Magic
- Directed by
- Richard Attenborough
- Written by
- William Goldman
- Produced by
- Joseph E. Levine, Richard P. Levine, C. O. Erickson
Why it’s HorroRated
Magic is a psychological thriller marketed as horror and the marketing undersold what the film actually does well. Anthony Hopkins gives one of his most unsettling early performances, and his dual work as Corky and Fats operates almost like two actors sharing a body, each one fully committed and equally disturbing. Richard Attenborough directs with a slow, atmospheric patience that trusts the audience to sit with Corky's disintegration rather than rushing toward violence. It's less interested in scaring you than in disturbing you, and it succeeds completely at the latter. One of the finest examples of the killer doll subgenre precisely because it never lets the doll actually move.
Synopsis
A failing magician adopts a new ventriloquist act with an abrasive dummy named Fats and suddenly finds himself lined up for a television show, but the required medical exam threatens to reveal a mental instability Corky has been hiding. Fats isn't literally alive but functions as a manifestation of Corky's id, and when Corky flees to the Catskills to reconnect with a high school love, the dummy's jealousy pushes things toward violence. Anthony Hopkins delivers a genuinely committed dual performance, and William Goldman's screenplay, adapted from his own novel, keeps the psychological unraveling grounded and specific rather than supernatural.
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Quick facts
- Release date
- November 8, 1978
- Runtime
- 1 hour 47 mins
- Country
- United States of America
- Language
- English
- Content rating
- R
- Entry type
- Movie
Tags
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