The Fury
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Amy Irving, Carrie Snodgress, Charles Durning, John Cassavetes, Kirk DouglasBrand: Fox
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-04
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Fury
Movie Review: DePalma's Howling Furies!
Summary: 5 Stars
Two things that bother me whenever I hear and/or read in a review of this film are, 1) calling it an unabashed "Carrie" follow-up, and 2) critics citing it as a difficult story to follow. First of all, this film and "Carrie" are MILES apart in style, tone, mood, character, story, and genre that it makes it sound retarded to compare the two. I don't remember people calling Stephen King's "Firestarter" "Carrie 2", and it was a lot more closer to "Carrie" than this film ever was; and, "Firestarter" also plagiarized this novel/film for its basic storyline.
The story is this: Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas, who had just worked with DePalma on Brian's independant comedy "Home Movies") is retiring from a spy agency, making this from the beginning a more "espionage" thriller, rather than straight out horror. Peter has a son named Robin (Andrew Stevens), a seventeen year old that is very close to his father, and happens to have telepathic and telekinetic abilities. And, in keeping with the "espionage" thriller tone, a shootout occurs, Peter is seen by Robin in a boat as it explodes, thus leaving Robin to believe that his father was killed by terrorists. A year later, Peter, with the help of a psychic named Raymond Dunwoody (William Finch), hears of a young girl (also 17 years old) named Gillian Bellevere (Amy Irving) who has psycic powers.
And, as DePalma turns the focus to Gillian, we learn that she has telepathy and the ability to cause people to bleed, something that mortifies her. Her mother wants her to see a psychiatrist, but Gillian requests to be taken to the Paragon Institute, a place that deals with "gifted" people like Gillian, as well as Robin Sandza. At first, Gillian is made to feel right at home, whether it be playing outdoor and video games with the doctor (Charles Durning, who had been in DePalma's "Sisters" as a baffling detective) and the rest of the staff, or with one of the nurses, Hester (Carrie Snodgrass), who may just be the most tragic character in this story. Notice the scene when she and Gillian are having lunch and then a sundae. It's apparent just how lonely, how romantic, and how imaginative (in a fantasy-world/dreamer kind of way) that reveals the true honesty of her character, as she describes her "boyfriend" to Gillian. And, then the irony about her fate, like a martyr that she was. Peter hears through Hester that Gillian is at the Paragon Institute, and plots a way to have Hester help Gillian escape from a place that's a lot easier getting into than it is getting out; and, is also ran by Peter's ex-friend/business associate, Childress (John Cassavetes), who staged the whole shootout at the beginning of the film, and now has Robin hidden away from society to experiment on him, trying to turn him into a Human bomb. He almost succeeds.
Now, Peter and Gillian go in search of Robin (who is believed to be dead), who is shown to be self-destructing under the pressures of being drugged, and brainwashed by having to view films of his father's "death" over and over. Meanwhile, we have his nurse/lover, Dr. Charles (Fiona Lewis)trying to distract him from the fact that he is about to be killed and replaced by Gillian (by the Institute), Robin loses control and now, we, the viewer, have just stepped inside one of the greatest horror movies ever made! What follows from this point on leads to one h*ll of a (literally) explosive ending that will just blow your mind. See, simple story.
This film mixes a bunch of great genres together to create a horror movie from the 70's that is on a par with "The Exorcist", "The Shining", "Psycho", "The Omen", and "Rosemary's Baby", as well as DePalma's "Carrie". There are hints of "The French Connection", as well as a lot of other genre pictures that this film uses to its advantage. And, that is to tell a simple story in a difficult way, every film student's golden rule, something employed by any great director. "The Exorcist" was a mixture of genres, but nobody raked William Feidkin over the coals for making the classic that he did, so why does DePalma keep getting bashed for the very same thing?!?! If you want to see a stunning, stylish, bloody, almost gothic, psychological, telepathic, paranormal, mystery thriller, then this is a film for you. Look no further. This film has so many scenes of utter amazement, with DePalma putting his trademark touches throughout, that you can feel your jaw drop every five minutes or so. It's very fast paced, and packaged nice and tight. And, as I stated in my review of "Raising Cain" that I felt that film had the best "DePalma" ending, well, I tend to forget this film's climax. This is the BEST "DePalma" ending ever! It is AWESOME! Even though it's something that may be concidered somewhat gory, it's done in such a fashion (in rapid repetiton, like the shower scene in "Psycho") that will make you want to view it over and over. As one 5 star reviewer of this film stated, it totally gives the phrase "You go to Hell!" a whole new meaning!
Watch for some minor roles played by great talented actors, like Rutanya Alda (who was also in DePalma's "Greetings" and "Hi, Mom!", in which the second film she is awesome in), Dennis Franz (in probably his first film) as a cop, Gordan Jump (of "WKRP In Cincinatti" fame), and a very young, unknown Daryl Hannah in possibly her first screen role. Great film from DePalma in 1978, which helped concrete him as the new Mater Of Suspense of cinema, which still stands as strong today as the day of its release. Thank you.
Summary of The Fury
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