User reviews

Every teenager has dreamt of having the mental power to smite their enemies. In the late 1970's, Hollywood gave that power to a select few. The made for TV production `The Spell' (1977) was a well done version of the theme, and fell between `Carrie' (1976) and `The Fury' (1978) in both chronology and style. `The Spell' came closest to the altered reality that most of us envisioned when running this scenario in our own teenage mental movie house. No ultra-evil-parents or goody-two-shoes types (Carrie) and no spies and secret organizations (The Fury).

Instead, `The Spell' presents the story of a regular out of place teenager in a regular unfair world. She finds that she suddenly has telekinetic powers, and the revenge that most of us dreamed about becomes a reality for her. The pacing is a little choppy, but the heart of the story unfolds nicely. The world is still unfair, she just doesn't realize that it is now HER that is being unfair to those who don't have her secret power. The result is a ‘teenage telekinesis' movie that actually relies on character rather than special effects for its most important moments. While the parents in the other two movies were either nuts (Carrie) or non-existent (The Fury) the parents in this movie are loving people who are trying to provide some proper guidance to a daughter who just seems to be changing from a timid young girl into a smart-ass teenager. Hallmark moments were never like this

Teenager Rita is harassed by her classmates for being withdrawn and overweight. At home, her father and younger sister treat her like utter garbage; her mother seems to understand her to some extent, though not entirely. But Rita is, unbeknownst to them all, honing her own supernatural skills that jeopardizes anyone who comes in her path.

This made-for-television romp from the golden age for TV horror films riffs on "Carrie" in multiple ways, even imitating key moments from the 1976 film. Yes, so "The Spell" is a cash-in. But what else is there to say about it? More than one may think. It is not exactly a well-made film: It's choppily-edited and the narrative is a bit heavy-handed. The bulk of the film is really made up of twisted family melodrama, which would be rather boring if it weren't the most utterly bizarre family dynamic ever filmed.

I honestly did not realize until about thirty minutes in that the protagonist, Rita, was a blood relative of the family; not only does she look nothing like her on screen parents and sibling, but she is treated by virtually every member of her family like an unwelcome cousin, twice removed—maybe even worse—and for no immediately decipherable reason. They just simply despise her, and her resentment continues to grow (and with frankly good reason). The relationships on which the film is predicated are utterly strange and do leave the audience somewhat adrift, as there is virtually no likable character from beginning to end.

The performances here are memorable, with Lee Grant playing the stern but sometimes-empathetic mother; a young Helen Hunt plays Rita's perfect little sister, and Susan Myers (who, for the record, is not at all overweight) is memorable in the lead role, delivering some surprisingly chilling scenes; her performance at times reminded me of Tina Romero's in "Alucarda," mixed with a bit of Linda Blair from "The Exorcist." There are a handful of scare scenes here that are dated by contemporary standards, though one is so bizarre and unexpected it's almost disturbing. The twist ending is mildly clever, though fairly perceptible by the time the film has rolled into its final act, and the whole thing ends rather abruptly (not uncommon for television films of this era).

Overall, "The Spell" is an amusing film that I personally found utterly absorbing, largely because its core melodrama was so perplexing. It's a fun, frivolous viewing experience for fans of seventies television horror as it does capture the era effectively, and there is a handful of sideshow attractions to be had. Perhaps the most memorable element of it all though is the fact that most of its runtime consists of an introverted teenage girl being groundlessly flanked by not only her peers, but her entire family. The seventies were a strange time, I guess. 7/10.

Middling TV movie about a slightly chubby teen (Susan Myers) who is constantly teased by her sister and classmates. Even her own father treats her like garbage. She begins getting even when she is taught how to be a witch by her gym teacher. Her sympathetic mother (Lee Grant) does not approve.

This was obviously inspired by 'Carrie', though this one under-develops the high school turmoil in favor of the girl's miserable family life. There is nary a likable character present here. In fact, I haven't disliked characters this much since Mario Azzopardi's 'Deadline', a film where I literally wanted to jump on screen and strangle the wife with my bare hands. The girl's father is a dick, plain and simple. I was hoping for his gruesome demise the entire time. Her sister (played by a young Helen Hunt) isn't much better. I hated these people so much that I was longing for the film to focus more on the school as opposed to the family. I did like Lelia Goldoni as the gym teacher, but she has about three scenes total.

