Rating: C
Dir: Wes Craven
Star: Linda Blair, Lee Purcell, Jeremy Slate, Jeff McCracken
a.k.a. Stranger in Our House
I previously reviewed Craven’s 1984 TV movie, Invitation to Hell, and as mentioned there it wasn’t his first foray into the televisual medium. His first TVM, made six years previously, popped up on Tubi at the start of the month, and naturally, I felt compelled to check it out, on a Sunday afternoon when I didn’t have much else to do. It doesn’t have quite the loopy intensity of Invitation, hewing closer to the expected line for a “horror” movie made for television. Quotes used advisedly, since the most ghastly thing here is probably what passed for fashion in the late seventies. But Linda Blair is always worth watching, despite being on the receiving end of occult shenanigans this time.
She plays Rachel Bryant, the teenage daughter of a family who do the charitable thing, and take in her orphaned cousin Julia Trent (Purcell). Julia’s parents – the sister of Rachel’s mom – were killed by a fiery car accident in the Ozarks where they lived. And when I say “fiery”, I mean the vehicle bursts into flames while in the air. Seventies safety standards, what are you gonna do? Initially, things are fine, except for Rachel’s horse taking a sudden, uncharacteristic dislike of the new arrival. But there’s a sharp change when Rachel comes down with an unexpected case of hives, misses the school dance, and consequently loses her boyfriend Mike (McCracken) to Julia.
Finding witchy paraphernalia arouses Rachel’s suspicions. How does she know? Because just down the road lives Professor Jarvis (Macdonald Carey), who gets introduced to Julia as “Our local expert on the occult.” Which feels one step above “The neighbourhood kiddie-fiddler” on the reputation scale, but again – it was the seventies. Naturally, not long after Rachel starts asking him pertinent questions, the Prof suffers suffers a near-fatal stroke. However, he recovers just enough to tell her witches don’t show up on photos. Not heard that one before. But, what are the odds – Rachel’s mom is a photographer! Though in the end it’s not relevant to much, except for triggering a cat-fight between Rachel and Julia in the darkroom, followed by a car-chase ending in another example of poor crash ratings.
It’s all strikingly bland, and perhaps not what you’d expect from a director whose last film was The Hills Have Eyes, and was two more removed from infamous video nasty, The Last House on the Left. But you have to allow for the very obvious limitation placed on Craven by network television of the time. As portrayed by Blair, Rachel is perky and annoying, such as when she whines to her father about her horse having to go away after it attacks Julia. Unsurprisingly, it’s the bad girl who feels like she’d be more fun to hang out with, such as when she’s seducing the family’s patriarch. Going by the happy ending, it appears “I was literally bewitched” flew as a credible excuse for marital infidelity at the time.