Film Review: Magic (1978)

Magic is this creepy psychological thriller that came out in 1978. It’s about a struggling magician named Corky Withers who becomes a well-known performer once he brings his ventriloquist dummy, Fats, to his shows. Corky is a very disturbed guy; he suffers from either schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. He has self-esteem issues, and is shy, fragile and soft spoken. Fats, contrarily, is brash, funny, sarcastic and outspoken – the opposite of Corky. Contains spoilers.

Corky is about to make it big by word of his agent. However, he refuses to take a medical exam that he needs to take in order to appear on TV, and goes to live in the countryside to hide from his agent. Corky exhibits classic signs of denial; he denies his mental illness by refusing to take the exam because he knows that they’ll pick up something. He insists to his agent that he is ‘fine’. When his agent later comes to see him, he picks up that Corky is sick and needs professional help. He is aware that Corky has become ‘addicted’ to living through Fats, and in his mind Fats ‘controls’ him and is alive.

Things go more pear-shaped when in the countryside, Corky is rekindled with his high school sweetheart, Peggy. However, Peggy is married, and her husband sniffs something fishy between the two. He doesn’t have much time to ponder, however, as Fats (i.e. Corky) kills Peggy’s husband, just as he earlier killed his agent for trying to get Corky help.

Although Corky is quiet and innocent-appearing most of the time, there are a few times where he ‘loses it’ and yells at Peggy and his agent. These are clear signs of his darker side coming out. The only way for Corky to be free of Fats, and of himself, is to kill himself, which he does at the end. The ending is strange; Peggy comes to see Corky to tell him she chooses him over her husband (unaware that her husband has been killed), but her voice changes slightly to sounding like a female version of Fats. No doubt this is just another sign of Corky’s dying imagination, or is just there to mess with the audience.

I love watching movies and reading books, and have done posts where I’ve reviewed my favourite books or characters from TV shows. This is my first short single review on a movie. (In terms of music please check out my newly made music blog: http://www.zaridoesmusic.co.uk/)