Characters aside, there are a few good moments. The opening with the popular girl pulling off circus style tricks on the gym rope was fun. We also get a bizarre death scene where a woman's skin starts smoldering, and the confrontation between student and teacher is well done.

Really though, this film is far from special. Along with what's already been mentioned, we also have to deal with one of those horrid TV scores and there's a twist at the end that's pretty weak. The characters, though, are what make it a real struggle to get through.

"The Spell" is a made for TV movie about a very unpopular teenage girl who is a bit plain and she has found an answer to her loneliness....revenge. Somehow, she's about to use her mind and spells to hurt people...and she seems to have little problem with this. However, there is more to the story...other powers apart from the teen's....and no one is safe.

The best thing about this movie are the twists that occur at the end. The acting is generally good...but often a bit shrill. Now I am not daying this film is brilliant, but it IS genuinely creepy and different enough from "Carrie" that it's still worth yout time.

The story is standard. Shades of Carrie au bal du diable (1976). A misunderstood overweight teenager Rita (Susan Myers) is dissed by her quazi friends and her family for being a tad pudgy. She sulks and eventually finds a way taught by here friendly gym teacher, Jo Standish (Lelia Goldoni), to use her "will" to squish them.

It takes some time for everyone to come around to what is happening. She is just getting used to her new environment when she may find there is still competition. She just can't win, or can she?

This is not the first time for this formula movie and will not be the last. However, it is fun to see all the old actors acting.

Odd that Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant and talented television director Lee Philips would get involved in this: a small-screen variation on Brian De Palma's "Carrie", a boob-tube imitation that is strictly for boobs (and children in 1977 who weren't allowed to see R-rated "Carrie" in theaters). The young girl is plain and overweight but finds in the occult a release to her frustrations (what a great lesson to all the plain, overweight teenagers of the world!). Incidentally, there were other "Carrie" clones right about this time: "Jennifer", "Ruby", even parts of De Palma's own "The Fury" (I guess he couldn't get enough of that telekinesis). This one stoops to low means of occult-related revenge...and shame on Philips for wasting his--and our--collective time. *1/2 from ****

This is a good movie!!! At first it doesn't make sense where she got the powers but the story develops and develops! Helen Hunt young appearance is so cool too. Overall acting was superb from the cast. And one of the deaths is freaking awesome scary!!!!! Check it out. Made for TV and plays just fine.

This movie has lots of good ingredients that could have made it pretty good if they tried about 20% harder. But it was, ultimately, kind of boring and fell flat for me. It was pretty low rent for Lee Grant in terms of the plot, but her acting lifted it somewhat. The scenery was typical mid-20th century beautiful California wealth, but the plot was truly ridiculous with an absolutely loathesome father and lots of noise made about the main character's fat, even though she really was not fat. One curiosity to me is this was said to be made for TV, but the scene where the dad notices his car hood is warm and exclaims "sh*t!" had me wondering if it originally made it onto TV that way.

Yes, yes, it's a 'Carrie' rip-off, but still enjoyable! Rita has a nice face and is not at all a bad kid. Her weight is the problem - kids tease her for it. She's more introverted but very intelligent. To make matters worse, she has a knock-out sister - played by a very young Helen Hunt - whom she doesn't get along with. It is hinted that the dad, played by James Olson, has been guilty of playing favorites. (One gets the sense that Rita's weight alone is not the only source of trouble between her and her parents, but that possibility is never explored any further, sad to say.) Kristina is his little princess, and Rita....well, she is not easy to love, according to him. Rita is much closer to her mother. I felt that this character was very sympathetic, even when she was exacting revenge. It's the gym teacher at her school that brings attention to and develops her innate ability. But it's Rita's mother who has to pull her troubled daughter back from the brink of abusing her power. There is a scene with a showdown between the gym teacher and Rita when they have a dispute as to how she should use her talents. This was an NBC movie (yes, I did enjoy movies from networks other than ABC!). If you like this sort of stuff, you probably will enjoy 'The Initiation of Sarah' (which was ABC), another 'Carrie'-copycat with a more sophisticated spin. The setting is a university so the characters are much older. However, a similar family dynamic is presented with two sisters, one adopted, trying to iron out family problems and university life. The troubled one with the powers is played by Kay Lenz, and that's all I'll say here so as not to spoil it!

