Le terrible secret

I saw this movie when I was a kid and I never forgot about it! I have looked for it for years in stores, online, etc. I have never even met anyone who had heard of it until I got here and had a brainstorm. This movie was so well done, no special effects really, but like the other comments, the scene with the door and the rocks and that evil, evil teenage girl stayed with me for 30 years! This movie is a classic.

I also remember vividly, the policeman in the park at the end of the movie who looked like Hope's husband. I think back now and I realize it was a perfect set up for a sequel-in the days when there were no sequels!

I'm so glad other people have good memories of the horror films of the 60's, 70's. I sure enjoyed them

I agree with everyone below who remembers this movie from their childhood as being very scary. There are a couple of vivid images - and story lines - that have stayed with me these 30-odd years. I've sometimes wondered if this is where Sting got the idea for the darker connotations of the song title "I'll Be Watching You"! Whew. The whole Salem thing; the whole story line in Salem; and the whole story line in the present, and how they inter-link. The resolution still chills me, even as I write this. Hope Lange of course is great in it; her husband and the girl on the road. Chilling performances. DOES ANYONE HAVE THIS ON TAPE / KNOW HOW TO GET IT ON TAPE?

There was some good stuff made for television during the seventies, and while Crowhaven Farm doesn't stand tall as one of the best horror films ever made, it's a very decent one that is certainly worth seeing. The plot doesn't really offer anything new, and simply follows the idea of a coven of witches, centred around the sinister Crowhaven Farm. The plot focuses on Ben and Maggie Porter, a couple that inherit the farm after the death of her father. Their marriage is tainted by the fact that Maggie cannot bear children, and the couple move to the farm in the hope that the change of scenery will help to pick up their relationship. Under the direction of experienced TV director Walter Grauman, a good cast gives way to a thoroughly interesting tale of witchcraft. Grauman does well with the atmosphere, and while most of the film is build up for the ending; things such as the haunting music score and numerous plot revelations ensure that the film never dries up. Of course, all this build up needs a good climax, and the film gets just that with an ending that definitely justifies getting there. Overall, this is obviously a little thin and it won't be winning any 'greatest horror film ever' awards...but it's good stuff and comes recommended.

Someday, someone should write a book examining why TV movies of the late 60s and early 70s were often preoccupied with witchcraft and horror at a time when the cinema shied away from the subjects, except for B movies and the rare blockbuster ala "Rosemary's Baby." Even some of the sillier ones ("Satan's School for Girls" anyone?) worked up some genuine chills. But "Crowhaven Farm" has to be the best. From the opening scenes right through the surprising (and terrifying) climax, this little thriller puts "The Exorcist" and other, later, big-budget chillers to shame. It may have been the TV movie's lack of pretentiousness that worked to its advantage. Made quickly and economically, "Crowhaven Farm" had no time for high-fallutin' symbolic nonsense. It did what it set out to do - inspire nightmares - and did it very well.

While Crowhaven Farm was not the BEST made-for-TV chiller of its era, it does rank up there with the dozen or so that tend to stand out in the minds of baby boomers raised during TV's golden age. Forget the special effects that seem so essential to the success of today's horror movies; this one forces you to rely strictly on your imagination (remember that thing in your head???) to understand its premise. This movie was made in 1970, during the final season of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", and, like several typecast actresses of the period, Hope Lange attempted to "break away" from her sitcom character much like Elizabeth Montgomery did in "The Victim" (remember THAT one???) and did it quite effectively. Crowhaven Farm is simply chilling, with the grainy film grade and squealing violins in the soundtrack adding to the unsettling feel of the film. This genre of film will probably never see a comeback, due to the all the computer-technology wars in horror films made today, but at least we'll always have them to look back on. EIGHT STARS.