The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver

The seventies was definitely the decade with the best made for TV movies and there were plenty of goods ones; the best of which as far as I'm concerned being Gordon Hessler's Scream Pretty Peggy which he made in 1973. Fast forward four years and he's back to making TV movies, this time with prolific cult queen Karen Black, although the result is nowhere near as good as the earlier film. This film takes on ideas of reincarnation and split personalities and explores them through Miriam Oliver, a woman who starts to take on characteristics of another woman who died five years earlier. This sounds like a possible good premise for a decent mystery/psychological thriller, but unfortunately The Strange Possession of Mrs Oliver does not capitalise on its strong points, and the result is actually a really boring film. The premise is really stretched, even for a mere seventy minute running time and there's just not enough action and/or mystery to keep the audience entertained all the way through. Karen Black is good enough in the lead role as the woman at the centre of it all; but her performance is not enough to save the film unfortunately. Overall, this movie is rare and hard to come by; and I'm not surprised at that. Don't go out of your way for this one!