It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Originally airing on February 6, 1978, this movie reminds me of a very important lesson: the occult was everywhere in the 1970's and it was ready to screw your life up.The film opens with Sarah (Kay Lenz, House) who joins her stepsister Patty (Morgan Brittany, who was in Death Car on the Freeway and was Katherine Wentworth on Dallas, who was Bobby's killer before the shower scene retcon) going to the beach. A young man forces himself on Patty and Sarah saves her with telekinesis.The movie tries to set things up with Sarah as some ugly duckling, but in every other movie I've seen Kay Lenz in, she is portrayed as being attractive. That's the only hollow note in this movie.The girls go off to college, where they both plan on joining Alpha Nu Sigma. Their mother is even the head of the alumni committee, so it's a big deal for her to get her biological daughter, Patty, in. For some reason, Patty is welcomed with open arms while Sarah is directed to joining Phi Epsilon Delta.All of the PED girls are rude and ill-tempered other than Mouse (Tisa Farrow, Zombi 2, Anthropophagus), a shy girl who everyone else is mean to. Mouse just wants to play her violin because otherwise she gets nuts!Jennifer (80's sex symbol Morgan Fairchild), the head of ANS, forbids her sisterhood from fraternizing with the PED girls, which tears the sisters apart. Meanwhile, Sarah starts to fall for Paul (Tony Bill, Are You in the House Alone?) while staying wary of den mother Mrs. Hunter (Shelley Winters in an unhinged performance).Even after she uses her powers to shove Jennifer into a fountain, Sarah doesn't want to give in to her powers. But once the ANS girls retaliate and throw food and mud at her, she gives in to Mrs. Hunter's call to hatred and gives in to an initiation ceremony.That ceremony? It involves blowing off the evil girl's dresses, permanently ruining Jennifer's face and killing Mouse, but Sarah decides at the last second to kill both herself and Mrs. Hunter to stop the sacrifice.As the film ends, Patty joins PED and becomes friends with Mouse. They both mourn the loss of Sarah.These are the kind of movies that made me glad that I went to art school and a downtown college instead of a real university. That said, I would not be eligible for a sorority, so I guess the point is moot.This movie also has appearances by Michael Talbott (Freddy from Carrie), Robert Hayes (Airplane!), Deborah Ryan (Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park), Talia Balsam (The Supernaturals) and Kathryn Grant (The Night the World Exploded).

Who would know that a telekinetic would be part of higher education. "The Initiation of Sarah", is like a whole new story here. Here you have two sisters who start college. A timid sister named Sarah (Kay Lenz) and popular Patty (Morgan Brittany). Hoping to get into the same sorority together, only to be met with animosity. It turned out that Sarah is adopted. And the sorority leader(Morgan Fairchild) drives the wedge between the two. When Sarah joins the opposite sorority, she meets another pledge name Mouse (Tisa Farrow). Sarah uses her telekinetic powers on several occasions. This draws attention to the den mother (Shelley Winters) to use her powers for her own purposes. When Sarah and Mouse started to bond, the den mother sets out her plans of revenge on the rival sorority. When Sarah discovers her den mother's plan, she thwarts it. This movie kinds of copies "Carrie". A few subtle changes but not too much. Enjoyed it though. 2 out of 5 stars.

This is one of the most entertainingly ridiculous TV movies ever made. It has often been written off by many smug critics as "Carrie Goes to College", but that's not entirely accurate. It has a bit more of an occult angle for one thing (Why not "To the Devil, a Coed"?). Mostly though, unlike "Carrie" it's pretty hard to take seriously, and I think most of the people involved in it were perfectly aware they were making a cheap TV movie and were in on the joke.The casting is pretty ridiculous. There is ugly and then there is "Hollywood ugly", but Kay Lenz wasn't even "Hollywood ugly", and it's pretty hard to buy her as a socially shunned girl who has to join the loser sorority. Lenz (who was married to 70's heart-throb David Cassidy at the time) was actually a lot prettier than walking, talking Barbie dolls like Morgan Brittany, who plays her much more popular sister, or Morgan Fairchild, who heads the popular sorority. Anyway, it is testament to her acting ability that Lenz is at all believable in this role. Tisa Farrow who plays a put-upon character named "Mouse" is highly annoying but not exactly ugly either. (She is famous for three things: she is Mia Farrow's sister,she was the female lead in Lucio Fulci's "Zombie",and she was involved in a famous falling out the Beatles had with the Maharishi in the 60's after the transcendental mystic couldn't transcend the urge to pinch the butts of her and the other young starlets in their entourage).Of course, the best thing as usual is Shelley Winters as a house mother with an interest in the occult who encourages "Sarah" to use her latent telekinetic powers against their popular rivals. Winters was derided by some for gaining a lot of weight late in her career, but given all the scenery she typically chewed (or simply swallowed whole), I thought she stayed remarkably svelte. (Around the same time as this movie, Winter squared off with a giant octopus in Italian "Jaws" knock-off "Tentacles", and frankly she was far, far scarier than the octopus). The handsome but rather bland Robert Hays ("Airplane"), on the other hand, has an especially bland role as the Morgan Fairchild character's boyfriend and mostly just fades into the 70's wood paneling.This doesn't really compare to "Carrie", but I would definitely recommend it highly to fans of cheesy 70's TV horror flicks.

Shy withdrawn Sarah (Kay Lenz) and her sister start college. Her sister is outgoing and popular and gets into a popular sorority. Sarah gets into an unpopular one with creepy head Erica Hunter (Shelley Winters). Evil Jennifer Lawrence (Moragn Fairchild) hates Sarah and starts to torment her and her friends. Then Sarah realizes she has telekinetic powers and uses them for revenge.The story is familiar, the special effects cheesy, the acting just OK (save Winters who REALLY chews the scenery) but this is an enjoyable made for TV movie. It's not as violent or sexist as "Carrie" so you can just sit back and enjoy it. This was a very popular hit when it first played on TV and was replayed again and again. It was even remade in 2006. Recommended--if you can find it.