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She Waits

  • TV Movie
  • 1972
  • 1h 14m
IMDb RATING
5.6/10
413
YOUR RATING
Patty Duke in She Waits (1972)
Horror

A murdered woman possesses her husband's new wife to seek revenge.A murdered woman possesses her husband's new wife to seek revenge.A murdered woman possesses her husband's new wife to seek revenge.

  • Director
    • Delbert Mann
  • Writer
    • Art Wallace
  • Stars
    • Patty Duke
    • David McCallum
    • Dorothy McGuire
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.6/10
    413
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Delbert Mann
    • Writer
      • Art Wallace
    • Stars
      • Patty Duke
      • David McCallum
      • Dorothy McGuire
    • 16User reviews
    • 8Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos5

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    Top cast8

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    Patty Duke
    Patty Duke
    • Laura Wilson
    David McCallum
    David McCallum
    • Mark Wilson
    Dorothy McGuire
    Dorothy McGuire
    • Sarah Wilson
    Lew Ayres
    Lew Ayres
    • Dr. Sam Carpenter
    Beulah Bondi
    Beulah Bondi
    • Mrs. Medina
    James T. Callahan
    James T. Callahan
    • David Brody
    • (as James Callahan)
    Nelson Olmsted
    Nelson Olmsted
    • Antique Dealer Kurawicz
    Harry Kerwin
    • Robert
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Delbert Mann
    • Writer
      • Art Wallace
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews16

    5.6413
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    Featured reviews

    5elo-equipamentos

    She Waits wasn't a movie to Patty Duke be proud whatsoever!!

    This small and weak TV movie I'd watched in 1980 and never got a chance to see it again as much I love to it simply disappears from the sight, then I have invoke Youtube on those old movie's channel whereof a decent copy with English subtitled that I watched last night, Patty Duke was peak of her career who knows why she accepted to do this awful movie, even had a good casting as David MacCallum, Dorothy McGuire, Lew Ayres and James T. Callaham.

    The plot is quite ludicrous to start, the well-born Mark Wilson (David MacCallum) at Europe suddenly marry with Laura (Patty Duke) after three years of absence on America, he is back to home to introduce his newest wife for your sick old mother Mrs. Sara Wilson ( Dorothy McGuire) just arriving at large home Mark meets his mother at her bed and postponed Laura intro to next day, the worried Mrs. Sara demands that both of them must keep away from the house at once, actually in the past Mark was married with a possessive wife Elaine who went to die in obscure circumstance, the premise is that house is haunting by Elaine's ghost.

    At night Laura going to Elaine room's door supposedly hearing some voices talking on the phone, entering inside figures out that the telephone line is dead, henceforth Laura stayed anxious, asking for Mark everything about Elaine and her ill-fated death which he often avoid to talk about, just saying that such death was a terrible accident, afterwards a sudden night Elaine's spirit embodies Laura and seek revenge for his death.

    Frankly it didn't scare anyone, unharmful chills here and there only, the plot is silly and ambiguous due it has some mismatches on the screenplay for a viewer with sharp eyes is easily noticed for instance, the great actress Patty Duke certainly wasn't be proud of this flimsy feature.

    Thanks for reading.

    Resume:

    First watch: 1980 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.
    5lee_eisenberg

    Helen Keller, one of the men from U.N.C.L.E., and a ghost. How can you go wrong?

    Mostly, "She Waits" is your average woman-goes-to-house-and-strange-things-start-happening story, but it's kept afloat by the good performances. Patty Duke plays Laura Wilson, who goes with her husband Mark (David McCallum) to his childhood home, where his first wife died. His mother Sarah (Dorothy McGuire) contends that his first wife never left the house and is waiting to get him back. You can probably guess what starts happening thereafter.

