Line #40 Film/TheMedusaTouch


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/medusa_touch.jpg]]
2
3	''The Medusa Touch'' is a 1978 horror/thriller film based on a book of the same name by Peter Van Greenaway. It features Creator/RichardBurton as John Morlar, a man who believes his life has been surrounded by catastrophes of his own making; individuals he has become angered with suffer fatal accidents. Not only this, but he claims to be the cause of a number of larger scale disasters such as plane crashes.
4
5	The film begins with Morlar's bludgeoning by an unseen assailant, and after he is initially pronounced dead, he is soon rushed to hospital after showing slight signs of life. Whilst FishOutOfWater detective Brunel (Creator/LinoVentura) investigates the attempted murder, Morlar's story is told in flashback through conversations with his former psychiatrist Dr. Zonfeld (Creator/LeeRemick).
6	----
7	!!Provides examples of:
8
9	* AbusiveParents: Morlar’s mother was emotionally abusive, constantly insulting him, calling him useless, and acting like his imagination was a curse.
10	* AffablyEvil: Morlar is pretty friendly and civil to those he respects, though it takes some time for him to become evil.
11	* AgentScully: Dr. Zonfeld, at first.
12	* AnachronicOrder: {{Flashback}}s galore.
13	* AntiVillain: John Morlar. At first, he, while understandably a jerk, never wanted to kill people, but his telekinetic powers activated whenever he was angry and killed whoever had endured his wrath, and throughout his life he sees the injustices of the corrupt world order cause others to suffer as well. Eventually, all the trauma causes him to snap and conclude he was given his powers to tear down the government he despised for so long, no matter how many people are killed.
14	* AssholeVictim:
15	** Most of the people Morlar killed early on in life were assholes who abused him, like his fundamentalist nanny, his abusive mother, and his SadistTeacher.
16	** To a lesser extent Dean and the Deacon, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Obstructive Bureaucrats]] who had gotten in the way of Brunel and the Assistant Commissioner’s attempts to stop Morlar’s plan to collapse the cathedral, [[spoiler:is among the casualties when it does collapse.]] Of course, they are understandably skeptical of Brunel's claims.
17	* TheCameo: Creator/MichaelHordern and a young Creator/DerekJacobi make appearances as a Fortune Teller and a publisher respectively.
18	* TheCynic: Morlar. In spades.
19	* DeadpanSnarker: Morlar is one of these right from his schoolboy days.
20	* DeathGlare: When Morlar fixes his gaze on someone, expect something very bad to happen them very soon.
21	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Brunel's attempt to kill Morlar is unsuccessful, and Morlar sets his sights on his next target, a nuclear power station. It’s also implied that Morlar used his powers to cause Brunel and the doctors treating him to commit suicide, and with the Assistant Commissioner dead, the only person left alive who knows about Morlar is Sgt. Duff, who likely won’t be believed.]]
22	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Zonfeld is unable to finish Morlar off and is found slumped over a desk with a hypodermic needle in her arm. It’s implied, however, that it was a PsychicAssistedSuicide, and a similar fate is implied to befall Brunel and the doctors treating Morlar.]]
23	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Sgt. Duff.
24	* EnfantTerrible: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], in his youth Morlar doesn't seem to intend for bad things to actually happen, at least, not any more than a normal person.
25	* FauxShadow: While searching Morlar's flat, Brunel doesn't notice someone approaching. Threatening music starts, but it's just Duff.
26	* FictionalDocument: Morlar's novels, plus a few of the newspaper clippings in his scrapbook.
27	* FreudianExcuse: A good portion of Morlar’s issues come from the long lines of misfortunes he has had to deal with throughout his life. The only question is why he didn’t snap sooner.
28	* TheFundamentalist: Morlar’s nanny was one of these, constantly railing about how he and the other sinners would be damned to hell rather than actually take care of him.
29	* HangingJudge: Judge [=McKinley=], who sentenced a man to nine years in prison for printing out flyers encouraging the recipient to support his effort to have a war museum closed down, in spite of Morlar pointing out repeatedly that he hadn’t actually done anything illegal, out of his own personal biases. Pissed, Morlar kills him with a heart attack.
30	* JumpScare:
31	** Sgt. Duff rigs a laughing ghost puppet to jump out at Brunel as a practical joke.
32	** When [[spoiler: Dr. Zonfeld goes to kill Morlar in the hospital]], his eyes snap open, despite his being in a permanent coma.
33	* KillItWithFire: Morlar killed Conley and four other boys by setting his school on fire.
34	* KnightTemplar: Morlar sees his abilities as tools for bringing down the corrupt world order, at the expense of human life.
35	* MisanthropeSupreme: While Morlar initially targeted people who had wronged him, he moves on to using his powers to kill large numbers of random people out of sheer hatred for his fellow man.
36	* NewscasterCameo: ITN's Gordon Honeycombe is seen presenting television news reports. Shaw Taylor hosts the Moon mission coverage.
37	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:The Assistant Commissioner’s attempts to evacuate the cathedral results in him being one of the victims when Morlar causes it to collapse.]]
38	* NotQuiteDead: Morlar survives severe head injuries that crack his skull and cause severe damage to his brain, and [[spoiler: becomes lucid enough to carry out his plans]].
39	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Dean and the Deacon.
40	* OnceMoreWithClarity: Zonfeld's confession is a re-run of the opening scene, but this time [[spoiler: showing her]].
41	* PsychicAssistedSuicide: Mrs Pennington berates her husband for buying a stale fish and [[LawOfDisproportionateResponse ends up saying she'll kill herself]]. Morlar encourages her to do just that.
42	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The police in general appear to be this after getting over their general scepticism of Morlar's abilities. The Assistant Commissioner is a particularly good example.
43	* SadistTeacher: When Morlar sasses him after being caught staring out of the window at the leaves, his teacher Conley instructs him to pick up exactly 1,149 leaves - in the rain no less - and if they are wrongly numbered, he will be soundly thrashed. When Morlar collects the leaves, Conley smugly instructs him to dry them, as he can't have wet leaves ruining his floor.
44	* SelfMadeOrphan: Morlar claims to be the reason behind the family car knocking his parents off the cliffs, despite the fact that he was nowhere near it at the time and insists that he did not tamper with the brakes.
45	* SeventiesHair: Even in the flashbacks.
46	* ThenLetMeBeEvil: While never a saint, Morlar genuinely regretted his killings at first, but his isolation, the injustices he suffered or witnessed others suffer, and his telekinetic powers activating every time he got angry, he snapped and came to the conclusion his powers were needed to bring down the corrupt world order.
47	* TragicVillain: Morlar.
48	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Morlar claims to be crusading against an unjust and corrupt political and social system, but the fact that he's more than willing to kill large numbers of completely innocent people in order to kill one or two people who (arguably) deserve to be punished suggests that his moral crusade is just a mask for his general misanthropy.
49	* WorldOfJerkass: The reason Morlar is a misanthropic mass murderer is that almost everyone he's interacted with in his life has been a [[HateSink thoroughly detestable person]], starting with his religious zealot nanny, emotionally abusive mother, and sadistic schoolmaster in childhood to his equally despicable shallow, adulterous wife later in life.

Context Film / TheMedusaTouch