The Premonition

1976 "A masterpiece of terror and suspense."
5.3| 1h34m| PG| en
Details

When a deranged woman and her carny boyfriend plot to abduct her biological daughter from the girl's foster parents, the foster mother is plagued by premonitions and psychic visions.

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Also starring Edward Bell

Reviews

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
udar55 A suburban couple (Sharon Farrell and Edward Bell) find their lives in danger when a psycho woman (Ellen Barber) and her carny clown boyfriend (Richard Lynch) attempt to kidnap their adopted daughter. Naturally, the daughter is really hers and was taken away when she was locked up in a mental institution. But what our villains don't count on is the adoptive mother having some ESP tendencies that will foil their escape plans. This is an odd thriller. Parts of it are really well made and other parts are really muddled. Director-writer Robert Allen Schnitzer has the germ of a great idea in here, but doesn't seem entirely convinced by even his own ideas. For example, the parapsychology stuff isn't given much detail and even when a doctor specializing in it enters the picture, you're still not sure of what she is talking about. This brings us scenes like the doctor saying stuff to Farrell like, "Just let it flow" and that results in a painting crying blood. Cool visual, but does it really mean anything? Worth seeing for some creepy dream sequences and an early performance from Richard Lynch.
MARIO GAUCI This seemed intriguing from its synopsis and, having received a "Special Edition" treatment on DVD, I had high hopes for it – but, ultimately, the movie proved a disappointment! Hence, I contrived to end my Halloween challenge this year with a whimper as opposed to a bang (worse still, it wasn't even really a horror film)!! Anyway, the plot has to do with the kidnapping of a child from a foster home by its natural but unbalanced mother (Ellen Barber); aiding her is a creepy carny – played for all the eccentricity he's worth by Richard Lynch (his egomaniac here isn't all that different from the actor himself, as seen in his 15-minute career overview included on Media Blasters' DVD). The foster mother (Sharon Farrell) discovers she has paranormal abilities and attempts to locate her adopted daughter with the help of her befuddled husband's expert black female colleague. All the while, however, she has to contend with weird hallucinations – apparitions by a bloodied Barber (she having been killed by her own partner) and especially the recurring forming of ice on mirrors as if to obfuscate her view into the psyche (which, at one point, even causes Farrell to crash her car). Reliable veteran character actor Jeff Corey also appears as the investigating Police Detective.The film had potential (in the accompanying interview, director Schnitzer states that when he was offered the original script – which he reworked – the parapsychology element wasn't even present!) but the end result is slow, muddled (would-be surreal visuals aren't enough in this case to keep one interested), pretentious (there's no explanation, for instance, as to why Lynch and Barber have to go into the occasional psychotic rage – which is as close as it comes to horror throughout), dull and even ludicrous (the finale in which the girl is 'lured' into the open by having Farrell play a tune on a grand piano in the town square in the middle of the night in front of an audience of curious onlookers!).
xredgarnetx It is funny how this movie has stayed with me over the years, and I only saw it in its initial run and maybe one time after that on TV. THE PREOMNITION is a forgotten semiprecious stone that has a scare or two and decent acting by a cast including sexy Sharon Farrell (where is she now?) and perpetual bad guy Richard "Scarface" Lynch. The story, such as it is, is about the kidnap of a child and a woman's psychic abilities. To say more would give away too much. It apparently is available on video, so see it for yourself. A tidy enough little thriller that doesn't have the punch of a big Hollywood production, but made great "B" fare in its time. It could stand to be remade.
William This film had a very good idea, and some good visual stuff, and a good story to tell, and great acting by Richard Lynch and Ellen Barber as kidnappers of Sharon Farrels adopted girl (she is the birth mother of the adopted child) but ultimately the film is bogged down with slowness, and also Richard Lynch's character's later motives on why he still wants to kidnap and keep the child is rather unclear, and despite winning the viewers some sympathy to Barbers character, and how she wants to reunite with her birth child, they make her into a super crazed loonie in the middle of the film, whcih defeats the set up earlier. A good rewrite would have helped. Good ending though! This is a good example of low budget "regional, local" filming in far away states with Hollywood actors that Avco Embassy was picking up for release back in the 70's. (similar to SCALPELS)

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