Film

The Medusa Touch

A 1978 thriller about a hospitalized man with telekinetic powers, told through detective investigation and psychological reconstruction. Richard Burton plays the mysterious figure at its centre—brilliant, damaged, capable of moving objects with his mind. It's genuinely unsettling, riding that 70s sweet spot between science fiction and psychological horror, mixing disaster-film spectacle with intimate character study. For anyone drawn to weird, confident genre films that trust the audience.

TMDb rating3.4

If you liked this

The Exorcist1973

Shattering supernatural horror that remains legitimately terrifying. Like Medusa Touch, it uses medical mystery as a frame for something impossible, but leans fully into dread. Friedkin's filmmaking is immaculate.

But Extremely bleak and graphic in places. The slow-burn approach demands patience, and some effects look dated.

The Exorcist poster

Scanners1981

Cronenberg's masterpiece about telepathic and telekinetic powers as biological mutation. Raw, visceral, darkly funny. It shares Medusa Touch's fascination with psychic ability as both gift and curse, but takes it into body-horror territory.

But Very gory. The tone is deliberately cold and clinical, which some find more exhausting than gripping.

Scanners poster

Duel1971

Spielberg's debut is a masterclass in mounting dread. Like Medusa Touch, it's about unseen malevolent force and uses investigation as its spine. Taut, economical, impossible to look away from.

But It's essentially one man versus a truck. If you need character depth or dialogue-heavy storytelling, you'll feel the thinness.

Duel poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Medusa Touch

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Welt am Draht1973

Both films treat extraordinary mental power as a philosophical problem rather than spectacle. Both centre on a man in an altered state trying to communicate truth. Both are more interested in the mystery than solving it.

A two-part German science-fiction film about simulation and consciousness. It asks the same question Medusa Touch does—what is real, and what can the mind actually do?—but through metaphysics and philosophy rather than psychology. Ahead of its time.

But Glacially slow. Dubbed and subtitled, with 1970s German TV production values. Very abstract; plot takes a back seat to ideas.

Welt am Draht poster
More like this (8)

The Omen1976

Another 70s thriller with supernatural menace and a detective-like protagonist piecing things together. Beautifully shot, genuinely creepy, with a sense of inevitability that matches Medusa Touch's fatalism.

But The twist is famous. Gregory Peck trying to act against a demonic child is occasionally more melodrama than horror.

The Omen poster

Suspicion1941

Hitchcock's psychological thriller where a wife suspects her husband of murder. It shares Medusa Touch's unreliable perspective and the horror of not knowing whom to trust. Cary Grant against type is wonderful.

But The ending is compromised by studio interference and feels tacked-on. The pacing is leisurely by modern standards.

Suspicion poster

Demon Seed1977

A 1977 techno-thriller about an AI trying to reproduce using a woman's body. Genuinely bizarre and unsettling, with the same sense of violation and inescapable supernatural threat that haunts Medusa Touch.

But The premise is more ridiculous than scary in retrospect. Effects are dated and some scenes veer into unintentional absurdity.

Demon Seed poster

Don't Look Now1973

Roeg's haunting mystery about grief and premonition in Venice. Masterfully crafted, deeply disquieting, it shares Medusa Touch's interest in the supernatural as an expression of psychological fracture.

But Wilfully opaque and slow. The famous sex scene overshadows the actual story for many viewers; the ending is bleak.

Don't Look Now poster

Carrie1976

De Palma's brilliant debut about telekinetic ability as adolescent rage. Like Medusa Touch, it takes psychic power seriously as something destructive and tragic, not superhero fantasy.

But The high school setting makes it feel more like horror-thriller-lite. Prom massacre finales date quickly.

Carrie poster

The Killing Kind1974

An obscure, bruised thriller about trauma and psychological disintegration. It matches Medusa Touch's tone: intelligent, deeply pessimistic, more interested in character breakdown than plot mechanics.

But Very slow and bleak. The narrative is deliberately fragmented, making it feel cold and hard to engage with emotionally.

The Killing Kind poster

Kanal1957

Both films trap their protagonist in a situation where physical power is useless and escape is impossible. Both are about defeat and the psychological cost of knowing what's coming. Both refuse easy answers.

Andrzej Wajda's devastating film about resistance fighters trapped in Warsaw sewers. It shares Medusa Touch's inescapable dread and the horror of helplessness—but grounds it in real historical atrocity rather than the supernatural. Morally serious and unflinching.

But Bleak beyond measure. Black-and-white, claustrophobic, with no catharsis. It demands emotional stamina.

Kanal poster

Possession1981

Both use the supernatural as an external expression of internal damage. Both centre on a woman trying to understand a man's power over her. Both refuse to separate the psychological from the supernatural—they're the same thing.

Andrzej Żuławski's fever-dream psychological horror about marriage collapse and obsession. Isabelle Adjani gives a feral, committed performance. It's hallucinatory and violent where Medusa Touch is controlled, but both films use the supernatural as metaphor for psychological disintegration and marital violence.

But Deliberately chaotic and surreal. The tone is hysteria rather than suspense. Sexually graphic and graphic overall. Some find it pretentious or unwatchable.

Possession poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

The Creeping Flesh