With apologies, I have no idea what other reviewers highly rating this movie saw - perhaps a different movie? Much more likely they saw it when they were young and impressionable, it scared them, and they now recall it fondly. I'm a big fan of this genre and time period but this was an agonizingly slow, boring and dumb movie with an abrupt and disappointing ending.
I think Montgomery did some excellent acting in other movies of the time but she was given very little to work with here, other than wandering about a house calling 'Susan? Where are you?' umpteen times, while her sister Susan is already dead in the basement. There's a raging storm, it's dark, the power goes out briefly and the phone line has been cut - whatever will she do?
If your idea of a fast-paced, fun watch is an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" then you might actually enjoy this made-for-TV movie, seriously. It is mercifully short at 1 hour 13 minutes since they had to pack in over 45 minutes of commercials during the initial airing.
I grew so bored with her poking around that I turned the subtitles on and fast-forwarded the movie until some event happened. There is one unintentionally funny gaffe - near the end of the movie as she is heading up the stairs making a lot of noise she stops and the noise continues for almost 2 seconds - apparently made by the film crew. At least fast-forward to that scene!
I think Montgomery did some excellent acting in other movies of the time but she was given very little to work with here, other than wandering about a house calling 'Susan? Where are you?' umpteen times, while her sister Susan is already dead in the basement. There's a raging storm, it's dark, the power goes out briefly and the phone line has been cut - whatever will she do?
If your idea of a fast-paced, fun watch is an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" then you might actually enjoy this made-for-TV movie, seriously. It is mercifully short at 1 hour 13 minutes since they had to pack in over 45 minutes of commercials during the initial airing.
I grew so bored with her poking around that I turned the subtitles on and fast-forwarded the movie until some event happened. There is one unintentionally funny gaffe - near the end of the movie as she is heading up the stairs making a lot of noise she stops and the noise continues for almost 2 seconds - apparently made by the film crew. At least fast-forward to that scene!