The Eyes of Charles Sand

ESP-themed TV movie stars Peter Haskell as stockbroker Charles Sand, who learns upon his uncle's death that he has inherited "The Sight", a family gift/curse that enables him to have psychic visions that he must use to help those in need. No sooner is his uncle buried that a disturbed young woman(played by Sharon Farrell) needs his help to investigate whether her brother Raymond is alive or not, and what part her sister(played by Barbara Rush) and brother-in-law(played by Bradford Dillman) play in the mystery... Uneven thriller is both low-key and over-the-top, with decidedly mixed results. Some good visuals and jump-scares though. A proposed TV series pilot that never happened.

I watched this when I was around 12 or 13 and it's the only horror movie that I've ever switched off because I was too afraid to watch it alone.

I want to watch it again; not because I'm particularly braver now, but I have a girlfriend who I can cuddle up to if I need to gibber and bite my fingers down to the knuckles.

Seriously, I'm not easily scared but this film nearly made me crap myself when I watched it. Maybe it'd be different now; I don't know. All I do know is that it's the most terrifying film that I've ever seen, even if that does come from the perspective of someone who only saw it as a kid.

I saw this originally in 1972 when it aired on TV, and I remember it scaring the living daylights out of me as a kid. Just recently purchasing it from the Warner Archive, I sat down to relive my teenage memories.

The film is about Charles Sand, a businessman who awakes from a vivid dream about his uncle, dead in his coffin, sitting up and pointing at him, with no pupils in the dead man's eyes. At the same time he is awakened by a phone call - his uncle has just died. His aunt Alexandra tells Charles that as the last living male member of the Sand family he has inherited "the sight" from his uncle. This "sight" will cause him to have visions from time to time in order to help people with some problem in their lives. It's not that Charles is a selfish or self-involved guy as much as this is not exactly a turn in his life that is welcomed. As he asks his aunt Alexandra - "Why me?".

Almost immediately he begins to have visions of a dead woman reaching out to him, of a dead man falling through a wall, and of a young woman with long red hair in a long fur coat.

It turns out that Emily Parkhurst (Sharon Farrell) of the wealthy prominent Parkhurst family is the red headed woman in trouble. She believes her brother is dead, and she says she continually sees visions of him, covered in blood. Now this is the part of the film that lost about one star from my rating. As Emily, Sharon Farrell is doing a most irritating Mod Squad version of Ophelia through about half of this movie. Nobody will take her seriously and from her behavior it is not hard to figure out why this is so. When Charles Sand gets involved, Emily's older sister tells Sand that the brother is in London and has written and called Emily several times since she claimed he was dead, but she just hangs on to her belief in his death beyond all reason. So now Sand is not only having to deal with doubts about his new gift, but doubts that the first person he has encountered since receiving this second sight is in trouble at all versus just being crazy.

The last ten minutes or so are very suspenseful and worth putting up with Ms. Farrell's over-the-top performance. I'd recommend it especially if you liked the old made for TV movies of the 70's.

Just one more thing. I really was scratching my head at first in response to the detached performance Joan Bennett gave as Charles' widowed aunt Alexandria when talking to Charles about his new found gift and the uncle's death. But then I realized it probably just fit in with what she already knew and what Charles' uncle wrote to him in the letter describing his new sixth sense "Neither man of God nor man of science can help you now. You are alone."

An ABC Tuesday night "Movie Of The Week", THE EYE OF CHARLES SAND is good little thriller. Upon his uncle's death, Charles Sand (PETER HASKELL) receives his inheritance. What has his uncle left him ? Aunt Alexandra (JOAN BENNETT) calls it "the sight". Charles thinks its more like a curse, but what it is is the ability to see the past, future, ghosts, and more. Sort of an ESP+. Even during his uncle's graveside service , Charles sees an apparition of a dead woman in front of the Parkhurst masoleum, and the very real Emily Parkhurst (SHARON FARRELL) running around the cemetery in a state of agitation. Charles finds a bracelet that Emily had left in the cemetery and goes to return it to her at her large family estate where she lives with older sister Katherine (BARBARA RUSH) and Katherine's husband Jeffrey Winslow (BRADFORD DILLMAN). Katherine thanks Charles for his kindness and also informs him that sister Emily " is not a well girl." Emily soon contacts Charles again and informs him that she sees her dead brother Raymond all over the place and that the apparition that Charles saw at the cemetery was of her dead ancestor Lottie. Emily has Lottie's diary and believes that she is reliving her doomed relative's tragic life. So now Charles Sand gets to solve this mystery and try to save FARRELL's sanity. There are a few spooky visions and some real scares in the climax, actually quite good for a made for tv movie. It's evident that this movie was left open ended in case ABC might decide to make this a weekly series along the lines of THE SIXTH SENSE which was on the air around that time with GARY COLLINS

I remember watching this as a pre-teen and thinking it was totally cool. As a fond childhood memory, I ordered it on DVD recently when I found it at a good discount.

The concept is as cool as I remembered, but from an adult's viewpoint it has lots of flaws. The hysterics of both the female leads are way over the top. There are some fairly blatant continuity errors and visible film crew mistakes.

Also, do the fabulously wealthy really live in high-rise apartments where the elevator opens directly into their living room? And do the fabulously wealthy live in mansions without any security, then invite strangers in for coffee without knowing who they are?