Too many fans seem to be blown away

One of the best films i have seen

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

A foster mother has The Premonition: her new daughter's unstable biological mother is going to come and take her away. It comes true, so what happens next? PS - it's beyond the power of an exorcist in only the way that an exploitation movie poster can promise.Originally re-released as part of Arrow Video's American Horror Project, this film was once titled Turtle Heaven. I watched this movie because of the always dependable Richard Lynch (Bad Dreams, Invasion U.S.A.), who plays the carnival clown boyfriend of Andrea, whose daughter Janie (Danielle Brisebois, TV's Archie Bunker's Place) has been adopted by the Bennett family. Oh yeah - Jeff Corey (who would go from being blacklisted to becoming the premier acting coach in Hollywood) shows up as a cop.Two mothers - connected by the young girl they love and see as their child, as well as a psychic bond - go to war. That's my best explanation of this very 1970's film. But back to Richard Lynch - did you know how he got his scarred looking appearance? The hard way. In 1967, high on drugs, he set himself on fire in Central Park, burning more than 70% of his body. But after a year of recovery, he started to act.

A fantastic, intriguing, fascinating sprawling mess, but a mess of the best kind - full of ideas and avenues and thoughts and musings. Don't believe the low rating on here, this film displays some of the great things that genre-crossing films can manage, things that more straight- laced and disciplined films can't. Hopping from thriller to horror to near avant-garde musical fantasy, this is a brilliant rediscovery and while it might not be the tidiest of films, it is free and explorative and brave and should be seen. That it sometimes tries for more than it achieves is testament to its ambition.

Five-year-old Janie Bennett (Golden Globe nominee Danielle Brisebois) happily lives with her foster parents Miles and Sheri Bennett (Sharon Farrell), oblivious to the fact that her insane birth mother is attempting to kidnap her. When the birth mother, Andrea Fletcher, and her boyfriend Jude (Richard Lynch), a carny, do attempt to kidnap the girl, Andrea cannot go through with it.Writer-director Robert Schnitzer was influenced by the European directors of the 1930s and 40s, as many American directors of the 1970s were. This influence is evident, and definitely has an Italian sensibility about it. And to keep costs low, the state of Mississippi provided cop cars, the fire department created "rain" with their hoses and a real carnival that happened to be in town was used as Jude's work environment. This makes the film look bigger than it was.The casting of Richard Lynch was a great decision, catching him before he got any bigger. Lynch was hired, according to Schnitzer, for his "widely divergent moods" and for just being "unique". Lynch, in turn, claimed to be influenced by "Rififi" and "Psycho" in his acting. And to some degree the legendary mime Marcel Marceau, which is evident.Baseball fans will notice a cameo from Roy White, the multi-World Series winning New York Yankee (and coach). This is especially amusing considering Schnitzer had no knowledge whatsoever of sports and did not even know who White was when he appeared in the film. (He was an active player during shooting.)What I love about this film is the unusual score from opera composer Henry Mollicone, especially in the second half. Although the movie has plenty going for it as a slow-burning horror story with carnival overtones, the music really makes it stand out.The film had mixed reviews. Leonard Maltin called it mediocre, saying its "muddled script works against the eerie atmosphere in this supernatural tale." A more positive review by Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever called it "a well-done para-norm tale." Maltin is probably right for the most part, as the script could have been tightened... but that makes it no less eerie! Arrow Video has cleaned up the picture and put this film on their box set, American Horror Project Vol 1. Thank you, Arrow! We get plenty of special features on the disc, too: Audio commentary with director-producer Robert Allen Schnitzer, who (of course) knows everything about the production. He also has a very sarcastic sense of humor that makes his stories all the more amusing -- are his tales of the turtle wrangler true or just a joke? The Arrow disc has a brand new interview with composer Henry Mollicone. And an interview with actor Richard Lynch, which covers "Premonition" but also touches on acting in general, such as his work on "Scarecrow" with Al Pacino. If that is not enough, we even get three Robert Allen Schnitzer short films: 'Vernal Equinox', 'Terminal Point' and 'A Rumbling in the Land'. These films are so rare that IMDb does not even know about them.

I was interested in the premise when I rented this during the late 1980's. Stories about the paranormal were common during the 1970's. The premise did have potential. Here, an adopted girl is kidnapped by her insane biological mother and the mother's boyfriend, and the police need the help of her loving adopted mother, who has psychic powers. I turned out to be disappointed, though. Also, the Mississippi locations were well-used, but otherwise this film is dull. It seemed so much longer than it was and it featured a lot of uninteresting chat. Also, a number of scenes came off as forced, a heavy-handed attempt to make the film more coherent, but often made it even harder to understand. Clearly the film was not well edited. It would be nice if some of the scenery could be used again to make a better film.