"COMA" (1978) - Interesting and Still Scary Scenario
Coma was probably among the first of the movies that started the trend of the female protagonist. That was the time when Hollywood decided to make movies with a female lead. The pattern continued with later movies like The China Syndrome, Alien, Broadcast News, Suspect, Norma Rae, Gorillas in the Mist, among them.
Thapson
In any case, back to the movie. When I saw it for the first time, I was left quite spooked due to some scenes and also disturbed by the whole unfolding story. It was unlike anything I had seen before. Based on a novel by Robin Cook, and directed by Michael Crichton, the movie stars Genevieve Bujold as Dr. Susan Wheeler who is a resident surgeon at Boston Memorial Hospital. Other major cast members include Michael Douglas as Dr. Mark Bellow, a fellow surgeon at the same hospital and also a friend of Dr. Wheeler, Rip Torn (Dr. George, chief of anesthesiology), Richard Widmark, the quintessential bad guy, as Chief of Surgery.
“It was unlike anything I had seen before.”
Synopsis
Dr. Susan Wheeler finds it suspicious that, otherwise perfectly healthy, patients are inexplicably dying at the hospital. What disturbs her more is that there seems to be a pattern as they all seem to fall into a coma. She brings this up with her friend, and confidante, Dr. Bellows who suggests this may simply be a coincidence and advises her not to take it seriously. But when this happens to a close friend, Dr. Wheeler decides she has to get to the bottom of it. She starts snooping around asking questions, accessing files, and hospital records. In this quest, she runs into invisible walls as the information she was seeking disappears or runs into non-cooperation. There are also subtle warnings and threats to stop her snooping. At one point she ends up in the hospital morgue which is what nightmares are made of.
The Suspense Builds
At this point, the movie pulls you in as Dr. Wheeler’s friend. You realize how risky her situation is as the Hospital turns into a hostile environment with no idea whom to trust. Spooked, Dr. Wheeler, approaches the chief surgeon, Dr. George Harris. He sympathizes with her, and advises her to take some time off. During this period, she stumbles upon the mysterious “Jefferson Institute”. Once she manages to get into this building, she does some further snooping here as well and discovers a nightmarish scenario. Dozens of comatose bodies (all the from the hospital) are being kept in a low cost storage facility.
Full Time Creepy
Things get full time creepy from here on as Dr Wheeler barely manages to escape getting caught at the “Institute”. She loses trust in everyone, including her friends. However, she again approaches the chief Surgeon, Dr. Harris when she makes shocking discovery. She becomes the latest victim of the charade. It’s here that Dr. Bellows smartens up, and jumps in to prevent Dr. Wheeler suffer a death by coma situation.
Does Dr. Bellow’s action save Dr. Wheeler’s life? What happens to the whole setup? Who really is the mastermind? I’m going to leave that up to you to find out for yourself by watching the movie.
My Take on “COMA”
This was a movie unlike any other I had seen when I watched it on its first release. I was impressed on numerous levels.
- This was likely one of the first movies I had seen with a female central character, and one that was played so well and strongly by Ms. Bujold
- This was also probably the first movie I saw featuring a Hospital environment which did not dwell on a romantic angle, emotional melodrama, or hospital politics. Instead it dealt with a eerily possible topic of organ harvesting on a very sophisticated level
- Some of the scenes in the movie were downright scary. These included the morgue scene. The time when Dr. Wheeler is being shadowed by unknown people turning the otherwise trustable hospital environment into a scary minefield fraught with extreme dangers
- Keeping in mind my young age at the time, the sophistication of the whole gambit really got to me in a way that scared the hell out me.
Does It Still Spook Me?
Having said the above, I used to think the movie had only impressed me so much because of my relative youth and impressionability. I didn’t watch it for almost three decades. I hooked it up to my projector and decided to play it on a 100-inch screen (all alone) to see if it indeed was as spooky as I remember.
Was I in for a surprise! Sitting back that night, it all came back to me. And the scenes? They are classic. Despite the 30 odd years, I didn’t feel the movie had aged at all. I was definitely spooked again. It starts kind of slow, but the build up is pretty quick.
I guess the hospital environment as the basis of the story works for me as I have always had a phobia of sorts of hospitals and all that goes on over there. Also, since hospitals are places we put our full trust and confidence in, seeing them in this light is disturbing to say the least.
Movieclips Classic Trailers / YouTube
Credit for this goes to the brilliant direction and cinematography. The acting by the cast, especially Bujold, Widmark, along with some of the “bad guys” was top notch. I think this is a great movie worth watching especially in these days of so much overdone CGI special effects, zombie, and superhero themes. In such a ‘plastic environment’ Coma is a classic example of how a movie can grip, and scare you with just the subject, environment, in a style similar to that which Hitchcock would have admired.
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