Home for the Holidays

Enjoyably outlandish made for TV movie. The plot is nothing new, just another rehash of the danger in the old creaky house thriller. What really is of interest in this is the cast. The great thing about these television films from the 60's and 70's is the ability they had to pull together high quality performers that you normally wouldn't see cast together. While this one manages to gather an awesome group of actresses the absurdity of casting them as sisters and Julie Harris as their stepmother, since none of them favor each other in the least nor Walter Brennan who is supposed to be their father, is a head scratcher. To add fuel to this particular fire is the fact that Sally Field and Eleanor Parker had just played mother and daughter the previous year in Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring. Fun in an absurd way but not believable for a minute.

A really entertaining proto-slasher with an all star cast that tells the story of a dying man who summons his daughters back home for Christmas when he thinks his new wife might be poisoning him. Someone in a yellow raincoat and carrying a pitchfork doesn't want that secret getting out and, one by one, the daughters are terrorized and murdered. Acting is better than most films like this thanks to the great cast and the rainy atmosphere helps a lot in keeping things creepy. The only downside is that, given its TV movie origins, it can't embrace the slasher aspects as much as if it had been a theatrical release so all the horror scenes are kept in PG territory.

Definitely not your run-of-the-mill family/Christmas reunion tale, this surprisingly suspenseful made for TV horror flick explores the darker side of the holiday season. The all-star cast(Sally Field, Eleanor Parker, Julie Harris, Jessica Walter, Jill Haworth, Walter Brennan) is wonderful, the direction(by John Moxey) is rock solid, and the script(by Joseph Stefano, of PSYCHO fame) is a good, effectively creepy little story.

This is a neat little thriller by the prolific producing team of Spelling-Goldberg. It's written by the screenwriter of "Psycho"! When Christmas comes and a glut of weepy or cheerful specials are filling the airwaves, sometimes a dose of morbid, downbeat drama can be a nice change! Ever-cranky Brennan plays a father who is dying (and suspects his second wife, Harris, of doing him in.) He sends for his four daughters (Parker, Walter, Haworth, Field) to come to his aid. At 50, 32, 26 and 26, these ladies are the least likely sisters one could imagine! In fact, Parker had played Field's mother only two years prior. The ladies don't even look like they could be related. It matters little, though, once the drama sets in and the acting begins. Brennan apparently would have preferred sons as each lady has a male nickname: Alex, Freddie, Jo and Chris. Parker, still lovely when lit correctly, does a great job in her role. Harris matches her and gives a good performance in a difficult part. Walter is a touch over the top, but is fine and Field is charming...though eventually she gets to scream her head off. The film is very simple, made during a time when TV movies didn't feel the need to pad out to fill two hours if the material didn't warrant it. The movie, sans commercials, runs 78 minutes. The result is a pretty tight little story that builds to some genuine suspense. The climactic thunderstorm goes a long way in providing the right atmosphere.

Well-done made for TV thriller is a little known but worth wild movie.

Sisters are summoned home by their bed-ridden father because he believes his new wife is trying to murder him. Now it seems that the whole family just may be on the murderer's hit list.

Thanks to its great cast, this becomes a surprising good thriller, especially considering it was made for TV in 1972. A well-mounted mystery with some good suspense and set-ups. Aided along by a fairly moody atmosphere; this Christmas there's no snow, just heavy rainstorms.

Sally Field, Jessica Walters, and the great Julie Harris turn in the best performances for this one. The subtle music score is nicely done, as is the whole movie. In fact, my only real complaint about this movie is the camera operator's apparent obsession with 'zoom' shots!

All around, this is a pretty decent little thriller that's worth a rainy night watch.

*** out of ****