Home For The Holidays (1972)

3 / 5 Dec '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey
Written by: Joseph Stefano
Actors include: Jessica Walter, Sally Field, Julie Harris
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Length: 73 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
An impressive cast and reasonable (though unsurprising) ending make this tolerable, but the wooden dialogue and the fact that they tried to cram too much into a tv movie work against it. The plot is about a sickly Father and his Daughter Alex (Eleanor Parker) who suspect his new Wife is poisoning him. They call all of his other daughters home to assist even though they aren't too eager. See their Mother committed suicide but they believe their Father pushed her to it for the most part so they aren't too eager to forgive. Daughter Christine (a young Sally Field) is the young sweet one, Jessica Walter is hilariously over the top as the alcoholic pill popping sister Frederica, and Jill Haworth plays the sister of many failed marriages Joanna. Step mom Elizabeth (Julie Harris) seems rather evil, and when the daughters start getting knocked off could she be responsible? It's a silly little murder mystery that is low on the murder scale (at one point someone is tapped with a pitchfork and dies...how does that work exactly?) that takes place over the holidays. There are definitely worse made-for-tv movies but there are better ones also.

Availability:  Not currently on DVD

A Taste Of Evil (1971)

3 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey
Written by: Jimmy Sangster
Actors include: Barbara Stanwyck, Roddy McDowall, Barbara Parkins
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Length: 73 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Considering this was a '70s made-for-tv movie that was written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Aaron Spelling productions I thought this would be a winner! It's not, in fact it's a rehash of so many films seen previously and this particular retelling is very dry. It's about a young girl who is raped, then put in an asylum because she's in a catatonic state and has sever trauma from the accident. We catch up with her as she's coming home to stay, though she doesn't seem particularly well. See she keeps seeing her Stepfather dead in various places which is tormenting her to say the least. She also has an over-the-top nutty Mother (Barbara Stanwyck) does provide some campy laughter but not a heck of a lot else. I don't want to give more away in case you do want to watch this but let's just say I was underwhelmed. It did have a tidy conclusion and it made clear sense at least!

Availability:  Currently unavailable anywhere