Coma (1978)
Imagine your life hangs by a thread. Imagine your body hangs by a wire. Imagine you’re not imagining.
Coma is a 1978 American mystery thriller film based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Robin Cook. The film rights were acquired by director Michael Crichton, and the movie was produced by Martin Erlichmann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cast includes Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Richard Widmark, and Rip Torn. Among the actors in smaller roles are Tom Selleck, Lois Chiles, and Ed Harris.
The story was adapted again into a two-part television miniseries broadcast September 2012 on A&E television network.
Why It Matters
Coma turns a modern hospital into a conspiracy setting where professional trust becomes dangerous. The tension comes from ordinary systems—surgery, records, referrals and institutional authority—being used to hide something extraordinary.
Worldbuilding Inspiration
- A respected institution concealing a profitable secret.
- A protagonist who must prove a pattern hidden inside routine failures.
- A conspiracy whose strength comes from procedures everyone assumes are legitimate.
Related Screen Archive
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