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The Fury
review by Ren C.
Rated R
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Running Time: 120 minutes
Starring Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Amy Irving
Written by John Farris
Based on his novel "Music"
Directed by Brian DePalma
Retail Price: $19.98
Features: Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailers
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 4.0, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Digital
Mono, English Closed Captions, English Subtitles, Spanish
Subtitles, Chapter Search (20 Chapters)
Released: September 4th, 2001
"The Fury" is an anomaly amongst horror movies. It
doesn't take the easy way out by using the slasher plot, the
haunted house plot, or any of the other common plots so
indigent to horror movies. This movie actually manages to
generate a plot all its own, and in doing so, distinguish
itself from the rest of the pack. However, the plot is so
distinct that it finds itself almost fracturing into two
different movies at times.
The movie revolves around Peter (Kirk Douglas), who is a
government agent for some indiscriminate agency who had
relocated to the Middle East with his son Robin (Andrew
Stevens) after Robin's mother had died at childbirth. Robin
has apparently developed psychokinetic powers, and Peter has
decided to relocate to Chicago with him in order to help him
harness these powers at a special institute. However, before
this can happen, Peter is attacked by a group of what can
best be described as "bad guys" led by Childress (John
Cassavetes), who has been in the agency with Peter for
twenty years. Childress kidnaps Robin and leaves Peter for
dead, but Peter manages to grab a gun from one of the
terrorists and shoot Childress in the arm, leaving him
without use of it.
Robin is spirited off by the terrorists, and Peter finds
that his only hope of getting him back is by finding someone
else with psychokinetic powers in the hope that they can get
in contact with Robin. This girl's powers are slowly
starting to manifest themselves, with some particularly
nasty side effects, including making people bleed when she
comes in contact with them.
She is taken to the same research center where Robin was,
but unbeknownst to her or her parents, the research center
is actually a sort of breeding ground for individuals with
these powers to be used as weapons by Childress' group.
However, Peter has someone inside the institute who knows
what is going on and with her help, he aims to get in
contact with the girl and find Robin before it is too late.
Like I stated earlier, this is a very complex and
intricate plot. However, the scenes with Peter and the
scenes with the girl, Gillian (Amy Irving) seem to be part
of two different movies at times. Having said that, this is
certainly a very suspenseful movie and one that doesn't give
the viewer much time to become bored. Brian DePalma's style
is certainly evident here as Gillian's experiences in many
scenes can be directly paralleled with some of those in the
movie "Carrie", which of course DePalma also directed. The
movie also has some fairly impressive special effects for
1978 and all in all is a very interesting and engaging
horror movie.
For a movie that is over twenty years old, this transfer
is actually fairly good, especially when contrasting it with
the opening 20th Century Fox logo that is almost covered in
grain. Throughout the movie, there is very little noticeable
grain or scratches. However, artifacts are evident in
several places, as is the occasional shimmering effect of
colors. The colors, in many places also look washed out and
faded, although for a twenty year old movie this in some
ways is expected. Not a reference quality transfer by any
stretch of the imagination but also not a horrible one.
The 4.0 Dolby mix here is definitely not that
breathtaking, as I noticed dialogue dropping in and out
throughout the movie. In addition, the ambient sounds seemed
to have a mind of their own, sometimes being so low as to be
subliminal, and other times being almost overwhelming. The
one major highlight of this mix is the fact that John
Williams' score can be heard throughout the movie. Also
included are a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track and a French
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track, along with English and Spanish
subtitles and English closed captions.
This is a Fox bargain title, and as such any features are
greatly appreciated. The nicest feature on this disc is the
photo gallery, which supplies posters and lobby cards from
around the world, along with some shots taken on the set.
The theatrical trailer from the movie is here, along with
random trailers for the 1986 and 1958 versions of "The Fly",
"Alien", "Lake Placid" and "The Omen".
This is without question a very different movie. It is
unlike anything I had ever seen before and certainly
deserves a watch. It is one of Fox's budget titles, and as
such, the price is very reasonable, although the features
are fairly nonexistent and the video and audio aren't
particularly notable. I definitely recommend a rental first.
 (3/5 - NOT included in
final score)
(3/5)
 (3.5/5)
 (1/5)
(3/5,
NOT an average)
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