Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

With an extraordinary stage presence and a baritone voice so pleasant he could read the phone book and get a standing ovation, RICHARD BURTON would make even the dullest movies interesting (the exception that proves the rule being the dreadful 1977 Exorcist-sequel, THE HERETIC).Legendary for his two turbulent marriages to Liz Taylor, this Welsh Wonder of the World ranks up there with the giants of British film and theatre, but sadly so did his health. The man, who in 1974 nearly drank himself to death, suffered from both kidney disease and an enlarged liver at his early death ten years later.The toast of Hollywood in the early 1950's (Humphrey Bogart was one of his biggest fans), the 1960's saw him as one of the highest-paid movie stars in the world, he received a total of six Academy Award nominations. A Socialist and an Atheist with a strong contempt for Capitalists "exploiting the poor," he even suggested all actors were "latent homosexuals."Like so many of his stage and screen roles, Richard Burton could be larger than life. So what better part for this man, than the starring role in THE MEDUSA TOUCH, playing a writer living in horror convinced that he can murder people just by thinking about it!Most critics strongly dismissed this film upon its release in 1978. In retrospect I guess it's easy to see why a movie like this would seem silly, almost archaic at the time, especially as it was following gritty classics like Deliverance, The French Connection, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and beautiful spectacles like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.Seen with 21st Century goggles however it's near impossible not to enjoy what is going on here. THE MEDUSA TOUCH starts out with a brutal murder, takes on the shape of a police procedural, then flirts more and more with the supernatural, before moving into possible Sci-Fi territory and finally punching you in the face with scenes of both Action and Horror!"Horror" in this case meaning closer to Hammer House than it does the cynical US horror movies of the era (just so I don't get any angry messages from people who were expecting ROSEMARY'S BABY or THE SHINING).THE MEDUSA TOUCH has plenty of quirks and odd twists along the way, even a suicide-scene sprinkled with comedy, but this just adds to the fun, the end result being a movie quite unlike anything else. The movie's finale I found so memorable, I wanted to hug the screen, but that probably says more about me than anything else! Other people might want to punch the screen, and I would pity them for taking their movies so seriously.Italian veteran actor Lino Ventura is a fun choice co-starring as the French (!) police detective who has to figure out what is real and what's not. The beautiful Lee Remick is also along for the ride as Burton's doctor. The rest of the cast is made up of familiar faces, almost like a who's who of British film and television; Gordon Jackson, Harry Andrews, Michael Hordern, Derek Jacobi, Michael Byrne and the greatest classic "Sherlock Holmes" in the history of television; Jeremy Brett.The highlight of the cast is still Burton though. There is always something about this man's presence that lends extra credence to anything he's in.Compared to similar films, THE MEDUSA TOUCH seems somewhat forgotten today. Why this is, I'm not sure. Could it be so simple that it followed on the heels of the aforementioned EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC? A genre movie so boring, it works like a black hole on any nearby piece of celluloid.THE MEDUSA TOUCH is anything but boring. It might be eccentric and throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, but just like Richard Burton, it is never boring!

I saw the commercial for this movie on TV when I was a young boy, around 1978, but never saw the movie until just recently. I always remembered two scenes in particular from that commercial: (a) some guy with telekinesis causing a plane crash, and (b) some guy with telekinesis running at a motorcycle cop, and causing that cop to stop. For years, I've wondered about that movie.Turns out that my interpretation of my visual memory was flawed. The latter scene actually occurs near the end of the movie and involved no telekinesis at all. Rather, a plainclothes cop ran toward a motorcade to get them to stop, and the motorcycle cop stopped simply to avoid hitting him. I was happy to get clarification on that point which did serve to provide some small sense of personal closure.I can't recommend the movie itself, however, as explained below.MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW (but really, there's very little reason for most people to watch this, unless you're fatalistically inclined...)The movie itself started out promisingly-- a grim thriller involving a police investigation of an assault on a cynical, bitter, anti-religious writer, played by Richard Burton. It turns out that the writer, who says several times that he disbelieves in a divinity, nevertheless thinks he is somehow possessed by 'devils' who have given him inhuman telekinetic destructive powers, which he uses to cause mayhem. The assailant was his psychiatrist, who acted out of the necessity of stopping a violent madman.But there's no payoff, and really no point to this at all-- unless the idea of world destruction by an unstoppable malevolent force is somehow appealing to the particular viewer. The writer ends up surviving his seemingly catastrophic injuries and begins to wreak widespread destruction, while still seemingly barely alive on life support. The ending of the movie was a complete catastrophe, both literally and metaphorically. The implication is that the lunatic is simply unkillable (when the inspector just disconnects his life support, he continues to live)-- how silly is that? And if he's unkillable, there was nothing anyone could have done to stop him, anyway, so all of the efforts of the inspector and the psychiatrist were for naught.I mean, do they really mean that stopping the guy's heart wouldn't kill him? How about destroying his brain? Hacking him to pieces? Or burning him to ash? Surely that would have stopped his telekinesis? If not (and it's implied that even those extreme measures might not have worked), then this movie is pure silliness and camp. And if so, the director owed it to the audience to show such an event happening, rather than just leave the audience hanging. It still would have been silly, but at least there would have been closure and a small feeling that watching the movie was not a total waste of time.Note: subsequent to writing the above, I learned that Roger Ebert deemed this movie to be the worst film of 1978 (see "Ebert Presents: At the Movies", Episode 2.6). Too bad Ebert's actual review doesn't seem to be available.

