Are You in the House Alone?

The best thing going for this rather routine TV movie melodrama is spirited performances by the young stars, including a very youthful Dennis Quaid in a part that would have gone to Bruce Dern 15 years before. The movie is almost two separate movies in one, the first part leading up to the assault on the teenage female lead babysitter is a quasi-horror film not unlike the original When A Stranger Calls, which was released later. There are various suspects who may be making the terrorizing phone calls and messages, and we are in the dark until the assault. The second part, anti-climactic in a way, involves the girl recovering to be stronger and to bring the perpetrator to justice. Unfortunately this section is weaker than the first part regardless of the good intentions by the film-makers to show the difficult process of justice. The adult leads are really unspectacular and mediocre at best, and Tony Bill displays good reasons as to why he left acting to be a producer/director. There is a subplot regarding his character losing a job that really goes nowhere and was unnecessary to the main plot. Blythe Danner as the mother is often more hysterical that the teenage daughter, and comes off as hammy. She's done better work. Scott Columby is fine but could have easily been replaced by one of the other "Scott" actors of the time, either Jacoby or Baio. Alan Fudge is good, and shows why his last name was a big mistake. Where was his agent when he first started? Imagine if he and Barbara Hershey had gotten married!

A teen attends high school in the Los Angeles area (Kathleen Beller) wherein she starts dating a guy (Scott Colomby), but she's harassed by an unknown stalker. Blythe Danner and Tony Bill play the parents while Robin Mattson and Dennis Quaid are on hand as fellow students.

"Are You in the House Alone?" (1978) is a made-for-TV coming-of-age drama/mystery with elements of horror in the stalking & assault mold. In other words, it's real-life horror as opposed to a cartoonish assailant with a mask and a machete butchering people. It borrows a little from "Black Christmas" (1974) and is the precursor to "When a Stranger Calls" (1979), but don't expect a slasher or any gory, over-the-top horror.

This is perhaps the best movie to behold Beller's youthful, winsome beauty. Meanwhile Blythe Danner is attractive at 34 during shooting. On the other side of the gender spectrum, it is interesting to see Quaid when he was just starting out in the biz.

As far as whom the assailant turns out to be, I wasn't able to figure it out, which was a pleasant surprise. I can't say much else because I don't want to give anything away, but the flick drives home its point effectively while entertaining the viewer (as far as this genre goes).

The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles, including Ahmanson Mansion, Hancock Park, with a sequence of Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.

GRADE: B.

Lets start by stating that this is not a horror movie. Its much more of a drama on the subject of rape whit thriller elements to it. I must say that for a t.v. Movie, it doesn't take the subject to lightly. Sure, some of the writing isn't a thought provoking and serious as it should be given the subject matter but the core of the story and its unraveling i very close to reality and most of what doesn't resonate truth today sure seem appropriate for the time when this was made. Overall, I went into this thinking I was gonna watch a horror movie and even dough I quickly realize this was not gonna be the case, I was already to invested in it to quit and I see that as a sing of good writing and directing. I liked it a lot.

I think my issue with this film is that I was expecting a very different movie, but I also think it makes sense to expect a different one. It's called "Are You in the House Alone?" and is apparently about a babysitter being stalked by an unknown assailant, but that's really about 10 minutes of the running time. Most of this film is a high school drama about this girl's teen angst and her current boyfriend ... and she receives the odd anonymous note leading into the 10 minutes of not very effective horror. This is not for me.

A teenage girl is plagued by harassing phone calls. Her fear mounts when she is babysitting at a neighbor's home one evening and the caller rings her at that number.

There seems to be an effort to get this film marketed as a horror film. IMDb says it is one, Scream! Factory is selling it as one, and the title and cover strongly suggest a horror theme. While it is certainly a situation that would be terrifying to anyone in real life, that does not make it a horror film. It is more a "crime drama" or some such thing.

That being said, it is not a bad movie if you go in under proper expectations. A young Dennis Quaid gives a powerful performance, Blythe Danner does her part, and the rest of the cast is quite good. The story is fairly tight in its script.

For horror fans, what may be worth pointing out is that this film actually predates "When a Stranger Calls" by a year. Although the calls in this film are not coming from inside the house, there is a similar feeling and possibly a connection (though it could just be coincidence).