Patrick Still Lives (1980)
Directed by Mario Landi
Shriek Show DVD
THE FILM
Patrick (not the original Patrick, a different one) is hit with a bottle and goes into a coma. His Mad Scientist dad keeps him hooked up to all sorts of odd machinery and three nude people to keep him alive and channel his psychic powers. When five people arrive at the Burial Ground country mansion, which is now a "Clinic", Patrick's eyes begin appearing everywhere and people start dying, quite horribly.
This movie is exactly what it is. Sleazy and gory and naughty and strange. The producer describes the film as "Commercial" and it sure is, I think. The people who watch NCIS religiously might disagree but Those Who Like The Sleaze would pat the producer on the back and send him flowers. (Dead flowers.) This film came out around 1980 and I can't, for the life of me, imagine why it didn't get a proper release in America. It would have had to have been trimmed a lot but if Burial Ground came out…Maybe they could have darkened "offending" moments?
OK, this isn't a classic Italian Horror from the 80s. It has a very thick and hearty atmosphere in its first half but nothing much happens. The last 15 minutes or so move towards a big, crazy ending that never occurs. (The ending is crazy, unexpected and, at the same time, completely obvious.) When the folks who are going to get killed begin wandering around, it takes them forever to actually get to the point where they are killed. And, the whole basis for the assemblage of characters doesn't make that much sense when you start to think about it.
Apart from some of the slowness, though, none of those things really bug me. The sleaze and the over the top gore is more than enough. There's a lot of nudity (women & men) but no (more or less) sex. And, there are several killings (one in particular) that will have you sitting on the edge of your couch with an odd look on your face.
Patrick Still Lives is a good Italian horror with a line in Super-Sleaze. I can't imagine that I'm going to watch this again anytime soon. It lacks the verve of Burial Ground or the style of The Beyond. But, the insanity of Patrick Still Lives sits in my mind. It's something all right. What, specifically? I'll ask around. Someone must know.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
It looks good. And, it's in Italian with English subtitles. So, no matter how sleazy or sick it gets, it always sounds kind of classy.
EXTRAS
An interview with the producer and the man who played Patrick. There's some good stuff in there about how films of that time got made. There's a brief gallery with some interesting juxtaposition of images from the movie. Trailers for Patrick Still Lives, Lizard In A Woman's Skin, Eaten Alive!, and Elsa Fraulein SS.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Critical reasoning flies out the window, possibly racing Patrick's floating eyes around the grounds of the estate. Maybe pursued by some slow-moving scythe-wielding zombies.
In the interviews, they mention how nice the director was and how professional the writer was. I love the thought that a professional man and a nice man made this film. Patrick Still Lives is what it is and no more. If you like Italian, you should enjoy a viewing of this. Maybe two or three.
— Dan Budnik, 04.28.11 |
|
