The Ninth Configuration

Name: The Ninth Configuration
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Comedy
Released: February 29, 1980
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 46
Cast: Alejandro Rey, Ed Flanders, George DiCenzo, Jason Miller, Joe Spinell

1980

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Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: February 29, 1980 | R

Starring: Alejandro Rey, Ed Flanders, George DiCenzo, Jason Miller, Joe Spinell, Moses Gunn, Neville Brand, Robert Loggia, Scott Wilson, Stacy Keach

Summary: A former marine arrives at a mental asylum housed in a remote castle to run it. There he attempts to rehabilitate the patients by letting them act out their craziest fantasies and desires.

Director: William Peter Blatty

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

Adam Lowes

A resolutely offbeat film which offers a richly rewarding and affecting viewing experience if you’re willing to embrace it’s esoteric flourishes. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The supporting cast is excellent, especially Scott Wilson as an astronaut who flipped out on the launching pad and aborted his mission. Offbeat, visionary, and challenging. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Demented disquisitions on Catholic theology vie for supremacy with camp humor and horror-movie conventions, leading to a conclusion that somehow manages to conflate The Wild Angels and The Passion of Joan of Arc. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The Ninth Configuration is an often confusing story concerning the effects of a new 'doctor' on an institution for crazed military men which manages to effectively tie itself together in the end. Problem is the William Peter Blatty film takes entirely too long to explain itself. Read full review

Robert Blau

The Ninth Configuration is neither frightening nor funny nor inspiring, although it strains to be all of these. [30 Sep 1985, p.3C]

Staff (Not Credited)

A kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Catch-22, or maybe Fuller's Shock Corridor set as an episode from The Twilight Zone. Sounds interesting enough, but isn't. Read full review

Janet Maslin

It takes on the overtones not of an awful movie, but of an awful play. Read full review

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User Reviews

ArkonBlade

Jul 19, 2023

I was recommended this film by some site that listed it as a hidden gem in horror. Nothing about this film is a horror movie. that threw me off on watching it as thats what i was expecting. Its a drama and feels like something that was adapted from a stage play. The movie is about trying toI was recommended this film by some site that listed it as a hidden gem in horror. Nothing about this film is a horror movie. that threw me off on watching it as thats what i was expecting. Its a drama and feels like something that was adapted from a stage play. The movie is about trying to cure Military personal who have gone insane or are faking it. Its pretty well acted and i found it kind of interesting but the plot twist of it all just felt kind of... idiotic. It pretty much all takes place in this castle which feels like a weird place to have a asylum at. other than that the only other set is a bar. Would i want to watch this again, probably not.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FilipeNeto

Apr 5, 2020

Heavy, dark, intellectual, it's not for everyone.

William Peter Blatty may have been good at a lot, but people only know him thanks to "The Exorcist". I read many reviews that said that this film was a kind of "author sequel" of that film. I confess that I do not agree with the idea. EvenHeavy, dark, intellectual, it's not for everyone.

William Peter Blatty may have been good at a lot, but people only know him thanks to "The Exorcist". I read many reviews that said that this film was a kind of "author sequel" of that film. I confess that I do not agree with the idea. Even if it was Blatty himself who said that, I would agree because there is nothing in common between these two films, apart from himself.

This film is at least unusual and highly philosophical: everything takes place in an isolated castle where the American army has installed a madhouse for Vietnamese soldiers who have gone mad, or who appear to have lost their minds ... yes, because it is not known if they in fact have gone crazy or are pretending so they won't fight. One of the patients, however, is an astronaut who had a mental breakdown during the count for the launch of his ship. The new person in charge of the asylum, eager to improve the patients, decides to allow them to carry on with their madness ... until the ex-astronaut asks him to prove the existence of God.

The film attaches great importance to the characters, and there are a lot of strange and unusual characters here. The cast, made up of names I didn't know, was up to expectations, but it didn't shine particularly, just doing what it had to do. The protagonist falls on Stacy Keach, who gave life to Colonel Kane, a Vietnam veteran who is now in charge of the insane asylum but has his own secrets. At his side, Scott Wilson made the most challenging character in the entire film, in my opinion, in that he is highly questioning and even iconoclastic in his views and concepts about the world and divinity. He makes an impact right from the start and the dialogues between his character and Keach's are truly memorable.

The film has a very well thought out and conceived scenario, good props and costumes, but a poor and very absent soundtrack, which makes the film more somber and heavy than it would be on its own. The slow pace and gray cinematography, with all that humidity and permanent cloudiness, don't help much either, and the first thirty minutes of the film can make many people give up watching it until the end. Outdoor filming was done in Europe and Eltz Castle was a smart choice, as were the script options for the end of the film.

The film lives a lot of the created environment and a massive dose of philosophical and metaphysical dialogues. It is not a film for the masses or the commercial circuit, it is too intellectual and heavy, and that explains its forgetfulness today: most people considered it boring and strange. I understand that, that was also my first impression. But my persistence in seeing him until the end was rewarded: not being brilliant is good, in that it makes us think when it's over.… Expand

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