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Coma [1978] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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| TERRIFIC HOSPITAL THRILLER | |
|  | Coma [1978] (REGION 1) (NTSC)br /BASED ON THE BOOK BY ROBIN COOK, THIS IS ONE OF THE LATE MICHAEL CRICHTON'S BEST FILM EFFORTS. GENEVIEVE BUJOLD PLAYS A RESIDENT DOCTOR WHO BECOMES CURIOUS ABOUT CERTAIN PATIENTS GOING INTO A STATE OF COMA, PARTICULARLY FROM O.R.8 (OPERATING THEATRE 8). MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ALSO A RESIDENT AT THE SAME HOSPITAL, DISBELIEVES HER AT FIRST BUT STEP BY STEP SLOWLY GETS CONVINCED THAT SHE IS RIGHT. BOND BEAUTY, LOIS CHILES, FROM MOONRAKER, PLAYS BUJOLD'S CLOSE FRIEND, WHO GOES INTO COMA, RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM. THE SUSPENCE IS TERRIFIC. YOU WILL CERTAINLY BE SCARED. THE DVD QUALITY IS SUPERB. YOU CAN SEE IT EITHER FULL SCREEN OR LETTERBOXED. YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO TURN THE DVD OVER. ELIZABETH ASHLEY IS THE SPOOKY HEAD-NURSE IN THE HUGE FACILITY FROM WHERE THE ORGANS REMOVED FROM THE COMATOSE PATIENTS ARE STORED AND SUPPLIED TO VARIOUS 'CLIENTS' THROUGH-OUT THE GLOBE. THE FACILITY IS SURROUNDED BY ARMED GUARDS AND FIERCE DOGS. VETERAN RICHARD WIDMARK, IS THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT(H.O.D)OF SURGERY. HE PLAYS HIS PART TO PERFECTION.
| | | At the end of the day a well made film will remain a well made film no matter how old it gets. This is certainly true of Coma, which is now 27 years old, but yet is still an awfully good thriller and can still keep the viewer on the edge of their seats.pIn fact, the now dated sets and fashions add to the atmosphere of the film and are a great plus to setting of the opinions and prejudices of the day. We soon realise that it is not just the phantom deaths at the hospital that Dr Wheeler has to combat, but it is also the chauvinistic attitude of her male colleagues that she must fight to be taken seriously as a woman working in a man's world.pGenevieve Bujold is extremely good as the suspicious and conscientious Dr Wheeler. She plays the part with great sympathy and never attempts to make her character action-packed as so often happens when there is the need to play a strong female character. She remains feminine and gracious throughout the film and keeps the audiences favour and understanding at all times. Michael Douglas on the other hand is good but not outstanding, he fulfils the needs of his role as Wheeler's lover, Dr Bellows but you never quite believe he actually loves her. Richard Widmark is much better as the creepy Dr Harris, but when you discover it is he that is behind the dastardly plot it doesn't come as much of a surprise.pOther great bits about the film as the eerie and sinister sets, or rather how the film maker makes the normal hospital surroundings seems eerie and sinister. The setting of the Jefferson Institute is sublime though and you now wonder how the architects of the day came up with the plans for such a monstrous building!pThe tension building throughout the film is superbly done. Both the scene when Wheeler is being chased through the hospital and the one where she is about to undergo her operation are brilliantly built up and I guess it is this "normal" factor about the scenes that make them much more scary than a horror movie set in a deserted creepy mansion house. The scene in the coma room of the Jefferson Institute is also as shocking today and no doubt it was in 1978 and remains a fantastic piece cinematic skill to bring this brilliant piece of literary imagination to reality.pFinally look out for Tom Selleck as one of the poor coma victims in possibly his shortest ever speaking film roles!
| | | I saw this film many years ago when VHS/Betamax tapes were cool!! It's one of those medical thrilllers that will grab you in the opening scenes and keep you on the edge of your seat for its duration. In the story, patients undergoing routine surgery at a reputable hospital suddenly die on the operating table before being transferred to the Jefferson Institute where relatives are informed their loved ones are being cared for using sophisticated life support machines. As the plot thickens you discover that organs are being traded but who are the real perpetrators?
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