StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Myriam Nys Taking into account the reactions of relatives and friends, I would say that "The Medusa Touch" tends to divide opinion sharply : you hate it or you love it, with nothing in between. I for one love it : I think that it succeeds, and succeeds well, both as a thriller and as a horror movie. However, it is far from clear to me if the movie succeeds thanks to or in spite of Richard Burton, who plays the role of Morlar. It's not even clear to me what Burton is doing - is he acting ? Overacting ? Having some kind of nervous breakdown while acting ? Not acting at all ? Acting so well, or so badly, that he enters into a new frontier ? (In case you're thinking "Christ, it's easy to write reviews like that", I would advise you to watch Mr. Burtons hallucinated performance, or non-performance, for yourself. Only one thing can be said with some degree of certainty, and that is that he seems to belong in another movie than all the other actors involved.) The movie is remarkably faithful to its source material, the book of the same name by Peter Van Greenaway. (Note, however, that psychiatrist Zonfeld changes from an ugly man into a beautiful woman. Somehow I don't think there is much of a feminist subtext to this change.) The book is well worth ferreting out for its sly wit and satirical flourishes. A small example : when sifting through evidence and questioning witnesses, Inspector Cherry sets out to interview Morlar's editor, who works in a chaotic and dusty office. There is a half-eaten sandwich resting on a proof copy of Virginia Ruislip's "I was Tutankhamun's Mistress"...Peter Van Greenaway was good at thinking up deeply original plots and concepts : do check out his other work.For the lovers of trivia : I own a much-battered copy of "The Medusa Touch" published by Panther Books in 1975. The blurb on the back is a master class in How Not To Write A Blurb, since it gives away two-thirds of the plot.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS***It's when author and former barrister John Morlar,Richard Burton,is found dead in his apartment with his brains bashed in it's suspected that he was the victim of a home invasion even though nothing was taken from the place. Later before his body even got cold to the astonishment of the police coroner and transplanted French Inspetor Brounel, Lino Ventura, who's on loan to London's Scotland Yard Morlar suddenly comes to life! At the local hospital it's discovered that Morlar's brain is working at a double or triple time pace yet his heart beat in barley audible. What's the reason for Morlar's sudden resurrection is that he's got some unfinished business to take care of that will end up wiping out all of London including the royal family top British Government officials and the Church of England which the cynical and atheist Morlar hates with a passion!Inspector Brunel goes to Morlar's psychiatrist whom he found extensively written about in his rambling journals Doctor Zonfeld, Lee Remick, to get the lowdown from her just what this unstable and crazy guy was all about! As well as who may have murdered or tried to murder him! And what he get's from the doctor is a story of death and destruction that goes back to when he was a pre teenager that Morlar feels that he with his supernatural and demonic powers was responsible for! At first believing that Morlar's claims of his power to will death and destruction on the world as well as individuals that he hates to be the ravings of a deranged lunatic Inspector Brunel can't put out of his mind, like Dr. Zonfeld couldn't, why is he still alive and why his brainwaves are somehow effecting events in the world around him.We get to see Morlar in action in a number of chilling flashbacks where he willed, with his snake-like eyes, death on anyone whom he felt messed with him or just gave him a hard time. It's later in his life when his ungrateful old lady and two timing wife Pat, Marle-Christine Barraut, told Morlar that she was leaving him for her lover bit actor Jeremy Brett, Edward Parris, which he was more then happy to see her go. But when Pat brought up what complete dud he was in bed and how Morlar fathered their stillborn child that he then really let his powers of death and destructions kick in. It's within an hour after Pat left him for good that Morlar got the "good news" from a police spokesman that she and her lover Edward were killed in a car accident! As happy as Morler was in hearing about the sudden demise of his ungrateful wife and her playboy lover he also now came to realize that his powers were real and with him slowly going insane he won't be able to control them anymore in the future! Thus leading to the deaths in disasters that he wills, with his uncontrollable brainwaves, countless thousands of human beings!***SPOILERS*** It soon becomes apparent that it was non other then Dr.Zonfeld herself who smashed Morlar skull in and for good reason. He had earlier demonstrated his destructive telekinesis power by causing a disastrous 9/11, 23 years before the real 9/11 terrorist attack happened, like plane crash into a high rise office building in downtown London that ended up killing over 700 people. Now with him, or his brain, still alive and kicking Morlar is ready to cause far greater damage and destruction that's unless the life support system keeping him and his brain alive is shut off immediately!Very disturbing film with no happy ending with a both witty and sarcastic Richard Burton outstanding as the green eyed monster and "Master of Disaster" John Morlan. A man whom the world and society ignored in not treating him for his sever mental and emotional problems and is now damned, in what's to become a major nuclear power plant melt-down, to suffer for it.

kevin1051 I just saw this film on cable after 40 years. What would be considered one of Richard's fund raising ventures I find a classic. Along with his creepy presence in the film,(You can't replace fine acting even in an uneven script)the story isn't bad. I found myself not able to leave the screen. That's great writing/acting. Not a fan of remakes, this film could take out the omen and many other remakes of that era hands down. A daring casting person would use Patrick Stewart in the title role.More development on the last act. Going past the films end would be great. Use an American instead of a French detective would update the film. An interesting side note I had a shiver when the plane hit the tower 911 style.Peace brett

mattbaxter72 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.