Review: Patrick (2013)

Cast: Charles Dance, Rachel Griffiths, Sharni Vinson
Director: Mark Hartley
Country: Australia
Genre: Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Official Site: Here

Editor’s Notes: Patrick opens in limited release today, March 14th.

A remake of the little known 1978 film of the same name, Patrick (:Evil Awakens) is a throwback to a style of filmmaking that is rarely seen today. There is little subtlety in Mark Hartley’s tribute to Hammer-style productions but while this is partially the film’s strength, it is also its weakness.

There is little subtlety in Mark Hartley’s tribute to Hammer-style productions but while this is partially the film’s strength, it is also its weakness.

At a remote, extremely private psychiatric clinic that specialises in housing comatose patients, Nurse Kathy Jacquard (Sharni Vinson) is beginning her first day at work. Under the watchful, suspicious and unfriendly eye of Matron Cassidy (Rachel Griffiths) she goes about her duties tending to the unresponsive patients until she discovers Patrick (Jackson Gallagher) in Room 15. Sensing something untoward, and a strange, developing connection, she oversteps her responsibilities before being brought back to normality by her promiscuous and fun-loving colleague Nurse Williams (Peta Sergeant). As her developing relationship with Patrick draws suspicion from head of the clinic Doctor Roget (Charles Dance) Kathy realises that there is more to this particular patient than she first thought and begins to fear for her own life, and that of those around her.

With gothic influences to the fore Hartley has constructed a film that adheres to all the key genre expectations and follows all the relevant rules. There are smart but predictable jump scares and routine set pieces that steadily and, disappointingly slowly, advance the narrative. Where the original 70’s source could be dismissed as somewhat silly and juvenile this is much more serious fare and this lack of knowing humour is perhaps to Patrick’s detriment. Too much emphasis is placed on being sombre and solemn when a little lightness might have been favourable.

Another problem stems from the music. Patrick is not a film when the audience will ever be left wondering how they are supposed to feel in any given scene. The score is as obvious as if there was a little man in the corner of the screen holding up cards telling you exactly how to react, whether to hold your breath or to gasp in terror. While adding little to the atmosphere that Hartley has worked thus far hard to create it more often than not distracting at worst, and superfluous at best.

Dance gloriously chews the scenery at every opportunity and Griffiths gives a master class in understated repression.

Where the film does deliver though is in the performances and this elevates Patrick above the average. It would have been too easy for the cast to have been drawn into the “hamminess” of the overall feel of the drama but without fail they deliver impeccably. Dance gloriously chews the scenery at every opportunity and Griffiths gives a master class in understated repression. It is Vinson though who really shines like a beacon against the bleached and bleak backgrounds, and effortlessly conveys a mixture of confusion and impending fear while remaining the focal point of the terror. With a weaker cast Patrick would simply have become a dull and bland genre film that offers nothing of note or interest but in his cast Hartley has been able to trust his vision and has not been left stranded.

Ultimately this is a film with pros and cons. As homage to films of yesteryear it is partially successful in its goals but sadly it doesn’t quite live up to its aspirations. The cast and crew will undoubtedly go on to bigger and better things and Patrick will enter their filmography as a step on the cinematic ladder.