Tubi Thursday: The Medusa Touch (1978)

 Alright, it's time for a little Spring Cleaning of my Tubi Queue.  Let's toss out some Films I've had in there since, well, the beginning.

Let's begin with...

A man- Richard Burton- is attacked in his home and killed...or is he?

As the Lead Detective starts to go, he moves, and we learn that he's alive...somehow.

The Detective- who is French due to the Film getting French Backers- talks to people that knew Burton to find out what was going on with him.

He speaks to his Therapist, which is definitely not a legal issue.

She tells tales of him...telling tales of his past.

He's in a coma and seems to have a passionate, unbelievable will to live.

Why is the Psychiatrist still worried then?

We learn through more of her Stories that Burton was obsessed with getting revenge and death seemed to follow him, from his Parents' death via car accident to a Neighbor's Wife's Suicide.

This leads to the Inspector looking up tales of Telekinesis (saying it in a funny way thanks to his accent) via supposedly old footage.

To their credit, this looks real (assuming it isn't).

She finally tells him the tale of how she saw him concentrating on a plane as it flew over the City and it crashed, seemingly at his command.

In 1978, great moment.  Post-2001, awkward as hell.

Is Burton really a powerful and vengeful telekinetic killer?
Is a nearby Church in danger?
Is he staying alive just to get revenge?

To find out, watch the Film now.

A very odd Film for many reasons.  In some regards, the Film is pretty par for the course.  Let's pull up the checklist...

1) Big Name Actor (who used to do better)
2) Vague evil
3) Useless Cop/Inspector
4) Downer, nihilistic ending

That said, the Title is very misleading.  Does he turn people to stone?  No.
Why is it called that?  At best, we get a line from the Doctor about how him looking at her made her 'freeze like stone.'

Alright.

The problem here is mostly that the Film is told about 70% in flashback/exposition.  It still builds up to the climax, but this would have worked better if we did things differently.  Maybe follow Burton as he did his deeds.

Mind you, he shot his whole part in 3 weeks, so that probably was an issue.

In spite of the confusing name and odd structure, I didn't hate this.  Speaking of things I didn't hate, that plane crash bit is done quite well.  How did they do that?

A decent, if very exposition-heavy Film.  It's a very, VERY '70s Film- for better or for worse.