SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

azathothpwiggins SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY opens w/ a bizarre murder outside of a mansion, then switches to a college campus, where Peggy Johns (Sian Barbara allen) is looking for work. She lands a housekeeping job at the aforementioned estate, where she meets the rather odd Mrs. Elliot (Bette Davis- WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? BURNT OFFERINGS) and her sculptor son, Jeffrey (Ted Bessell). Peggy gets right to work. Over time, she learns of Jeffrey's sister, Jennifer, who is -supposedly- in Europe. Peggy also discovers a penchant for the macabre in Jeffrey's sculptures. When Mrs. Elliot is hurt in a fall, Peggy moves into the house. This, in spite of the man she met just outside the grounds, who is searching for his missing daughter, who used to have Peggy's position! Or, the fact that someone appears to be living in the loft over the garage, where she was told never to enter! As events unfold, the mystery deepens, and the weirdness-factor skyrockets! This does nothing to curb Peggy's inquisitiveness... well, okay, her nosiness! Not surprisingly, another death ensues. What is going on? What secrets does Mrs. Elliot know? Peggy is unaware of just how dangerous her sleuthing truly is! Even if she solves the mystery, will it cost Peggy her life? another made-for-TV thriller from the amazing 1970's! Suspenseful, w/ a nice twist(ed) ending. Ms. Allen and Mr. Bessell are excellent, and Ms. Davis is her magnificent self, in another of her horror roles! ...

Sam Panico The ABC Movies of the Week for November 24, 1973, Scream, Pretty Peggy was directed by Gordon Hessler, who was behind films as diverse as In 1969, The Oblong Box, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park and Sho Kosugi's introduction to the U.S., Pray For Death. It was written by Jimmy Sangster (who directed Hammer's Lust for a Vampire and wrote The Curse of Frankenstein, Who Slew Auntie Roo? and many more), so this film has a much better pedigree than you'd expect.Peggy is a college student who wants to be an artist, so she applies for a job at the home of noted sculptor Jeffrey Elliott (Ted Bessell, TV's That Girl) and his mother (Bette Davis!). Peggy is also one of the most annoyingly chipper heroines ever.Let me give you some advice, in case you are a young girl and looking for a housekeeping job and find yourself in a 1970's TV movie. If the house you're working in has an Old Hollywood actress in it, run (refer back to my past rules of always avoiding Old Hollywood actors and actresses). And if you find out that there's a room that you aren't allowed to go into, don't try and go into that room. Just get away as fast as you can.Peggy is too dumb to do that. No, she finds all of Jeffrey's crazy demon sculptures. And she meets George Thornton, whose daughter used to work in the house. And she runs afoul of Mrs. Bette Davis and you simply do not do that.Turns out that Jessica, Jeffrey's sister, is living in that room above the garage that Peggy isn't allowed into. Again, get out. Now.No, Peggy decides she wants to make a new friend. And what if that friend is really Jeffrey, who killed his sister and has split his personality with her inside his head? Oh Peggy. You brought this on yourself.Scream, Pretty Peggy is a fine little slice of 70's TV movie thrills. Any time you have Ms. Davis deigning to be in a TV movie, you're going to get something good. But seriously, I wish these girls would wise up. There are better things to do in this world than live in a house of manaics!

christopher-underwood Low budget TV movie and even if it is a bit derivative not a bad effort at all. Sian Barbara Allen doesn't impress and was probably a bit too old at 27 to convince as the young student. Ted Bessell is OK but both were destined to have careers restricted to TV. Bette Davis on the other hand, professional to the end, seems to struggle at times but always maintains that menacing presence. Indeed although 64 here would go on to make almost twenty more films before her death some 16 years later. Very early on when we see Bessell as the home based sculptor I'm already thinking of Corman's 1959 Bucket of Blood. Little do I know that by the end we shall see the influence of the following year's, Psycho as well. Nothing to get particularly excited about but enjoyable enough, thanks mainly to Bette Davis.

mark.waltz Could curiosity kill the pesky female college student (Sian Barbara Allen)? Could giving maimed Bette Davis a bell to ring when she needs her drive her crazy? Will she heed Ted Bessel's advice and stay out of the room above the garage? Will you be able to make it through this unsuspenseful thriller made for 1970's T.V.? For me, the answer to this last question was just barely because I was bored out of my mind waiting for something to happen. I've always been curious about the first decade of the T.V. movie where fading veteran stars like Bette Davis took on projects that 20 years ago they would have sneered at. Wearing a wig that is obviously far too young for her face, Davis is perhaps the only reason to tune into this with sitcom veteran Bessell a combination of cheery and moody as the artist who hires the eager Allen to be their new housekeeper against his mother's will. Davis isn't thrilled by this news and even more so when she is injured. Allen becomes obsessed with the alleged presence of Bessell's supposedly insane sister living above the garage, and Davis accuses her of trying to steal her son out from under her nose. So for nearly an hour, there is really nothing happening, and it is on the verge of becoming sleep-inducing when the weak plot begins to wrap up.