 
A
car falls off a highway cliff and explodes and a
relative Julia Trent (Lee Purcel) stays
with a family called the Bryants out in a farm in
which a horserider in the family Rachel
(Linda Blair) tries to get to know her cousin.
However, her horse named Sundance goes hysterical
around her in which Julia doesn't seem to like
this horse either.
Rachel introduces Julia to her friend Carolyn
Baker (Fran Drescher) and her prom date Mike
Gallagher (Jeff McCracken) to whom she suddenly
has eyes for.
Rachel wakes up one day with terrible rashes and
has to cancel out on her prom in which Mike takes
Julia instead in which Rachel becomes furious
with this. She also notices that there's not a
reflection in the mirror from Julia plus finds
out some strange situations with her too
including some voodoo wax doll with Sundance's
hairs in which during a horse trail the horse has
to be put down due to a serious injury.
Rachel goes to the aid of Professor Jarvis
(MacDonald Carey) on books with witchcraft since
Rachel's parents are even siding with Julia about
the bad situations she's causing in which Rachel
finds out if Julia is actually a witch since
Jarvis ends up in a hospital due to a supposed
stroke shortly afterwards in which this supposed
cousin has deadly plans for the Bryants.
This was a nicely made low budget
TV movie showing a good beginning with a car
wiping out on a cliff of a road with a devilish
freaky looking face to the film which almost
reminds me of some similarities to a possessed
Regan in The Exorcist which adds
a good touch to the film.
There's nice writing with a country girl
Rachel Bryant enjoying riding her horse which
looked peaceful to the film along with this horse
going crazy towards the cousin named Julia which
leaves an impression that this girl is an evil
witch which adds a nice touch with animals
senseing some evil in a person.
A good discussion between Rachel and Carolyn Baker hanging out and having a discussion which looked
natural as well as a good camera shot looking up
on Julia looking stunning with their
jaws dropping and complimenting her which also
looked natural and energetic as a bunch of teens
enjoying themselves.
Then there's lots of curses happening in the film
which adds alot to the story and making every
moment creepy and exciting such as Rachel's date
to the prom that Julia has eyes for so Rachel
gets a bad rash and can't go so Julia goes with
him which is a nice moment with Rachel getting
angry but he's under Julia's spell.
There's also a great disturbing moment with the
horse once again attacking Julia which was a
perfect scary moment wondering if this horse will
trample and injure this beautiful looking girl
and a great plot for the movie too. But then a
tragedy happens at a horse show since a voodoo
doll is involved with this four legged creature
and has to be put down which is hard to watch and
can make you cry yourself for anyone who loves
horses.
The story keeps going on strongly with curses put
on people like a professor who gives Rachel books
on witchcraft in order to try and find a way to
stop her along with him having a stroke
afterwards which is another great pointer to the
film or when there's no reflection in the mirror
with Julia as well as nothing showing when her
picture is taken which I got a thrill out of like
you're watching a vampire flick but it's a witch
instead.
A nice moment with Rachel spotting a voodoo type of wax item on her horse
along with great camera shots on her running
towards her horse kennel and then a good dark
shot on the horse lying there in the dark which
looked spooky making you wonder if the horse is
dead or not which this
moment looked a bit suspenseful.
Good shots on her riding her
horse at a show with the horse going out of
control and her freaking out which looked
terrifying to watch on the moments with all of
this as well as a good shot on the horse falling
to the ground.
A great argumentive moment between Rachel towards Julia which looked intense as
well as Julia herself acting really wicked
towards her which looked impressive that she's
untrustworthy and over controlling too.
Some good camera takes on Rachel and Carolyn at a hospital bed talking
to Professor Jarvis with
him acting weak when he speaks to them which was
well put together along with a jumping moment on a
nurse abruptly entering the room and getting
aggressive with the girls.
A good discussion with Rachel in a
bedroom in her bed along with young Bobby Bryant to drop dead and a
nice shot on him falling down with his eyes
closed and then her slowly starting to
panick wondering if something has happened to him
which looked suspensefully done too.
The story gets really psychological when Julia
puts a spell on Rachel's parents and making them
take her side over everything which reminds you
as one of those types who tries to move into
everyone's life. There were lots of suspense with
that along with a close lustful scene between one
of the family members which you think to yourself
that things are really getting out of hand.
