Clevercell Very disappointing...

Palaest recommended

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

lost-in-limbo Rachael Bryant's cousin, Julia comes to live with her family at the country farm, after her parents where killed in a car accident. Though during her stay, strange things begin to happen, like the horse seems to lose it around Julia and men in the Rachael's life seem to fall under her spell. She tries to convince her family and friends that there's something not quite right about Julia, but she gets dismissed as nothing more but jealously.I was quite impressed for what is was and Craven's low-budget TV feature (after such brutally raw efforts as "The Last House on the Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes") is an earnest curio, despite its timid treatment for a wider audience. This version is the international extended cut of American TV movie "Stranger in The House" and was adapted from the novel of Lois Duncan. The seductively adorable Lee Purcell definitely casts a spell over you in her hypnotic performance as the sweetly venomous cousin Julia. In the words of Cliff Richards, "She's just a devil woman. With evil on her mind. Beware the devil woman. She's gonna get you." An engrossingly likable doll face Linda Blair (who has one puffy hairdo!) is the main attraction (five years after her demonic role in "The Exorcist") and is tailor made for the part. While, it starts off slowly and the material sticks to a fundamental pattern. Craven manages to keep it interesting by drawing you in. He rallies up the ominous tension sufficiently and feed us to some black humour, but it does seem to lose that edge created earlier on by falling into predictability and nonsensical actions (plenty of rash decisions) that creep into the latter half. This is when it also finally picks up the pace and adds the (somewhat cheesy) thrills and chills to the mixture. The laughable special effects also kick in too. The way they approach the camera-work is glaringly workable and the overwhelming music score sticks to the same close-circuit cues. And throw in one of those endings. Yeah, one of those! The performances from the rest of the cast are simply okay and an early appearance by Fran Drescher wasn't too annoying. Good lord! Maybe it was because she didn't get enough screen time to provide her irritating twang.A compellingly solid offering without being too daring or surprising, but its Purcell and Blair's performances that makes this general item passable. Just move right in!

gridoon Linda Blair is this film's main draw today, but Lee Purcell is the real star of the show: at first I wasn't too sure about her, but she has the mysteriously seductive presence that her role calls for, and her performance literally gets better by the minute. This may be a Wes Craven movie, but it is also a TV movie, so it is rather tame in terms of sexuality and violence; there are few real surprises and few real thrills until the last 15 minutes and the (long awaited) catfight between Blair and Purcell. With its "evil stranger is disrupting the life of a normal happy family" plot, you could say that this film was ahead of its time; thrillers of this type didn't become popular until the early 90's, with "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" and others like it. But one look at Linda's hair will convince you that it was NOT ahead of its time in other areas. In short, rent it but don't buy it. (**)

thedarkestclear It doesn't intrigue. For the first half hour this long role play occurs, in which the characters are introduced. The role play continues and slowly takes a slight turn as protagonist Rachel discovers THAT HER COUSIN IS A WITCH. That is quite the climax already. After an hour and about twenty minutes, the role play still continues and doesn't really change. No horror whatsoever, I only shrieked a bit as my cellular phone rang. As a 'psychological thriller' this movie might deserve something because I was so scared that the boredom of the movie begin would determine the entire process in time, but I just waited for something that would never happen. Craven can do better. And of course... the cousin continued.

Freya(sableOnBlond) the-real-roobeemoon I really REALLY like this film. I first seen this on , what do you know , public TV around Halloween time. Although I did not see it in its original release - I still found this enjoyable and spooky and the fact that Linda Blair is in this made it so much more enjoyable to watch. I seen it was on last year , around Halloween time on public TV - and I hope they decide to play it again this year.... Good Halloween fun. Not so scary but a bit creepy. Also , the ending is the best part. These days it also seems a bit funny at times. But I see it also as believable. PEACE & Happy Halloween to you and yours :)