The Fury (1978)
Blu-ray Company Release: Twilight Time
Starring Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress,
Charles Durning, Amy Irving, Andrew Stevens, Rutanya Alda
Plot: A government agent's son is kidnapped for his
psychokinetic powers. Desperate to find him, the father hires a girl with
similar psychic abilities. She soon reveals that his son is a prisoner at a
secret U.S. agency where he's being used for dangerous mind experiments and
programmed for elimination.
My Review and Thoughts:
Directed by one of my favorite directors or at least his
older work Brian DePalma. He always has a style and a truly visionary talent of
the Macabre. He likes to dig deep into the recesses of the sub-conscience. His
films are like nightmarish roller coasters. They bring an unrelenting fear,
tension or drama. There is always an ultimate mystery in his films and The Fury
is no different.
This brings all the trademarks of a DePalma film. Star
studded cast, awesome music score and a trippy deep reality of horror and
suspense bleeding off screen. The music score by John Williams is breathtaking
and mind altering.
You start out in the Mideast in the late 70's. A father and
son are going to move to America. But before leaving there is an all-out gun
battle against the father. The plot is to kill Peter the father and kidnap the
son Robin. Robin has a unique gift. A school in Chicago teaches and works with
people with Psychic Powers.
The plot fails to kill Peter but the kidnapping of the son
works. Now Peter is in America looking for his son but those who wish him dead
are still trying. You then are introduced to the main star, the beautiful,
amazing Amy Irving. She plays Gillian Bellaver a girl who discovers she has the
ability of psychic powers. Peter hopes to use her to find his son.
A great supernatural thriller of twists and turns. Palma has
a wonderful way in capturing moments of imagery bliss. Images that stick with
you and create lasting moments. This is based on the novel of the same name
written by John Farris who also wrote the screen play. Farris has a wonderful
way of writing Gothic horror novels.
This is amazing how many actors and actresses, it has in it,
that have gone on to be character actors or big-name actors. Besides Kirk
Douglas and Amy Irving and Andrew Stevens this has many actresses such as a
very young Daryl Hannah, Laura Innes of E.R. Fame and Rutanya Alda. This also
has Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue fame. Franz was in many De Palmas films such as
Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Scarface, and Body Double.
This also stars icons of cinema the amazing one of a kind
Charles Durning who was also in De Palmas Sisters. Durning was always a cinema
master. Another cinematic acting god this stars is John Cassavetes. Cassavetes
is a master talent starring in some of the greats such as 1964's The Killers,
67's The Dirty Dozen. And the one I will always will remember him in is the one
and only masterpiece Rosemary's Baby. He is a true villain in The Fury.
Now this stars as I have stated the stunning, beautiful,
amazing Amy Irving who I will always remember in Brian De Palma's other film
which is a masterpiece and one of my all-time favorite films 76's Carrie. She
shines as the psychic and telepathic teenager in The Fury. Which is kind of
funny considering in Carrie, she was the one that cared and felt sorry for
Carrie and basically in this one she's the character of a Carrie type?
Old-school Brian DePalma needs no introduction to the cinema
world. He mastered such flawless greats as Sisters, Carrie, Dressed to Kill,
Blow Out, Scarface, Body Double, The Untouchables, Casualties of War, Raising
Cain, Carlitos Way which I feel was his last great movie. Everything after
Carlitos Way seemed to fall flat or was just mundane un-originality, or didn't
have De Palmas trademarks.
This was released in all its wonderful glory by the studio
Twilight Time on a limited edition 3000 unit Blu-ray and they do a great job in
capturing the film. The Blu-ray is brilliant specifically for the isolated
music score. John Williams does a stunning brilliant job at creating the music
score and it's possibly one of the best music scores ever done to a horror film
or a supernatural film.
Now a little trivia for you. If you look hard while Amy
Irving is walking down the sidewalk at the beach talking to her friend to the
right of her is actor and comedian Jim Belushi in cut off jean shorts as a
beach bum. He also crosses the camera when Amy turns around.
What I loved about the old-school reality of Brian De Palma
with such films like Carrie and The Fury is that he plays on the idea of
destroying the young innocent girl. It's not about the sexual torture like
horror films are today or the deprivation or depravity done sexually, as it is
in the torture porn horror films of today. This is about the innocence of the
mind. Destroying the innocence of the woman. Destroying the thinking process
and the very vulnerability as a person. Destroy and control the emotions. For
physical pain goes away, but mental torture and mental pain always stays.
This is an old school supernatural horror type tale that
sadly has not aged we'll but still is truly a great watch and a wonderful acted
thriller with mixes of mystery and suspense.
I highly recommend this for old school De Palma lovers and
also lovers of old school supernatural horror. The ending and final showdown
when Robin shows his true colors along with Gabrielle is what stands out in all
its visionary beauty and stunning climatic destruction.
Twilight Time Blu-ray gave this dark haunting and twisted
film a new outlet that looks vibrant and beautiful and truly a gifted release.
Twilight Time did this film justice and it seems like a whole new feature.
Lovingly crafted for this generation by Twilight Time, making it more vibrant
then it ever has been.
Audio/Video: (4/5)
Crisp and very vibrant. The best I personally have ever seen
for this movie. Twilight Time did a fantastic job at cleaning up and restoring
this gem of spooky cinema. De Palma's visual ecstasy of imagery vibrantly
crafted on this special edition is like entering Shangri-la.
ASPECT RATIO 1.85:1 (1080p/MPEG-4)
LANGUAGES English 4.0 DTS-HD MA
English 2.0 DTS-HD MA (Mono)
2.0 DTS-HD MA (Stereo (Isolated score))
SUBTITLES
English SDH
REGION
Extras: (3/5)
The isolated music is a perfect listen. Master John Williams
for the soundtrack crated his ultimate magically excellent in this soundtrack
for this odd and twisty film.
You also get Liner Notes by film Historian Julie Kirgo.
Overall Product Review: (5/5)
An often overlooked odd perfect horror supernatural film. A
spectacular direction and a twisted story. I love this dark nightmarish type
film, Twilight Time Blu-ray did a wonderful job giving this film an ultimate
outlet on there 3,000 unit release. If you can find it, it's worth a buy.