Audrey Rose (1977)

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Frank De Felitta (screenplay)
Frank De Felitta (novel)

Release Date:

6 April 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

A haunting vision of reincarnation.

Plot:

A stranger attempts to convince a happily married couple that their daughter is actually his daughter reincarnated.

Plot Keywords:

Nightmare | Stranger | Reincarnation | Window | Scream

Cast

Marsha Mason	...	Janice Templeton
Anthony Hopkins	...	Elliot Hoover
John Beck	...	Bill Templeton
Susan Swift	...	Ivy Templeton
Norman Lloyd	...	Dr. Steven Lipscomb
John Hillerman	...	Scott Velie
Robert Walden	...	Brice Mack
Philip Sterling	...	Judge Langley
Ivy Jones	...	Mary Lou Sides
Stephen Pearlman	...	Russ Rothman
Aly Wassil	...	Maharishi Gupta Pradesh
Mary Jackson	...	Mother Veronica
Richard Lawson	...	Policeman #1
Tony Brande	...	Detective Fallon
Elizabeth Farley	...	Carole Rothman

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-16 | USA:PG (certificate #24794) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 (1980) | Sweden:15 | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:16

Company:

Sterobcar Productions

Trivia:

Susan Swift's first movie.

Quotes:

Janice Templeton: What do you mean your daughter? This my daughter we're talking about? My child!
Elliot Hoover: You don't understand.
Janice Templeton: I don't want to understand. You're crazy? And my husband said so and I want you outta of here.
Elliot Hoover: Is your fear talking?
Janice Templeton: No, this is me talking and I am telling my daughter is not possessed.
Elliot Hoover: We're not talking about possession, Mrs. Templeton. We're talking about reincarnation.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blue Nude (1977)

Robert Wise obviously had a mortgage.

I saw the movie last night, and I have to say that I was shocked by the poorness of the plot, the bad acting and the absence of the director touch; the producers tried to get a good hit with a really low budget, and it would be interesting to know how the film did in 1977.

The movie is full of awkward scenes: the girl screams and runs into thing, and the parents just look at her and run to the phone; the tribunal scenes are going nowhere.

M. Mason is overacting beyond any limits and, poor woman, she has to support over her shoulders one of the worst scripts ever: A. Hopkins seems lost and the actor playing the role of the father is useless (and have a very bad written character). I guess she thought she would film the new Exorcist, and she found herself in a low level exploitation of that trend.

Watch The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Omen series. They are way better directed and have a strong script. And they are much scarier and leave you with a sense of unease that lasts.

The only interesting scene, and there you see the director's touch, is when the little girl has a crisis and runs all over the house followed by the mother: everything is filmed from behind a window, and you can only hear the noise of the rain. Too bad the scene is then ruined at the next take.