Superhero films are now quite overwhelmingin popular culture, but the genre was not always as dominant as it is today. It wasRichard Donner’sSuperman: The Moviethat first truly proved that comic book stories could be adapted to the big screen, and even that film’s success didn’t lead to a surge in other adaptations. However, the lack of films based on DC and Marvel characters doesn’t mean that there were not talented filmmakers interested in stories about super powered individuals that were put in positions of danger. Although it is not always mentioned when discussing the most successful films of his career,Brian De Palma’s underrated thrillerThe Furymerged superheroes and body horrorfor a highly entertaining, albeit quite distressing experience.
What Is ‘The Fury’ About?
The Furyexamines the attempts by a covert government agency to find super-powered individualsthat could potentially be used forexperiments as part of a larger conspiracy. Stationed abroad, the former government agent Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas) plans to return home to the United States with his son Robin (Andrew Stevens), who has developed advanced psychic abilities. However, their plan is soon interrupted when Robin is kidnapped by spies working for Ben Childress (John Cassavettes), a powerful representative of the secret Paragon Institute, who claims that he needs to “protect” Robin. An infuriated Peter eventually teams up with the psychic teenager Gillian Bellaver (Amy Irving) to find his son’s whereabouts and ensure that Childress’ reign of terror comes to an end.
The Furyis significantly different from modern superhero films, as there is nothing inherently exciting about Robin’s discovery of what his potential is. While many superhero films focus on the exhilaration that comes with unlocking one’s abilities, Robin is instead distressed at the thought of being separated from his father. Under Childress' supervision, Robin’s powers grow and Stevens does a great job at adapting to the horror that De Palma adds to the story.The Furyis particularly interesting as it is told from the perspective of a parent, withthe father-son dynamicat the heart of the story adding an unexpected emotional weight.
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‘The Fury’ Emphasized Brian De Palma’s Brilliance
Coming two years afterCarrieandObsession,Furyfurther emphasized De Palma’s ability to balance atmospheric terror and gripping cinematic horror. As with many of De Palma’s greatest films,The Furytaps into anxieties about surveillance and insurgencies, as Gillian and Robin have both been closely monitored by the spies working for the Paragon Institute. The notion of a branch of the government that has been kept strictly “off books” was particularly frightening to audiences in 1978, as the Watergate scandal andbacklash to the Vietnam Warhad made Americans more suspicious of their leaders than ever before in the nation’s history. De Palma makes the clever decision to never explicitly use words like “superhero” that would conjure up more positive imagery; in this way, referring to all supernatural elements in a strictly scientific manner helps makeThe Furyfeel more grounded.
Although it certainlydidn’t have the same blockbuster spectaclethatSuperman: The Movieboasted the same year,The Furycontains all the brilliant technical filmmaking that one would expect from a De Palma movie. Although there are a number of great chase sequences that succeed because of how realistic they are,The Furydoes feature some truly outstanding makeup gore effects, including an exploding head that may even impressDavid Cronenberg.The Furyis quite dark and nihilistic at times, but it shares many of the same qualities with the superhero films that would dominate the box office several decades later. De Palma’s films are often appreciated more in retrospect than they are at the time of their initial release, andThe Furyis certainly a hidden gem that deserves to be hailed for what a breakthrough it was.
The Furyis currently streaming on Max in the U.S.
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