Though only coming out some seven years into the growing number of low budget Australian exploitation pictures being made – now known as Ozploitation, Patrick (1978) was one of the first to bring outside attention onto these Down Under flicks.
A bomb in its homeland but gaining traction in thirty foreign markets (including its all important success in the United States), this Richard Franklin (Psycho II) venture helped put Ozploitation on the map. . . something fully achieved the next year when Mad Max burst onto the scene.
Coming from the school of Alfred Hitchcock, you can see early on that Franklin was influenced by the Master of Suspense. Also having some similarities to the then developing Master of the Macabre, Brian De Palma, our opening scene is chock-full of suspenseful style. Featuring reflective mirror shots, kaleidoscopic colours, psychosexual tension, and two rather eccentric murders, the titular Patrick (Robert Thompson) soon finds himself in a coma – the only action he can perform is a seemingly random spit (something borrowed by Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill).
Under the rather unorthodox care of Dr. Roget (Robert Helpmann) – at his own self-named Clinic, he is more interested in using the comatose patient of three years as an experiment than anything else. Looking to understand the thin veil between life and death, Roget has ordered for his piercing blue eyes to remain wide open (more than a tad unsettling. . . and that’s saying nothing of the shock therapy). Patrick will get no better help from Matron Cassidy (Julia Blake), who not only refuses to enter the unnerving room, but would much prefer pulling the plug and saving the hospital some much needed money.
Fortunately for Patrick, in walks new nurse Kathy Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon), a caring young woman going through a difficult situation after separating from husband Ed (Rod Mullinar). Intrigued instead of disgusted by Patrick, she takes better care of him than the rest of the hospital staff combined. Outside of work, she does have some fun times with flirty doctor Brian Wright (Bruce Barry) – despite always wanting to talk to him about Patrick. . . the new burgeoning relationship causing a rather complex love triangle when including her ex.
Yet, soon enough, strange things begin happening. . . closed windows start opening, strong swimmers almost drown, door handles shake, the typewriter starts malfunctioning, heat lamps explode, elevators fail, and nurse Kathy’s house is ransacked – could it be her frustrated on-the-outs ex, or something more sinister?
Eventually, Kathy starts to think Patrick might not only be understanding what’s going on around him, but actually has psychokinetic abilities – in other words, the ability to use his mind to control things around him (but at frighteningly larger distances). Might it be possible that Patrick is actually the cause of all this growing mayhem? Could he have fallen for his loveable nurse, causing him to become jealous of her two suitors? Will the Dr. Kevorkian and Nurse Ratchet stand-ins decide that it is best to kill the patient in their care. . . leaving Kathy stuck in the middle as his quasi-protector?
A slow burner of a motion picture, Richard Franklin enjoys building the atmosphere little by little (it doesn’t hurt that the Clinic is an old ramshackle home with an exterior slightly akin to the Bates’ house in Psycho). Also a bit like Carrie from a few years earlier, we have possible telekinetic powers, a vulnerable character (two, if we count Patrick), and a powder keg situation building to a soon to come explosion. Is it at all ominous that the neon ‘emergency entrance’ sign is reading ‘trance’ instead?
As mentioned above, Patrick exploded into many a different foreign market, perhaps no more so than Italy. Catching the imaginations of a country, it spawned a most bizarre, gonzo, go-for broke unauthorized sequel, Patrick Still Lives (1980), the last film directed by Mario Landi.
Shockingly, Patrick still lives, and is now living a fine life in Italy – played by Gianni Dei. After an unfortunate accident where someone throws a bottle out of their car window – striking the unlucky Patrick on his head, he finds himself in the same situation as his Australian counterpart, much to the chagrin of his vengeful father, Dr. Herschel (Sacha Pitoëff).
Running a wellness clinic, he helps his son cling to life, thanks to some miraculous scientific quackery – utilizing three nude comatose bodies to power his son’s telekinetic mind. But uh oh, his latest patrons, including the sleazily connected politician Lyndon Cough (Franco Silva) and his politically useful so-called wife Cheryl (Carmen Russo), dinnertime exhibitionist Stella Randolph (Mariangela Giordano), who is accompanied by her aggressive boyfriend Peter Suniak (John Benedy), and the all by his solo David Davis (Paolo Giusti), arrive. . . in other words, meet your corrupt elite of Italy.
Despite all being invited by mysterious blackmail letters, the dog loving maid Meg (Anna Veneziano) passing along ominous warnings to the guests to get out, and the doctor’s secretary, Lydia Grant (Andrea Belfiore), being frequently possessed and clearly frightened out of her mind, the attendees seem more than happy to chug copious amounts of booze and ignore all warning signs. Even after one of them turns up boiled to death outside the swimming pool – with the good doctor declaring that it was caused by the alcohol and that they won’t need to call the police (just what are they drinking?), they all pretty much go right back to having a good time.
But it does not take long for some of them to see the glaringly green eyes of Patrick chasing them. . . a good sign it is not. Soon, the premise goes from straightforward murder mystery plot, to all out exploitation. The deaths will be lurid and never before seen, the sexuality will be cranked up to eleven, and its sci-fi horror storyline will take no prisoners – it is rather safe to say, that this is not for the faint of heart.
Part of arguably the wildest short window of time in cinema (approximately 1979-81), Italy churned out some of the most controversial, explicit, and crazy movies you’ll ever see. Think 1979’s Malabimba and 1981’s Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (both reviewed here on Filmizon.com) as two other examples. In fact, this movie is shot at the same house that is used in Burial Ground.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre double features in film history, Patrick is a B movie done right, while its unofficial sequel may rank as one of the most controversial films of the 80s – and that is saying something. With the former featuring style, suspense, and a most memorable jump scare, it is not only worthy of its inclusion in successful Ozploitation films, but must also be remembered as a key part of the telekinetic horror boom of the 70s and 80s – outside of Carrie, think The Fury, Scanners, The Dead Zone, among others, while the latter is boozy late night horror madness that will not be soon forgotten. So, put your mind to seeing these two, I’m sure you’ll pat yourself on the back after watching them.
Patrick Still Lives is in Italian with English subtitles