I saw this movie on Chiller Theater sometime in the late 70's, and
it stuck with me for a long while. I never knew the title, however,
until I re-discovered it a few years ago. My memories of seeing it as a young kid mostly focused on the
weirdness of the film itself. Richard Backus does an amazingly
creepy performance as "Andy," a soldier in Vietnam who returns
home after being supposedly killed in action. His mom, overjoyed
to see him, refuses to believe anything is wrong, while his sister
and father begin to suspect all is not quite right given his behavior,
pale, vampiric appearance and the many strange incidents which
begin to occur around him. Mom continues to stay in denial until
the very end. The scene with the double date in the drive-in particularly stuck
with me after all those years. Honestly scared the bejezus out of
me as a kid! But re-watching as an adult, I saw the movie more for what it was
meant to be, a social commentary about the Vietnam war. It still
holds up very well today. I am glad to know it has been re-released on DVD with additions,
though I haven't seen this yet. For years it was difficult to even find
a video copy. Plus it was released under several different names. I
think I originally saw it as "The Night Andy Came Home." Definitely recommended.