This is an engrossing crime investigation film with an unusual format that extensively utilises flashbacks. The flashbacks are seamlessly integrated into the story and soon the audience is almost unaware of the switching back and forth.The main storyline, focusing on the investigation of detective Brunel, is intriguing with the feel of a European gangster film. This is contrasted with the flashbacks to Morlar, many of which have a different, more English tone. Especially interesting are the flashbacks to Morlar's earlier life: the vignettes involving his parents, his school days, his work as a barrister and a domestic argument between his neighbours in London are excellent. The flashbacks, especially some of those to Doctor Zonfeld and the publisher, Townley, are integrated into the main storyline in an ingenious manner.The last part of the film moves away from police intrigue to telekinesis thriller. While the change from gritty police drama to supernatural fantasy is a little jarring the audience is soon gripped by the new threat and goes along for the ride.The cast is excellent. Richard Burton seems chillingly restrained. Lino Ventura is the perfect choice as a world weary detective who essentially carries the main story - it is too bad they chose to overdub his voice with that of another actor as this seems quite distracting. Lee Remick as Doctor Zonfeld and Harry Andrews are also very effective in their roles. The cast is made up of many recognisable actors in cameos who are all extremely interesting and effective.

There are horror films, and there are horror films. Some have a bunch of teenagers being stalked by some nutjob with a mask and a big knife, and you have trouble remembering those the minute they're over. And some horror films have bigger ambitions, and less splatter, and the best of those can stay with you for a long time after they're over. The Medusa Touch, an almost forgotten gem from the 1970s, is one that might leave you with trouble sleeping if you watch it late at night.The set-up is certainly eye-catching. John Morlar, a misanthropic writer played by Richard Burton, is a man who thinks he can create disasters. At the very least, people who annoy him have a funny way of dying - his parents, his teacher, the judge at a trial where Morlar was a lawyer. But that was in the past - now Morlar is thinking bigger, causing bigger and bigger disasters. Or at least, that's what he thinks. But is he really a man with devastating powers, or is he a deluded madman? In fact, although the movie leaves the question open in the early going, there's never much doubt as to what the answer is. The question becomes not so much what is he doing, as how he can be stopped. When you can't kill a man by smashing his skull in so badly that his brains ooze onto the carpet, can you stop him at all? I hadn't seen this movie for years until today, but I remembered enough of it from when I was a kid, hiding behind the sofa. Coming back to it as a grown-up, I had my doubts. It's a euro-production, with a couple of roles handed to French actors for no good reason. It was made by Lew Grade's notoriously cheap studios, known for wobbly special effects and ruthless editing to fit in with TV schedules. And most of all, the premise seemed a bit, well, silly.I needn't have worried. The euro-actors acquit themselves well, especially Lino Ventura in what's effectively the lead role, the special effects are better than they have any right to be, and still stand up well. And as for the premise - yeah, it is a bit hokey. But as with any such mad sci-fi plot, everything depends on how the actors and the director play it. Here, they sell it, right to the bone - there's no smirking, no winks to the camera - and considering this is late-period Richard Burton, surprisingly little ham. Everyone is committed, and the result is that I was drawn in all over again, and I'll likely have nightmares all over again. That's OK, though. I just wish all my nightmares were as well-crafted as this one.