Patrick, the coma patient at the center of Mark Hartley's horror/thriller "Patrick", is a lot of things. He's mysterious. He's persistent. He's psychotic. But he's not very clever. The same could be said of the movie."Patrick" is an Australian remake of a 1978 Aussie film of the same name. In both movies, the plot revolves around the strange relationship that develops between a young nurse, Kathy, and her comatose patient. Normally, that kind of thing would be pretty one- sided considering that one of the participants can neither communicate nor move. Fortunately in this case, Patrick does manage to 'talk', first by spitting and then later through computers and cell phones, and he's able to get out and about. Not on his own, of course, but with the help of several hapless supporting players he 'possesses' from time to time.Most of the action takes place in the hospital where Patrick is undergoing experimental treatments to revive accident victims left in a vegetative state. It's not really a hospital, though. We're told it used to be a convent. Given the Gothic architecture, antique electronics, and generally sinister vibe the place gives off – not to mention the large Virgin Mary statue that looms over everything – we can believe it. Note to self: If ever badly injured and in need of long term care, find a place that's approved by your HMO.Anywho, strange things start to happen the minute Patrick and Nurse Kathy meet. She senses there's more to her patient than meets the eye and he…well, he pretty much just lies there. Still, the two form a bond. This despite the rules and warnings issued by Matron Cassidy, the senior administrator who makes Nurse Ratched look like a giddy candy striper, and Doctor Roget, who's played by Charles Dance so you just know he's up to no good. The first half of the movie does a fairly good job of keeping things suspenseful as nurse and patient go through their getting-to-know-you phase. Turns out Kathy has a possessive ex- husband and Patrick is a homicidal stalker.Hey, what couple doesn't have issues?The second half of the movie is devoted to Patrick's attempts to make Kathy his own and this is where we find out he's kind of a jerk. He can communicate through computer screens and cell phones, but his messages are cryptic at best. He can also control people and things with his mind, but he's not very nice about it. Consider: at one point, Kathy has a suitor and Patrick doesn't like it. So he takes control of the guy's car one night and drives him off a cliff. There are a lot of cliffs in the area, so this is a solid plan. But rather than just kill him, Patrick brings the car to the very edge of the cliff, stops it right at the precipice, then sloooowly sends it over the edge. It's one thing to murder your rival, but do you really need to be a dick about it?Patrick does that kind of thing a couple more times before the end credits roll. You start to wonder if he couldn't have made life simpler for himself and just done the deeds quickly. It's like those James Bond villains who keep coming up with elaborate and torturous death traps when a simple bullet to the head would have done the trick. Yes, Patrick, it's gnarly to watch people take a needle to the eye or burn their hands on a Foreman Grill, but is that the best way to get the job done?Of course, these gruesome scenes do serve the purpose of giving our heroine, Kathy, plenty of time to get suspicious, get terrified, and finally get angry. You've seen it all before, many times. It's the way B-horror movies work and why mess with tradition.

I never saw the original one so I can only review this one without comparison. I see that the first one gets much more stars so I might watch that one as well in the future because I already liked this remake. The whole movie was not boring at all like many other horror movies. Instead I thought the storyline was well intriguing and it keeps the audience interested during the whole movie. All the actors were fine to me, nobody bothered me at all. Charles Dances as doctor Roget gave a good performance as usual. The music and sound was perfect for the suspense. Definitely a good horror/thriller to watch on a cold dark evening.

Patrick attempts to have more jolts per minute than any film ever, yet doesn't stick a single jump scare. Bathed in atmosphere, this very well shot throwback to 40s and 50s mad scientist horror, feels like a lost Hammer horror relic. Kathy, well played by Sharni Vinson, takes a job as a nurse in a house of horrors that's doing research on comatose patients. It's not before long that the evil comatose Patrick begins communicating with her with his psychic powers and she gets pulled further into this silly story with a mad scientist - a head nurse who is so serious she could only be employed in this place and medical research that usually involves creeping around spooky settings and angrily applying electro-shock. Half baked love interest subplot for Kathy and an ex of hers, is totally extraneous. Patrick is a fun film that pulls out every horror filmmaking trick in the book and while it's never scary for a moment, it's a solid genre effort.

Low budget Australian affair about an obscure and remote mental "hospital" whose star patient, Patrick, forges a bloody bond with new smart and able but unsuspecting nurse Kathy Jacquard (Sharni Vinson). The opening prologue seems to promise another predictably lame slasher flick, and the entire film is a little slow to develop, yet the last half-hour or so entails some interesting and creative layers and twists. This film becomes a lot more distinct once we get to know Patrick's story. Decent all-around acting, with good performances by the three women who play the nurses: Vinson, Rachel Griffiths, and Peta Sergeant.It seems the makers were trying to create a circa 1950 Gothic horror film set in the age of GPS with modern horror tropes (something like that). A valiant attempt, but PATRICK would have been better if it were more consistently modern. Many of the props (nurses' uniforms, etc) look unrealistically antiquated, and the outside views of the hospital. . .well, you can tell it's not an actual building. The constant rubber stamp suspense symphony soundtrack also gets a little annoying--There's just no need for it except in a few select spots. All the same, none of the various weaker points should get too much in the way if you're a big horror fan.Some brief "incidental" nudity and a fair measure of really nasty-gory death and dismemberment. Still, PATRICK makes good use of its gore, using it briefly and shockingly.