Really Surprised!

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Please don't spend money on this.

A lot of fun.

After Wes Craven made the groundbreaking "Last House on the Left" and "Hills Have Eyes", he fell into a bit of a rut before finally finding his footing again with the 1984 classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street". "Summer of Fear", the film I will be looking at today, is Wes Craven's third directorial effort. It's an ambitious effort to say the least but how well does a made for TV horror movie stand up 30 years last?The story is about a girl, Rachel Bryant (Linda Blair), who lives with her wealthy family in a nice house in the hills of Northern California. After her mother's sister, brother-in-law, and housekeeper die in a horrible car crash, the couple's daughter, Julia (Lee Purcell) comes to live with them. Julia seems a little shy if anything, but as time goes on, she begins to put an alluring spell over everyone she meets, pulling all of Rachel's family and friends away from her. After finding some odd things that belong to Julia (including a human tooth and burnt hair from Rachel's dog Trickle (for the movie the dog was changed to a horse due to Blair's love of horses and the name of the horse was Sundance instead of Trickle), Rachel begins to suspect that her cousin may be a practitioner of witchcraft, and she's hell-bent on turning Rachel's life upside down. Her open disbelieved suspicions caused her to become an outcast in front of her family.Ahh..."Summer of Fear," what a strange movie. Wes directed this voodoo/jealously movie for ABC in the summer of 1978. Well, like I said it's a very, very weird movie. The plot has something to do with this evil girl from the south that is sent to live with Linda Blair and her family after her parents die in a car accident. Of course, she's the "cousin" that no one in the family has seen in years and that no one really seems to remember. I know, I know...predictable...but try to follow me. After she is sent to live with Linda, all hell breaks loose as this evil girl tries to take over Linda's body or something (this is never really made clear). The special effects are corny, the editing choppy, and the acting is mediocre at best (wait till you see Fran "The Nanny" Dresher as Linda Blair's nasally best friend) and yet I still kinda enjoyed this picture. It's solid, fun, campy horror that never takes itself seriously. Go into it expecting a run-of-the-mill teenage made-for-TV movie and I think you may be pleasantly surprised.

Any horror movie starring Fran Drescher sounds petrifying to me, I don't care whether she stars as the supreme witch of a coven or simply appears in an insignificant supportive role. Growing up with a sister who insisted on watching that stupid show "The Nanny" over and over again, I've come to dread this unholy woman's quacking voice more than I dread all the serial killers in the entire world. My main motivation to watch "Summer of Fear" actually was the devilish bit of hope to witness Drescher die painfully on screen, but alas, this is a TV-movie so there's really not that much suffering going on. "Summer of Fear" is a modest, well-intended and remotely atmospheric little thriller, but it's far too tame to satisfy real horror fans and it honestly would have ended up in oblivion long time ago already if it weren't for the names of Wes Craven and Linda Blair parading the DVD-cover. Craven had already built up a solid reputation with the genuine 70's shockers "Last House on the Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes", and Linda Blair was undeniably one of the genre's best-selling faces since her unforgettable role in "The Exorcist". These three titles definitely qualify as rough and mature horror movies unsuitable for squeamish viewers, but here Craven and Blair team up for a "soft" story about a teenage girl who's the only one to realize her enchanting niece is really a deceptive and malignant sorceress. Sounds macabre enough, but the script actually spends most attention to the daily struggles of a prototypic teenage girl dealing with jealousy, (boy)friends, parents, sport competition, strict parents and flamboyant 70's hairstyles. The happy happy joy joy Bryant family welcomes an unexpected guest when cherubic niece Julia moves in after the sudden death of her parents in a tragic car accident. Rachel quickly suspects Julia of practicing witchcraft, but the rest of family thinks she's just jealous because Julia filched her lover and best friend and because Julia's butt isn't too fat to fit in a homemade dress. The competitive and notably hostile on screen chemistry between Linda Blair and Lee Purcell keeps the wholesome endurable – and even a bit entertaining – but "Summer of Fear" is overlong and unexciting. The conclusive 15 minutes or so are surprisingly effective (even including a bit of an unexpected twist) and suspenseful, but still they don't compensate enough for the disappointing foregoing. The infamous Fran Drescher stars as Rachel's (and subsequently Julia's) best friend Carolyn and, just in case you're wondering, that hyper-irritating nasal voice sound has been there since the late 70's already.

In the 70's and 80's this film was shown a multitude of times for late-night TV. I had seen it several times, and am amused that it has now been re-packaged, to dupe a whole new generation. Yet, it is not a bad movie, if you can get past the special effects.Yes, Linda Blair has that weird perm-thing going on; she is the daughter who suspects something is amiss with her cousin, played by Lee Purcell. The happy family as well as Ms. Blair's horse become haunted by something demonic- something unsettling. Carol Lawrence plays Blair's mother, and there is an amusing scene where Purcell flirts with Jeff East, Ms. Blair's father.As this story was written by Lois Duncan, upon whose stories "I Know What You Did Last Summer" as well as "Killing Mr. Griffin" were turned into film, one can at least enjoy the story; and Wes Craven does an interesting job of directing this. I was never a huge fan, (I must admit that "Candyman" is a guilty pleasure) but recently saw "The Hills Have Eyes", and he does have nuance and depth which deserve mention.Even if you are not a true horror fan, this film can be categorized as fear/suspense. If you like Wes Craven, you will definitely find this interesting, and the 70's nostalgia is an added plus!.

Lois Duncan's young-adult mystery novel "Summer of Fear" gets a fine, if low-budget, television treatment, capably directed by Wes Craven. Intriguing story features an appealing Linda Blair playing popular young woman and horse-rider whose family takes in her orphaned cousin--a perplexing girl who harbors secret evil powers. Craven's pacing is careful and sneaky, drawing the viewer in while mounting Blair's suspicions with just the right touch of creepy delicacy. Lee Purcell is excellent as cousin Julia, pulling off a showy role without lapsing into camp (although the make-up and special effects near the finish are somewhat cartoonish by today's standards). A compact thriller, very well done, and Blair--as always--is charming and makes her character easily identifiable to viewers.