Patrick

Clip 3: Patrick’s fury

1 min 3 sec

Taken from the feature Patrick (1978)

Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be PG

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Availability of the complete title

This clip contains low-level violence.

Curator’s clip description

Dr Roget (Robert Helpmann) attempts to kill Patrick (Robert Thompson) with a lethal injection. Patrick responds by unleashing his psychokinetic powers.

Curator’s notes

All the terror in Patrick is launched from room 15 at the Roget Clinic. Barely moving a muscle throughout the entire film, Patrick is a superhuman villain by virtue of malevolent mental powers that can control events far beyond his sterile surroundings. Patrick has been the prized guinea pig of Dr Roget, but like Frankenstein’s monster he is now running amok and must be destroyed by his ‘creator’. It is interesting to imagine what this scene might look like with today’s computer generated special effects. On a par with comparable international horror movies of the day, the effects in Patrick are simple and effective.

Richard Kuipers, curator

australian screen