19/07/2025
Remembering the excellent Australian director Richard Franklin, born this month in 1948.
Richard started his illustrious career in the Wild West of Australian sexploitation cinema with The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975) and Fantasm (1976).
However, it was no more than a foot in the door for the director who would find his legs with the brilliant Hitchcockian thriller Patrick (1978), one of four collaborations with writer Everett De Roche (Razorback).
Franklin was an unabashed disciple of Alfred Hitchcock and, after his own take on Rear Window with Roadgames (1981), he was entrusted with the keys to the Bates Motel.
In 1983, with insurmountable expectations for the Psycho franchise, Franklin outdid himself to create one of the all-time best sequels and one that Tarantino liked more than the first.
After further international success with Cloak & Dagger (1984) and Link (1986), Richard returned to Australia to see out his career, coming full circle with his final film, the De Roche-written thriller Visitors (2003).
If there were a blueprint for success as an Australian genre filmmaker, it would be Richard Franklin.
1948-2007
