Now this is Horror!!!

This is a very very very very very very very very scary movie. Okay so maybe I exagerated on the verys, but this is a very scary movie. One of the previous reviewers said that it was scarier than The Exorcist and The Omen, well I have to disagree. That put my expectations high for this film, but I still wasn't dissappointed. I think Satan is probably the scariest thing in this universe. Actually the only thing scarier than the devil is the wrath of God and you CAN'T capture that on film. This is a rather unusual horror film that is kind of confusing, but entertaining and very disturbing. Even if by some weird circumstance you don't get scared, you still have to admit that it is a really good movie. It is very well made so even if the scares wear off on you, there is still a great story with GREAT characters and most of all THE BEST ACTING I'VE EVER SEEN! The boys are amazing.They portray their characters so well. This new generation will not appreciate this film. As a matter of fact, THEY'LL HATE IT!!! That's because todays youth like movies like The New Guy and Scary Movie, and stupid NOT SCARY MOVIES like Scream, I know what you Did Last Summer, Cherry Falls, and Prom Night. They don't like a complicated story, so if you are looking for something with buckets of blood, DON'T LOOK HERE! I don't mind gore, as long as it helps the movie (The Omen comes to mind) and gore really in most movies doesn't make the movie scary, it actually takes away from the atmosphere. Some slashers are very scary like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Fog, The Boogeyman, and Friday the 13th part 1. But this generation can't appreciate this type of horror, but they will eventually. Believe it or not, I'm part of the youth of today, and I'm very hard to scare, so if it scared me, it'll terrify you. While it is not a scary as The Exorcist or The Omen, it has a much better story than both of those. Yes this movie is very scary, and joins the likes of The Exorcist, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, and The Evil Dead as one of the scariest movies ever!!! Remember that this a bit of a thinker, so if you don't like thinker this is definately not for you. I hope I have helped you with your choice of buying this movie. I liked it, but it isn't for everyone. I think it is scary so I suggest to anyone with good taste to see this movie alone in the dark. Have Fun!!!

NOT SCARIER THAN THE EXORCIST

While this isn't the scariest movie ever made, it is THE BEST HORROR MOVIE EVER MADE!!! This is movie is very scary, don't get me wrong, but it has a much better story than The Exorcist and Psycho, or even Rosemary's Baby. Even after the scares wear off, you still have a great movie. I agree with other reviewers that this film is criminally neglected and should be a classic. Oh yeah, can anyone tell me WHERE IS THE DVD!!! This dvd better be full of extra features, and I'd like to know what happened to these twin boys. If you want to buy or rent, I recommend doing so and don't put it off. WATCH IT ALONE IN THE DARK!

Gothic Heartland

This film holds up well in the decades since its release. It was filmed boldly in color, and yet director Robert Mulligan still maintained the "feel" of the Depression in 1935 Connecticut. This was a world he perfected in 1962 with his classic film, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The script by Tom Tryon, from his own novel, was fraught with challenges for the minds and hearts of the viewers.

Twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky were perfectly cast as twins Niles and Holland Perry. They had been discovered doing plays for Herbert Berghof, who just happened to be married to Uta Hagen. This movie was the only film work the twins ever did. They just seemed to drop out of sight afterward, heightening the reality of their performances. When I first saw this film in a theatre in 1972, I bought the extant twins premise. It was skillfully handled visually by Mulligan. I was strung along until midway when Uta Hagen, as the grandmother Ada Perry, revealed to the young Niles that his "bad" brother, Holland, had been dead for a year.

The movie worked on two levels successfully. There was a sun-kissed rural 1930's heartland, a kid's woodland paradise, on the one hand; great spans of forest and field, old barns, and dark mysterious cellars. Juxtaposed to that, overlapping and intermeshing with that, we discovered a Gothic plot; complete with a doomed family haunted by dark psychic powers, whose family crest was a peregrine falcon, for their name Perry, emblazoned on an heirloom ring, and on the creaking weathervane high atop the Victorian style house. Murder stalked the Perry farm, and spread out to the neighbors; murder disguised as accident.

Mulligan orchestrated wonderful touching moments between Uta Hagen and young Chris as Niles...loving moments whereby a blue-eyed angelic tow-headed child adored his wise and spirtually advanced grandmother. Much was made of the special psychic games they played, with Niles projecting his mind, and perhaps even his essence, into things and others; guessing the sex of his sister's unborn child, and even projecting into a crow, able to cognizantly fly freely over the farmlands cawing greetings to all it recognized. This was a game that Niles was so adept at, had perfected so well, that he had no difficulty dealing with his own split personality, and embracing a form of complete denial at to his brother's actual death, and further denial as to his own responsiblity for conducting divers heinous acts in the guise of, or as Holland. So Niles never had to be alone, would not accept being alone.

Diana Muldaur, as the mother Alexandra, was simply wonderful as the archetypical Gothic doomed heroine; beautiful, vulnerable, descending into madness and darkness and near catatonia. Her meager attempts to regain some emotional balance, to recapture the light, were soon dashed by the evil actions and reactions of Niles, who seemed to love her and loathe her, and definitely wished her harm.

Uta Hagen, a great actress of the Theatre, completed only three films, and a slew of television roles. In this one, she was very effective as a kind of Maria Ouspenskaya mid-European matriarch, with some kind of a dark past, and considerable psychic abilities. She radiated love for her entire doomed family, and riddled with guilt for her part in the machinations of plot, she was willing to sacrifice, to martyr herself in order to stop the killings. It was a kinky and delicious twist that her sacrifice was to no avail.

Victor French gave a fine performance in the small role of the farm handyman, Mr. Angelini [nice symbolism]. He did well with is brief scenes, illustrating the frustration and lonliness of an emigrant in America during the Depression; a man descended into drunkeness as a panacea or refuge; only to find himself dragged from his enebriated sweaty slumber and accused of murdering an infant; ala the Lindburgh case of that era. We witnessed racial prejudice and insane mob rule as the family and the authorities leaped headlong to incorrect conclusions. John Ritter was adequate in the likewise small role of Rider, the son-in-law living in the Perry household. It was a tiny part, but it hinted at Ritter's future talents.

The ironic ending reasonated with all the significant chords of a horror contata. At the fade, one wondered who would be next on the adolescent death list? Mulligan struck gold mining Tryon's dark tale.