    Overall, the movie has everything that we would expect in such a movie, namely the eerie house and overpossessive mother. Most of the dialog is routine, but there are some good lines. For example, housekeeper Mrs. M (Beulah Bondi) says of Los Angeles: "What self-respecting ghost would want to live here?" Lew Ayres (yes, the "All Quiet on the Western Front" star who later became a conscientious objector) plays the doctor.

    Nothing new, but innocuous.
    6Putzberger

    She Waits . . . for this to turn into "Rebecca," but in vain

    A wealthy man, whose first wife died under mysterious circumstances, brings his perky but insecure new bride to his family home, which is dominated by a crazy old woman. Yep, it's deja vu all over again! But to avoid being sued by Alfred Hitchcock or Daphne du Maurier, the filmmakers give the second wife a name, make the old housekeeper sensible while assigning the husband's mother the eccentric-crone role, and hint at real supernatural involvement in all the strange goings-on. But all the cosmetic changes can't mask the basic structure of "Rebecca," although this is an above-average ripoff thanks to the presence of an Oscar-winning actress, Patty Duke, in the Mrs. De Winter role, and an Oscar-winning director, Delbert Mann ("Marty," "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs"), who wrings as much atmosphere as he can out of an over-orchestrated soundtrack, a wind machine and an oft-recycled set (I believe this particular house was reused in "The Devil's Daughter" and might have served as "The House That Would Night Die," appropriately enough). Throw in slumming Hollywood vets Beulah Bondi and Dorothy McGuire as the requisite old women, ever-earnest Lew Ayres as the requisite crusty old doctor, and aging pretty boy from U.N.C.L.E. David McCallum as the requisite moody, mysterious husband and you've got an adequate low-rent chiller, although most of the people involved deserved better.

    As our film opens, kooky old McGuire is wandering her dark, empty house, calling out for a ghost named "Elaine" until older but stabler Bondi ushers her back to bed. Not long after, the newlywed McCallum and Duke show up unannounced. Omigosh, you wonder, is Patty going to start acting funny? Well, duh. But since Patty Duke could act, it's actually kind of compelling to watch, and the transitions imposed upon her character give her the chance to show off some range and depth. But while we buy Patty's transformation, we never buy McCallum's love for her since he lets his floppy hairstyle do most of the acting for him. The old folks are along for the ride and royalties and it's nice to see them getting some work. You know where it's going, but you don't mind the ride.
    3mls4182

    Duke and McGuire deserved better

    I'm sure 90% of us watched it for Patty Duke and Dorothy McGuire. This TV movie was pretty bad even by 1972 standards. It is like a bad Night Gallery padded with pointless dialogue just to fill the time.

    Oh well we only lost a little over an hour of our lives and it only took the actors a few weeks to make. I guess they got their SAG dues paid and maybe a car trade in out of it.
    3moonspinner55

    "Death isn't the end...it can't be!"

    Ghost stories were all the rage in the 1970s, but this isn't one of the better entries. Despite having perfectly good hotel reservations, newly-married David McCallum and bride Patty Duke come to stay at his family's manor in the middle of the night. Dorothy McGuire, as McCallum's mother, begs her son to leave, believing the house is haunted by his deceased first wife, but he chalks it up to her fragile mental state. Uninteresting TV-made chiller tries to create scares by having Duke hear a music-box theme that wife #1 was fond of, or feeling a presence in the bedroom when the curtains rustle. She attempts to talk it over with hubby McCallum--who's got a nasty, disgruntled disposition for a successful newlywed--and housekeeper Beulah Bondi, but nobody wants to admit to a belief in the supernatural. Long-faced, solemn scare-movie is too gloomy to be any fun.

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    Related interests

    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The classically-inspired theme song was written by Morton Stevens.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Pop Culture Beast's Halloween Horror Picks: Dogs (2015)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 28, 1972 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Night of the Exorcist
    • Filming locations
      • Avenue of the Stars, Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA(Laura pauses as she hears a music box tune in a busy office business district.)
    • Production company
      • Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 14m(74 min)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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