Last month we received word that Richard Franklin’s 1978 psychological horror flick PATRICK was getting a remake courtesy of MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED director Mark Hartley. Now, via Screen Daily, we learn that the flick is moving forward with some assistance from Screen Australia, the Aussie government’s film funding entity. The budget has not been revealed, nor has the production schedule, but it’s obviously moving forward in earnest quite soon.
The synopsis for the thriller: For three years Patrick has been lying mute and immobile, a patient in Dr Roget’s clinic for the comatose. Dr Roget has been discharging increasingly large doses of electricity into Patrick’s brain, hoping for a sign of brain function. When young nurse Kathy starts working at the clinic, Patrick figures out how to utilise all that pent up power with deadly effect.
PATRICK, starring Richard E. Grant (BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA), Rachel Griffiths (“Six Feet Under”) and Sharni Vinson (Adam Wingard’s YOU’RE NEXT), is a co-production between FG Film Productions (Australia) Pty Ltd and Rising Sun Pictures. We’ll keep you in the loop as more information floats our way. (In the meantime, I should probably check out the original, at long last.)
Rachel Griffiths