The Fury (1978)
Grade: 71
Trivia time! Brian DePalma has directed two 1970s films starring Amy Irving. One of them marks the screen debut of Darryl Hannah. Bzzzzzt! We're talking about "The Fury", a mystery drama that turns into a horror film.
Kirk Douglas and his teenage son Robin are vacationing at a Middle Eastern beach. Douglas is to send Robin to special institute in the states to better develop/understand Robin's unusual ESP ability. Long-time friend and co-worker Childress is also there. Suddenly, snipers fire at Douglas, but somehow are unable to shoot him. He ends up in the hiding by rocks along the beach, but takes a rifle from a dead sniper and manages to shoot Childress, whom he realizes is behind the attack. Childress, who works for a secret government agency, has kidnapped Robin to use his special powers for espionage purposes.
Douglas now is on a quest to find and liberate Robin. He is wanted by the Feds, who have many men on his tail. Douglas hires the psychic Raymond Dunworthy, to find a better psychic who can find Robin. Dunworthy comes up with Irving, a teenager also with strong ESP powers. But Dunworthy is being monitored by the Feds and leads them to Douglas, who makes a narrow escape that involves jumping half-naked from a hotel room, tying up innocent bystanders, stealing a new car occupied by two cops, and later driving that car off into a lake, much to the cops chagrin.
Meanwhile, Irving's abilities are attracting the interest of her teachers. She can make a toy train move by telekinesis, and makes classmates bleed when they make the mistake of touching her. She is sent to the same special institute Robin was sent to. At first, life is peaceful there, and she bonds with instructor Hestor (Carrie Snodgrass) who is also Douglas' girlfriend. The institute is headed by Charles Durning, who recognizes Irving's power and tries to protect her from Childress, who has spies at the institute and is looking for more psychics to add to his collection, that already includes Robin.
Irving begins having visions of Robin. Sometimes these coincide with her being touched. After Irving causes a hemmorage in one of the staff, Childress gets wind of this and begins drugging Irving, in preparation of removing her from the institute to work with Robin. Douglas and Snodgrass decide that Irving must escape from the institute before it is too late, with Douglas wanting to use her to locate his son.
Meanwhile, Robin is under great stress at his government gig. He is isolated and treated as a guinea pig. His only contact is with an attractive but manipulative agent whom he does not trust. He is being drugged and is emotionally unstable, becoming paranoid and psychotic.
Irving escapes from the institute, but it isn't easy, with Douglas killing two security guards and Snodgrass also killed. Irving and Douglas go to rescue Robin. They break into the government compound. Robin senses her presence, and afraid of being replaced, goes into a rage, torturing and killing his agent girlfriend using his powers. The film has definitely slipped into the horror genre, as blood splatters the walls.
Irving and Douglas are caught by Childress. Childress sends Douglas to go after Robin, who is killing everyone who enters his room. Douglas enters the blood soaked room. He finds Robin suspended in mid-air with a crazed look on his face. Robin attacks Douglas. They fall out of the window and land on the roof. Douglas hangs on the gutter for dear life, with the other arm supporting Robin, who is suspended high above the cement street. We think they will make it, but Robin claws Douglas and both fall to their deaths.
Now Childress only has Irving to use as a psychic. He visits her the next morning in her new bedroom, and tells her that life must go on, that she is special and important, etc. She responds by using her powers to make his head explode. This explosion is graphically shown several times from different angles.
"The Fury" is a surprisingly good film. Douglas' struggle to find and save his son, and Irving's and Robin's struggle to cope with their abilities, are successfully developed themes.
http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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