Patrick (1978) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 6, 1979

The ad line for this release of Patrick seems to suggests the film would be a supernatural thriller with an intriguing concept: a supposedly dead man appears as a patient in a hospital. That is not the plot of the film, though. The titular Patrick is a comatose murderer with telekinetic powers, which he uses to torment and harm those tasked with his care.

This ad's image is also one of a baker's dozen or so newspaper ads that I remember giving me the heebie-jeebies, way back in 1979. This was a period of time when I would look at an ad like this and think, "Damn, this movie looks too scary for me."

Whatever I imagined the movie being like would, for the most part, turn out to be far, far worse than the reality of it, of course. So it goes.