Patrick

Hey, show of hands: Who here is seriously creeped out by hospitals? I see a lot of hands coming up. Uh-huh, that's right. I'm inside the monitor, watching you all. If you don't like hospitals but you like a good horror movie, you should check out Patrick. You should also probably check it out if you do like hospitals, because it's set in a hospital, so you'll totally get to see it a lot.

Stupid intro paragraph aside (sorry, everyone), Patrick is a 1978 movie by Australian director Richard Franklin, about a young nurse who is terrorized by a comatose patient with psychokinetic powers. I first heard of it when it was featured on an excellent documentary called "Not Quite Hollywood", all about the lawless days of Australian exploitation movies in the 70's and 80's.

The movie opens with Patrick, a disturbed young man, who, after having to listen to his mom have sex with a guy in the next room, murders her and her lover. We don't see what happens next, though, it jumps forward in time after that. We'll get back to Patrick in a minute.

Three years later, a young nurse named Kathy is being hired at a hospital. The stern matron gives a long speech about all the weirdos and perverts they come across when hiring hospital orderlies. Kathy's main assignment will be tending to Patrick, who is now lying in a coma, completely brain dead. The one thing he can do is spit, as an involuntary response. The doctor in charge there is keeping his body alive basically to study him. The matron believes he should be allowed to die.

As Kathy spends time in Patrick's room, she begins to notice that he appears to be responding to her. She begins asking him questions and he responds, by spitting once for yes and twice for no. He then begins typing responses through her on the typewriter she fills out paperwork with. Of course, nobody believes Kathy.

Things get creepier when Patrick starts inserting himself in her home and social life. He can't stand to see her around other men, and jealously tries to drown Brian, a doctor she's talking to about his psychokinesis. He also ransacks her home to prevent her from sleeping with him. She thinks her husband (they're separated) is responsible. They start talking again, and Patrick doesn't like that either. Kathy only belongs to him.

Hey, this movie is pretty great! It's unsettling and weird, and kind of gets under your skin. The spooky hospital setting certainly helps with that, with the disciplinarian matron, an old man with dementia walking around all the time, and this cynical doctor. The premise is pretty original, though similar to a ghost story. Director Richard Franklin has a great knack for building suspense. I would like to watch more of his movies, especially Road Games.

Though he doesn't utter a word, and seldom moves, Robert Thompson, who plays Patrick, steals the entire movie. His big creepy eyes just stare off into the distance, and as much as you look into them, you can't really tell if there's anything there or not. The spitting is a particularly weird touch. Quentin Tarantino actually took that little detail and used it in Kill Bill.

Patrick isn't a very well known horror movie stateside, but I gather it was very successful in Australia. I strongly recommend it for the Halloween season. Good stuff!