"The Medusa Touch" has many effective scenes but the films rather modest budget works against the production. In addition, the narrative is a bit silly in including all those flashbacks but some of them work. It is quite disturbing in thinking about how one seemingly ordinary human being can create all kinds of disasters through sheer will power. That is the character Richard Burton plays and his performance is very good. It is a bit difficult to ascertain whether he is almost a villain in "The Medusa Touch" as he has complete control over his unique but dangerous abilities. In the end, he comes across as being a tragic character who didn't ask to be cursed by his gifts (how else can you describe them?). The flashbacks that reveal his troubled childhood show all this. Jeremy Brett is wasted in his one scene appearance as the man who is having an affair with Burton's wife in the film. I would have thought an actor of his calibre could have had a more interesting character to play. As it is, Brett hams it up unforgivably and doesn't come off well. In comparison, Richard Burton is much more natural and subtle. Derek Jacobi fairs slightly better. Lee Remick has a good part to play as the character who befriends Burton in the film. The film required better special effects than the ones which were used for the films climax but they are just about passable. One of the more interesting films from the latter half of Richard Burton's career.

the nuances of story. the nuances of acting. the intensity of Richard Burton look. and an old theme. each as convincing ingredient for a real good movie interesting for atmosphere, original for the tension and large shadows. far to be original, it represents a good job. and that fact defines it. the presence of a remarkable cast - Lee Remick, Richard Burton and Lino Ventura, the short presence of Michael Hordern and Derek Jacobi, the image and the dialog rhythm are perfect bricks for a story about a kind of Raskolnikoff and his new form of justice. sure, it is slice from a large pie of conspiracies and paranormal events but that is only a virtue. because it has a special flavor and the right atmosphere.

First of all, there is Richard Burton. His presence alone, like his character's terrible power, carries the film even when Morlar is lying in a coma for the entire duration of the movie. Then there is the story. Slow pace? For 1978 this film is a fast paced horror thriller. Most of all, it all feels real, even if most supporting evidence in the film is just mambo jumbo. There are several things that make this film great, one of the movies that should stand at the foundation of any film maker or cinema watcher. One of them is the acting and, as a corollary, the way that acting was framed. Then there is the story, something that seems like a cheap thriller, but that has all the necessary details to make it great. None of the characters are special in any way, but they are not ordinary either. A police detective, a psychologist, a failed lawyer, husband and father that seems to be followed by disaster. Their dynamic throughout the movie forces you at the edge of your seat, making you think and feel what the characters are supposed to feel.I admit I saw this film as a child and, as such, my personality has been shaped by it. I am therefore biased and cannot see this film as anything but great. But I just watched it again now, in my middle age, and I still found it phenomenal. I also feel the pain of missing actors like Richard Burton and even Lino Ventura and Lee Remick. Nowadays, actors are so different, stories are so different, and everybody is afraid of showing true art on the big screen.

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.