Then there's a great classic battle when Julia
reveals who she really is against Rachel which
shows alot of great excitement too which seems
necessary to the story since the mystery unravels
making this witch look extremely powerful and
scary for a TV movie. A good moment with Julia taking some pictures away from Rachel and
acting incredibly wicked by telling her who she
really is as well as the two of them having a cat
fight rolling around. There's also a nice
panicking moment with Rachel herself locking a door and
then a good shot on Julia smashing her
hand through the door. Then a nice moment with Tom Bryant trying to attack Rachel which was very
suspenseful and terrifying.
There's terrific energy with Rachel and Mike Gallagher in a vehicle and panicking along with good
shots on a gas petal moving by itself and a
window rolling up. There's a good shot on Julia
looking demonic and driving a vehicle like a
maniac and trying to hit their vehicle with good
stunt shots on all of this on a road near a
cliff. These situations certainly delivered alot
of great suspense and adventure on this scene.
Yet there is a nice happy ending with this family
which seems very heartwarming for everyone to
enjoy showing that good things will happen again
after surviving a nightmare. The film also opened
a door for a sequel too which was a shame one
never arose.
Bottom line is this film was a great piece to
watch with alot of twists and turns making you
wonder what's going to happen next and keeps
rolling without any disappointments. It's based
on a book which I bet is even more exciting to
read since books are normally better than a show
basing on it.
For anyone who likes suspenseful TV horror movies
out in the summer country, this one's for you.
The acting is pretty well done for
this time period in which Linda Blair
(Rachael Bryant) was slowly acting in horror
films after having The Exorcist
and it's sequel under her belt. She also
portrayed a similar character like her role in Sarah
T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic in
which she's a country girl in this film who loves
horses. She really brings on a nice charming
attitude in her role as the innocent girl next
door. Plus she does well with her intensity as
well as her aggressions too with what is
happening around her. A good moment with her acting
aggressive towards her fellow actor on him taking her cousin to the
prom and not her which looked highly energised
and believeable with her being negative towards
him. She was terrific too on her
crying emotions along with going ballistic and bringing everything together
superbly. This film would definetely mark one of
her credits when she was crowned a scream queen
during this time period.
Lee Purcell (Julia Trent) brings on the
healthy girl next door type of appeal and looking
stunningly hot. She comes across well with her
supposedly innocent type of behavior and her
harmless attitude in which she pulls off well
that there's something dark about her and then
definetely shows her great wicked characteristics
too. She knew on how to have a good evil
aggressive attitude in her part of the film
showing a nice two faced versatality in her part
of the film. A nice snapping reaction when her fellow actress says that she wants to go with her
to visit a friend of hers in the hospital which
looked highly energised. Although she wasn't well remembered
for her role in this film throughout her acting
career she was very impressive and stood out the
most throughout the whole cast in the film.
Jeremy Slate (Tom Bryant) portrayed a nice
parent in the flick with his passive and soft
spoken behavior and yet does well by acting too
easy on things along with showing some good
hypnotised reactions when he is under a spell by
acting wicked and obnoxious in which made his
role quite interesting.
Jeff East (Peter Bryant) had the nice clean
cut type of appeal to his role and really knew
how to come across nicely on set with what he's
doing. He was a true character actor with his
likeable attitude and really got into his role.
Carol Lawrence (Leslie Bryant) knew on how
to act disturbed as the family woman in the film
by what is happening but trying to not let it get
to her. She also does well with her upsetting
actions in the flick showing off a ton of energy
in her role along with acting like a basket case
too.A nice motioning movement on her by
slapping someone in the face.
Fran Drescher (Carolyn Baker) was great in
one of her first acting gigs as an outgoing teen
in the flick in which she adds alot of spunk like
always to the roles she portrayed. She was very
full of life in her role and you can tell she
worked very hard in the part she portrayed in the
flick.
The
music is terrifically composed by John
D'Andrea and Micheal Lloyd who was
producing records for bubblegum rock idols during
this time period with Shaun Cassidy and
Leif Garrett. There's great peaceful 70's
violin music for the pleasant moments in the
country with the family as well as it changing to
high pitched sounds for the terror and suspense
like you'd hear in a Friday the 13th
flick. Plus alot of good deep horn playing too
with all that's happening. All of this was
sounding incredibly brilliant and superb. |
