’s party trick is mayhem rather than benevolence. Like the original Star Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (1966), the theme is power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. For instance, if Morlar (Burton)…

CinemaSerf June 4, 2023

★ 7/10

Though top billed in this, Richard Burton features but sparingly as a man with a tortured past. His recollections to his psychiatrist "Dr. Zonfeld" (Lee Remick) are relayed to police inspector "Brunel" (Lino Ventura) after he ("Morlar") is found savagely beaten at his London flat. As the investigation expands, it is clear that the normal rules do not apply here. "Morlar" shouldn't even be alive, yet his brain activity coupled with a spate of accidents and with the ever more revealing - but sensational - revelations about his disaster-prone past lead "Brunel" and the Assistant Commissioner (Harry Andrews) to a conclusion that, well, they just cannot believe. Ventura is good in this, as is the understated, but effective Remick. There are plenty of twists that keep the obvious from becoming too obvious, too soon, and when called upon, Burton contributes well in a sort of manic, epitome of e…