The Fury

(Brian De Palma/1978/USA)

Having struck gold with Carrie in 1976 Brian De Palma followed through two years later with another flick centred on psychic powers. The Fury stars Kirk Douglas as ex-CIA agent Peter Sandza, committed to finding his son Robin who’s been abducted by a branch of the CIA who are trying to manipulate the young man’s telekinetic abilities. It’s more thriller than psychological horror but the tension is not sustained throughout due to drop outs in pace. This is down to scripting; the story and especially some of the dialogue is mediocre, expositional stuff. What marks The Fury out is Richard H. Kline’s cinematography and De Palmas obvious direction in that respect. The camera is working in every scene, manipulating angles to represent tensions within the shot, using unusual set ups and pans to cover straight forward action. Technically the film is extraordinary in places but it hangs on a middle of the road narrative arc. It’s as if De Palma is constantly working against the downward pull of the script, trying to lift it back up into something worth watching. 

While Douglas at times seems out of place John Cassavetes as Ben Childress, the baddie CIA man, is exceptional and leeringly sinister. Amy Irving and Andrew Stevens both give great performances as adolescents confused, emotional and weighed down with powers they can’t fully comprehend. Indeed there’s probably scope for some amateur psychological analysis paralleling their characters’ journeys to the hormonal transition from teenager to young adult. Thankfully most teenagers don’t end up making people explode Scanners style because they’re in a mood.

(3/5)