Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

This really surprised me. I guess I’ve always been sort of waiting for people to figure out that Richard Franklin’s a really interesting filmmaker and give him a chance at a second act in his career. His filmography’s filled with titles I don’t recognize, like ONE WAY TICKET or BRILLIANT LIES or HOTEL SORRENTO. They might be great, but I don’t know since none of them ever got any distribution of note here in the US. He directed some cable mainstays like CLOAK & DAGGER, LINK and FX/2, and he worked sporadically on forgettable genre TV shows like THE LOST WORLD or BEAUTY & THE BEAST. But when I look at PATRICK, PSYCHO II, and especially ROAD GAMES, I have to believe that Franklin was capable of great things when given the right support.

Franklin was a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, and he managed to actually meet and spend time Hitchcock, learning from him. That’s what made him such a natural fit for PSYCHO II. That film has such profound respect for the original, and it’s playful about how it spins the first film and twists it. Likewise, ROAD GAMES is a love letter to the style of film that Hitchcock made, but it’s also distinctly Australian. Franklin had a sure hand with suspense, but he also seemed to really love his actors. It was a winning combination, and I will always regret we didn’t get to see more from him.

Here’s the first e-mail that tipped me to his sad passing, and my condolences go out to his friends and family, wherever they are.

Hey Moriarty,

We got the word early this morning (since the partner on my site has been working on a documentary on the Psycho films) that Richard Franklin passed away. He directed Psycho II, Link, and the cult-classic Patrick. Just thought I'd pass the word along, there doesn't seem to be any mention of him out there, and we thought that was a bit of a shame.

Mike Cucinotta

Our posting for Richard is here.