The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver

Miriam (Karen Black) is a frumpy 26 year old housewife who's been suffering from nightmares involving her own funeral. She feels stifled in her marriage where she's being forced to procreate as soon as possible and gets inspired at the mall one day when she sees a fancy red blouse and a blonde wig. She purchases them and becomes a new woman, renting a house by the beach, and frequenting dive bars. What's even stranger is that everyone she meets comments about how much she looks like a woman named Sandy who they haven't seen for a while.

Like most TV movies from this era, Mrs. Oliver is a brisk 75 minutes, but there's not a whole lot of tension in the story and it's barely horror-related at all. It starts out as a somewhat engaging feminist manifesto before throwing that out altogether and becoming a strange metaphysical/psychological story about a damaged woman who's suffered tragedy in her past and reinvented herself. Karen Black is wonderful as always and she keeps you interested even when the story drifts off.

THE STRANGE POSSESSION OF MRS. OLIVER opens with a perfectly gloomy sequence, featuring a burning mansion, a fog-enveloped cemetery, and a creepy mausoleum. It's clear that we're in the icy hands of writer, Richard Matheson.

Wealthy, prim, and proper Miriam Oliver (Karen Black) is unhappy with her dull, stifling life. She feels trapped in her mammoth house all day, while her distant husband, Greg (George Hamilton) ignores her when he's not at work. He's too busy to notice much of anything. One day, Miriam decides to change her look. She ditches her Librarian motif for a more loose, fun style. Soon, her entire life follows suit. Greg is not amused.

Miriam just isn't herself these days. The question is, who is she?

Ms. Black plays Miriam as a repressed woman who shakes off the chains of her life. Hamilton plays her smug husband as only he can. Of course, this is a made-for-TV horror film, so, things aren't quite as they appear to be. Matheson's story is mysterious and creepy, with some nice twists / revelations toward the end.

An outstanding example of its sub-genre...

Although not a great film, "The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver" does bring together many great (and personal favorite) people of the 70s horror scene. Karen Black was a marvelous leading lady of this decade ("Trilogy of Terror", "Day of the Locust", "The Pyx"), and she's surrounded by excellent supportive actors like George Hamilton ("Evel Knievel", "The Dead Don't Die") and Robert F. Lyons ("The Todd Killings"). Richard Matheson wrote many of the best episodes in "The Twilight Zone", as well as classics like "The Omega Man" and "The Devil Rides Out". Finally, director Gordon Hessler sadly always remained somewhat underrated, but he has great titles on his repertoire like "The Oblong Box", "Cry of the Banshee", and "A Cry in the Wilderness".

Despite the atmospheric and authentically frightening opening sequences, which unfold as a nightmare/hallucination set at a graveyard and uncanny funeral parlor, "The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver" isn't a horror movie. The plot starts out similar to "Diary of a Mad Housewife", but then gradually turns into a supernatural mystery. Black is the uptight and conservative Myriam Oliver, kept on a very short leash by her conservative lawyer husband Greg, whose dreams push her to become a blonde and lewdly dressed girl who hangs out in shabby coastal pubs. But is Myriam's subconsciousness only trying to alter her dull lifestyle, or has she been selected to resolve a 5-year-old murder case?

This certainly isn't the most compelling or exhilarating TV-movie the 70s decade brought forward, but the unusual plot and set-up keeps you curious and interested, and at least it differs from the overload of contemporary "The Exorcist" possession movies. The pacing is often slow, in sheer contrast with the abrupt ending, but a devoted Karen Black - whether prudish or looking like a femme fatale - makes it all worthwhile.

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!

Since she died a few years ago, I feel that I can speak freely. Karen Black was NOT a particularly good actress in "The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver". During much of the film, she played a character who stared into space a lot and, at times, seemed a bit like a zombie. Sure, she was supposed to be a lady who was slowly turning into another woman...but she started out as a zombie...which is pretty odd as this was supposed to be the 'normal' lady! Additionally, many of her scenes just seemed difficult to believe...especially when she was required to show emotion. Considering she showed LOTS of emotion in "Trilogy of Terror" (another made for TV film), I can only assume the director was at least partially at fault here.

When the film begins, Miriam Oliver (Black) is having a super-creepy dream. Then, through the course of the film, she goes from a terribly quiet (zombie-like) lady to a wilder and much more interesting one. Sadly, the one you like is some sort of dead lady- -one who died five years ago. Could the ghost of the dead lady really be possessing Miriam?

I do agree with the review by Moonspinner55 that this film is slow moving. I think the lead-like pace especially made Black look bad as the film clearly lacked energy and life. But I thought the woodenness of the character through much of the film was just awful and I don't think that in the long run there is much in the way of payoff. And, I can almost guarantee that by the end of the film that the song "Venus" will practically make you scream as you hear it again...and again...and yet again.

By the way, at one point in the film, Miriam says she's 26...though actually she was about 38 at the time.