MovieChat Forums > Magic (1978) Discussion > Did The Dummy Take Her Over At The End?

Did The Dummy Take Her Over At The End?

posted 13 years ago by webfix
10 replies | jump to latest

Re. the ending of this fantastic movie, I was somewhat puzzled as to why Peggy suddenly spoke in that weird, high-pitched voice that was similar to that of the dummy. I mean, did the dummy actually take her over, or was she just mimicking it?

Whatever, it was certainly a very creepy movie, and one which present day horror flicks should take inspiration from instead of churning out samey teen movies all the time.

The nearest ventriloquist movie I can can compare it to is Dead of Night, the brilliant portmanteau movie of the 1940's.

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[–] IceboxMovies 13 years ago

While I can't say I recall any high pithces in Peggy's voice at the end, I don't think fats took over her. Fats was never actually alive to begin with; Corky just tricked himself into thinking that he was.

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."

[–] KickedTheBucket 13 years ago

She was just doing that voice to make silly!

[–] sage2112 9 years ago

^^ this. sheesh people, Fats was made of wood.

[–] FangsFirst 13 years ago

I think you mean "pastiche" or "homage," not portmanteau. Portmanteaus are words/morphemes combined into a single one.

And no, she was just doing her own Fats voice, being goofy to try to break the tension.

[–] christomacin (4660) 4 years ago

He's referring to "Dead of Night" (a multi-part film) as a portmanteau, not "Magic", which was an homage or pastiche of "Dead of Night".

[–] lathe-of-heaven 11 years ago

It's always interesting when people bring up things like these in films. Because it's fascinating seeing the divide in people. Just the few replies to your post here show that people who are more 'Realists' and not really into more Fanciful things, will state almost adamantly that there is a 'Real' explanation to this, in other words, she was just kidding around mimicking Fat's voice.

But, then you have those (like me : ) who are MUCH more easily caught up in the Fanciful or Supernatural slant on things (perhaps more imaginative) and read into things like this more at least of a possibility of something 'Else' being the reason for it.

No criticism meant either way, but this is the exact kind of question that brings that out in people, so it is always interesting to see.

For me personally, I just think the film makers deliberately threw in a few things to throw us off. The ending line (which you will notice is TOTALLY out of sync with whatever Ann Margaret is really saying, which I feel anyway REALLY adds to the weirdness) and also the brief few seconds where Fats is giving Corky a hard time and as he walks away you see Fats' eyes and head move by themselves. I think these things were added just to give us a little jolt and make us wonder...

BTW, if ANYONE might know what Ann Margaret's lips are really saying at the end, I would REALLY love to know what it is

Cheers!

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[–] martinedhouse 8 years ago

I agree with your interpretation. I think that most of the film was about a man imagining that Fats was alive but there were indications, like you say, that suggest that the film makers wanted there to be an element of doubt in the viewers mind as when fats eyes moved independently of Corky's hand. I think that at the end they wanted to throw the viewer a curve ball and effectively make the viewer uncertain as to whether Corky was mad or whether Fat's really was possessed. Peggy speaks with a voice reminiscent of Fats and I think the film makers wanted to leave the viewer with the question: "Has Fats now possessed Peggy." I think it made the ending more sinister and would give the viewer a cold shiver up the spine if they interpreted it that way making the ending more effective.

[–] lathe-of-heaven 8 years ago

Yep...

Thanks for the good thoughts!

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[–] ExTechOp (2770) 4 years ago

Fats only moved without Corky's hand because the puppet's spring-loaded mechanism forced the eyes back into "neutral"

It was a blooper, but one they kept in the film because, in retrospect, it was creepy and raised doubts

[–] Drooch (5333) 4 years ago

I think the intention was to contrast Peggy’s glowing mood and jokily talking like Fats with the horror and tragedy of what she was about to witness, but late in the edit they decided to dub her really trying to mimic Fats’ voice and it ends up looking jarring and creepy - but that kind of doesn’t matter because the movie is extremely creepy.

I don’t really buy that Fats ‘possessed’ her or suchlike because the film is really the tragedy of a mentally ill man disintegrating and not some supernatural demonic possession story.