Not a bad film that was made for TV. Quite entertaining really.

Rita is a 15 year old overweight girl who is made fun of by the other kids. She finds out she has supernatural powers and uses them against those that she feels is causing her problems.

I felt sorry for Rita in the beginning - but as the film progressed she became annoying - not listening to her parents, trying to act like she's an adult really became annoying to me. By the end of the film I was ready for Rita to be gone - well away from her family or something happen to her to straighten up and act right.

Pretty good even though it's made for TV. Worth watching if you like the older films and occult/witches types of films.

7/10

She's 15 and at an age that is just so much more complicated when you're fat. Rita discovers that she has telekenetic powers and can seek revenge against those who are cruel to her. Good performances by Lee Grant and a young Helen Hunt. Bostock is downright chilling in the role. Some excellent special effects for this type of movie, and the end scenes are quite scary, actually. Most of all, a good message about teenagers. Sometimes they can be witchy and seem like aliens, but what they need most of all is love.

This movie is very reminiscent of Carrie but with a larger and more complex family. However, the daughter with magical powers in full adolescent crisis remains. She takes revenge in an exaggerated way on anyone who has wronged her, real or perceived, and proves to be devoid of remorse even towards the family.

A teenaged girl, taunted by her schoolmates because she is overweight, uses her supernatural powers to take revenge.

First of all, the lead girl that everyone calls "tubbo" is hardly overweight. Homely, sure, but not overweight. I mean, not nearly as much as she could be.

Second, this film necessarily will have to be compared to "Carrie" -- two films about teenage girls who get teased and have magic powers, released around the same time. This is, of course, the poor man's "Carrie" and thus ended up on TV rather than in theaters. But is it really less of a film?

Third, this film has the distinction of having an early appearance by Helen Hunt (one of my least favorite actresses). Here, she is only 13 or 14. If you happen to be a fan of hers (and I do not know why), this might be worth checking out if you want to see how she acted in her formative years (though, since both her father and uncle were directors, she sort of grew up in the lifestyle).

This is similiar to Carrie but I actually thought it was better. It's tough for me to remember because I saw it when I was so young.

The premise is similar to Carrie, high school girl develops powers and uses thos powers to make things happen. That said, it varies from Carrie a little though I don't want to say to much or I'll give it away.

This is sort of "Carrie" meets "The Craft". The people who like that type of movie will like this. I don't know how one canm even see this, it is from quite awhile ago and I have been eager to find info on it for years-thanks IMBD!!

But if you like movies like this and can find it-watch it. It's less brutal then Carrie(if I;m remembering right-it HAS been awhile!). And I think some may like it just as much as Carrie.

About as bland as they come, this made for TV film features a bullied teenager and the people around her who mysteriously start having accidents, some of which are fatal. There are some crazy scenes like a girl atop a rope in gym class spinning like a whirling dervish and a woman spontaneously combusting, but these things just felt silly and the runtime seemed mostly filled with padding. It's also got quite a bit of unpleasant fat shaming of the main character, both from the kids at school and her own family (wow, that dad isn't going to win father of the year, is he?). There's a twist in the dramatic final scene which offers a little life, but unfortunately it also causes quite a few of the things which came before it to no longer make sense. I came to see Helen Hunt in an early role, and that's about all I got out of this. Mercifully, it's not that long though.

For this movie to be a made for television movie, it was definitely one of those you can't forget. I saw this movie when I was around 10 or 11 and here I am now 33 and have been searching for years to purchase it. I can remember every detail about this movie. The girl on this movie make CARRIE look like a goodie two shoes. (Smile) This is definitely one to add to the horror collection.