Magic

(1978, Dir. by Richard Attenborough.)

Long before they resurrected the dinosaurs and chianti, respectively, Richard Attenborough and Anthony Hopkins teamed up on the horror scene for Magic, a fascinating horror drama about a magician and his dummy.  Hopkins plays the kind-of-but-not-really-but-maybe-really dual role as Corky Withers and the voice of his wooden friend Fats, and foreshadows his future ability to inhabit the mind of a truly disturbed individual.

From a screenplay by William "Yeah, I wrote The Stepford Wives AND The Princess Bride, punks!" Goldman that was based on his own novel, Magic focuses entirely on how little control Corky has over Fats.  The doll is a shocking sight to behold, and Hopkins' high pitched howls while he's voicing Fats are shrill and disturbing in the best kind of way.  The viewer knows from the start that poor Corky, who's trying to make a name for himself and impress his dying father, is a bit unhinged, yet the film takes its time letting the characters around him in on the secret.

The primary characters who deal with Corky are his agent, played by Burgess Meredith, and his love interest, a past high school crush played by Ann-Margret.  The latter gets to see the blurred line between Corky and Fats more often, but its the scenes without Fats - including one in which Corky becomes unhinged while trying to show her a card trick - that are most impressive.  The same can be said for the interactions between Hopkins and Meredith, and watching Hopkins become unhinged when challenged to spend five minutes without Fats might have been my favorite scene of the film.

There's no horror without a couple of murders, of course, and the events of the second and third act make our unease around Corky and Fats tangible.  As those who try to separate Corky and Fats meet their doom, the film shows unique perspective by keeping the focus internal.  Though Margret's Peggy is the person who we fear is most in physical danger, we also begin to fear for Corky, because it's clear that there's a good side to this timid man who just wanted to succeed.  It's one of the rare films, like Psycho before it, where one character becomes both the victim we feel for and the villain that we fear.

Though distribution issues and edited versions have hurt the film's legacy, recent versions have restored Magic to its theatrical state, and I hope the film can find a new audience as it was originally made.  This is a fine horror drama that deserves a much larger audience, and I can't recommend it enough to anyone who can accept a character-driven horror film that isn't all blood and breasts. 

Oh, and don't worry.  It's creepy too.  Don't believe me?  Check out this ad that was pulled from TV for giving too many children nightmares.  Pleasant dreams!