L'emprise du mal

An truly outstanding, compulsive drama based on a true story concerning charismatic would-be poet Peter Coyote (in a career best performance) and his manipulation of just about everyone he comes into contact with, eventually leading to murder. This is a fascinating, intriguing telling of a rather bizarre murder case with not only Coyote on top form, but also matched by Robert Loggia as his exceedingly odd, certainly unhinged partner-in-crime. Just watch those final moments in the court-room as he completely loses it and incriminates himself. Wonderful stuff! There are also some very fine supporting performances, not least Peter Boyle's turn as one of the investigating detectives.

This is really what made for TV movies do best and I would recommend this without hesitation. Once you begin watching, you'll be hooked!

My step-father was Ken Reinert, and Karen and Michael were my step-brother and step-sister. My mother married Ken in the early/mid 70's and we became a family, with Karen & Michael spending the weekends and holidays with us. This movie was intense, very emotional, yet ran smoothly, and I still remember sitting in the TV room with Ken, Lynn, my little brother, Wayne, and myself week after week, watching the story of our lives played for all the world to see. It was very hard on my now X-step-father, Ken, and it took many years, a divorce,growing close with my brother,and a new loving girlfriend for him to find true happiness. I know from monthly communicating and seeing him for many years (since his divorce from my mother), that he died happy and in peace with his life finally after all of these years. My brother and I still speak of him often and the one question we don't know that will ever be answered is: "What did Dad marinate his porkloins in that made them taste so good (he was a chef)???"

It was a very impressively directed movie. It was kept clean, as opposed to the graphics that Joseph Wambaugh wrote about in his book. Like my mother stated above in her comment, feel free to contact myself if you have any questions. I actually didn't know there were websites concerning the murders. Thanks for reading this & have a great day! Thanks for caring about our family.

Just happened to see this web site. I was the Lynn Reinert that was featured in the film. My then husband, Ken Reinert, and I had been married about 2 years when all this occured. The movie is very accurate. Joseph Wambaugh sat down with me for a month and interviewed me for the book. It was a nightmare and is still hard to believe that it happened to us at all. If anyone has any questions about the whole thing, I'll try to answer them. Ken died 2 years ago this June. At least now he's with his children and knows what happened to them. It was a very disturbing thing to go thru and something that I hope no one else ever has too. As I said, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try to answer them.

The moral of this excellent series: never mindlessly trust someone who's all charm on the surface no matter how educated or "normal" they appear to be. The educated can be sociopaths too. Also, women shouldn't be so desperate and man-hungry that they'll fall for the first man who gives them affection and attention. How Susan Reinert could have allowed herself to be so easily manipulated and controlled is both puzzling and disturbing, especially since she had two children to consider. Both Peter Coyote and Robert Loggia give outstanding performances, but it's also infuriating that the real-life characters were able to do what they did while Bradfield's minions blindly believed his lies and (obvious) manipulations again and again. Those complicit morons should have been thrown in jail just for their cluelessness and blatant stupidity.

I live in the town and attended the school where this took place around the time when it occurred. the frame work of the story is true, and the names of the people are true, but little else is true. Upper Merion is not on the Main Line, we did not go to school in a Gothic cathedral. Many of the people portrayed in the story are portrayed poorly and maliciously. These events permanently have harmed them, and this movie has not helped. These events did occur and affected the school and the people involved. However, this does not reflect the real stories behind the people and the school.

This is a fine movie for entertainment value, but please do not believe everything portrayed in it.