The Fury
Dir: Brian De Palma
1978
****
Brian De Palma's 1978 cult favorite The Fury is a unique sci-fi horror that jumps from one genre to another without damaging the stories integrity. It starts out as what appears to be a political thriller, Kirk Douglas appearing as a former CIA agent hiding out in the far-east. After a double cross from an ex-colleague and old friend (played by the brilliant John Cassavetes) it transpires that he has been hiding his son from the American government who want him for his psychic abilities. The story then branches between Douglas' Peter Sandza search for his son, another psychic (played by a young Amy Irving) discovering her powers and that she has a mental link with Sandza's son and an ex-lover of Sandza who works for a psychics clinic and ultimately joins the story together. The film's structure is a little muddled but it still works, retaining the unpredictability, thrill and suspense delivered within the films first five minutes. It's far from perfect but there is something a little disjointed about it that I quite like although it is easy to see how people may have felt disappointed at the time considering De Palma's now classic horror Carrie is far superior and came just two years before with similar themes. I would argue that The Fury's ending is just as great as Carrie's though and was clearly an inspiration for David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981).