tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post1610595787401070214..comments2024-03-27T10:27:59.266-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: Cult-Movie Review: The Fury (1978)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-73621057603523871912013-10-18T16:28:48.083-04:002013-10-18T16:28:48.083-04:00Interesting take on the film John. But you don'...Interesting take on the film John. But you don't really address how horrendously ambivalent that ending is. Sweet innocent Gillian, who starts out being horrified when she accidentally gives a classmate a nose bleed, in the end is turned into a psychic killer who literally sprays the walls with blood. It's the sickest of sick jokes. And the audience is drawn along with her every step of the way, and is even complicit in desperately wanting her revenge at the end. In fact De Palma really toys with the audience sadistically in that final scene--Gillian asleep in her cozy bed in a sunlight-filled room, the nightmare over, waking to find Childress, full of poisonous words of comfort. And they actually seem to be working! She breaks down in tears, hugs him, begins kissing him (!), and then....blammo! It's funny and horrific and incredibly satisfying at the same time.<br /><br />So it is worth emphasizing Gillian's starting point as a sweet innocent--De Palma doesn't shortchange that. He really makes you feel the full horror of her transformation. (Of course Cronenberg stole the "exploding body" idea and stuck it right at the beginning of "Scanners"--but that movie had none of the emotional content or De Palma's depraved artistry.)SteveWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12313241937230776034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-82551131396565961882013-10-18T12:43:35.897-04:002013-10-18T12:43:35.897-04:00I finally got around to seeing this movie a couple...I finally got around to seeing this movie a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. De Palma's style always works for me, and this movie had it in spades. <br /><br />Glad to see you mention Williams' wonderful score. He really channels Bernard Herrmann here, and it makes sense knowing how much De Palma loves Hitchock (and Herrmann created some of the most successful scores for Hitchcock films). The funny thing is most people when they talk about John Williams output in the 1970s forget to mention this one. It really is a wonderful score, with lots of thrills and great themes. His work is especially highlighted in that escape scene, but I also love his music as Childress explodes, it really punctuates the moment.<br /><br />So next time someone says is rattling off the great John Williams scores of the 1970s, and they mention "Close Encounters", "Star Wars" and "Superman", always mention "The Fury". It needs more love. :)Roman J. Martelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545497713474664555noreply@blogger.com