La premonición

Five-year-old Janie Bennett (Golden Globe nominee Danielle Brisebois) happily lives with her foster parents Miles and Sheri Bennett (Sharon Farrell), oblivious to the fact that her insane birth mother is attempting to kidnap her. When the birth mother, Andrea Fletcher, and her boyfriend Jude (Richard Lynch), a carny, do attempt to kidnap the girl, Andrea cannot go through with it.

Writer-director Robert Schnitzer was influenced by the European directors of the 1930s and 40s, as many American directors of the 1970s were. This influence is evident, and definitely has an Italian sensibility about it. And to keep costs low, the state of Mississippi provided cop cars, the fire department created "rain" with their hoses and a real carnival that happened to be in town was used as Jude's work environment. This makes the film look bigger than it was.

The casting of Richard Lynch was a great decision, catching him before he got any bigger. Lynch was hired, according to Schnitzer, for his "widely divergent moods" and for just being "unique". Lynch, in turn, claimed to be influenced by "Rififi" and "Psycho" in his acting. And to some degree the legendary mime Marcel Marceau, which is evident.

Baseball fans will notice a cameo from Roy White, the multi-World Series winning New York Yankee (and coach). This is especially amusing considering Schnitzer had no knowledge whatsoever of sports and did not even know who White was when he appeared in the film. (He was an active player during shooting.)

What I love about this film is the unusual score from opera composer Henry Mollicone, especially in the second half. Although the movie has plenty going for it as a slow-burning horror story with carnival overtones, the music really makes it stand out.

The film had mixed reviews. Leonard Maltin called it mediocre, saying its "muddled script works against the eerie atmosphere in this supernatural tale." A more positive review by Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever called it "a well-done para-norm tale." Maltin is probably right for the most part, as the script could have been tightened... but that makes it no less eerie!

Arrow Video has cleaned up the picture and put this film on their box set, American Horror Project Vol 1. Thank you, Arrow! We get plenty of special features on the disc, too: Audio commentary with director-producer Robert Allen Schnitzer, who (of course) knows everything about the production. He also has a very sarcastic sense of humor that makes his stories all the more amusing -- are his tales of the turtle wrangler true or just a joke?

The Arrow disc has a brand new interview with composer Henry Mollicone. And an interview with actor Richard Lynch, which covers "Premonition" but also touches on acting in general, such as his work on "Scarecrow" with Al Pacino. If that is not enough, we even get three Robert Allen Schnitzer short films: 'Vernal Equinox', 'Terminal Point' and 'A Rumbling in the Land'. These films are so rare that IMDb does not even know about them.

A neurotic Andrea Fletcher(Ellen Barber)returns from a mental institution.The woman is looking for her daughter Janie.With the help of a circus employee Jude(Richard Lynch)Andrea wants to kidnap the girl from her adoptive parents.But the plan goes wrong and the supernatural visions begin...I can't believe that Robert Allen Schnitzer's "The Premonition" is rated so low.The script is imaginative as it delves into the bond of motherhood,telepathy and precognition.The acting is strong,the direction by Schnitzer is competent and there is some powerful suspense.The shock moments are very effective for example the scene where Andrea in a red evening gown slips into Janie's bedroom is very eerie and sad.A must-see for fans of "The Brood" and "Don't Look Now".8 out of 10.

The sedate, middle class couple who adopted delightful poppet Janie (Danielle Briseboise) shockingly have their suburban quietude thrown into roiling existential turmoil after, Janie's increasingly anxious mother, Sheri (Sharon Farrell) strongly suspects her child is in mortal danger. Distressed by the discovery of pretty, yet emotionally disturbed Andrea (Ellen Barber)in Janie's bedroom, she later believes, Andrea is using witchcraft to wish them additional spiritual harm! Sheri's disturbing 'visions' suggest a tangible telekinetic ability, but her pragmatic scientist husband, Edward (Miles Bennet) is reluctant to accept that the danger encroaching upon them has a preternatural origin! Clearly disturbed, there's no doubting the entirely corporeal threat of, Jude (Richard Lynch) a charismatic carny whose benign clowning exterior belies a volatile nature capable of manifesting fearsome acts of bestial violence!

Maverick filmmaker, Robert Allen Schnitzler's off-beat, genuinely unsettling Para-psychological horror oddity is steeped in preternatural weirdness and rewardingly eschews graphic gore for intense emotional discords which cut deeper than, Michael Myers crimson-slathered knife! While teasingly oblique, Schnitzer's haunting, compellingly strange psychodrama 'The Premonition' is a beautifully structured, handsomely photographed, strikingly original independent feature. The exceptionally fine cast is complemented with Henry Mollicone & Pril Smiley's especially beguiling score. Schnitzler's iconoclastic, extra sensory perception warping cult classic is both a fascinating 70s cinematic time capsule and wholly timeless nightmare. The eerie, darkly evocative themes of macabre metaphysical realms are certainly no less captivating when viewed today! I predict a great number of new fans shall willingly succumb to the hypnotic allure of this hallucinatory mystery.

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)

Andrea Fletcher (Ellen Barber) is recently out of a mental hospital and still unhinged. Declared an unfit mother prior to her hospital stay, she's desperate to get back her young daughter. Jude (Richard Lynch) is an acquaintance she met while institutionalized. Now working as a carnival clown, he keeps an eye out for Andrea's daughter. He spots the girl one day with her adoptive mother, Sheri (Sharon Farrell). After sharing the news with Andrea, the two plan to kidnap little Janie from her foster parents. The stress of the events sets off a series of psychic visions in Sheri. With the help of her husband's colleague, a professor in parapsychology, she attempts to use her abilities to get Janie back.

This Mississippi-lensed slice of regional horror is one of the most underrated films I've ever come across. Just take a look at that absurd IMDb rating. In no way, shape or form does this haunting little chiller deserve to be rated that low. Yes, it does have it's problems. The early scenes between Sheri's husband and Dr. Kingsly feel shoehorned in, and the development of ESP in Sheri later on seems to be a bit too coincidental. Her husband has just met an expert on the subject a day or two before this all happens. The metaphysical elements also never come together as cohesively as director Robert Allen Schnitzer likely hoped. They certainly add to the intrigue of the picture, however, not to mention the mood. What doesn't add to the mood are some scene transitions that are really jarring.

With all of that said, this is a beautiful film. The hypnotic atmosphere is vividly rendered, striking me as a mixture between Val Lewton, "Carnival of Souls" and "Let's Scare Jessica to Death". The haunting tone and emphasis on character are also things that "The Premonition" has in common with the aforementioned films. The people on display here are emotionally wounded, be it Andrea's unbearable need for her daughter or Sheri's desire to have a child of her own, which she's incapable of. Even Jude has his issues. He clearly wishes to settle down with Andrea, but she's only intent on using him. Her rant about him never being a father to Janie or anyone else gets under his skin to the point that he keeps the kid when he has no real reason to later on. Sharon Farrell and Richard Lynch are both very good in their roles, though it's Ellen Barber who really shines. At first appearance, her Andrea looks to be a normal young woman, but she flies off the deep end at the drop of a hat. There's an intense hatred behind her eyes, one to which even her partner in crime isn't immune.

Another thing in the film's favor is that it's never predictable. There was one big surprise about midway through, and Schnitzer takes a unique approach to his ending. I think it paid off, as the climactic sequence is a thing of beauty in regard to how it relates to our characters. That's the gist of it, too. This is a strictly low key affair, very character-driven. Is it a masterpiece? No, but it is a damn fine sleeper that deserves much more respect than it's been given in the 34 years since it's release.