Home for the Holidays

Enjoyably outlandish made for TV movie. The plot is nothing new, just another rehash of the danger in the old creaky house thriller. What really is of interest in this is the cast. The great thing about these television films from the 60's and 70's is the ability they had to pull together high quality performers that you normally wouldn't see cast together. While this one manages to gather an awesome group of actresses the absurdity of casting them as sisters and Julie Harris as their stepmother, since none of them favor each other in the least nor Walter Brennan who is supposed to be their father, is a head scratcher. To add fuel to this particular fire is the fact that Sally Field and Eleanor Parker had just played mother and daughter the previous year in Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring. Fun in an absurd way but not believable for a minute.

Written by Psycho's Joseph Stefano, Home For the Holidays involves a bunch of sisters reuniting at their ill father's home while someone's out there in a raincoat and pitchfork killing anyone in sight. Could it be their stepmother who might also be poisoning their father?

An early attempt at a slasher movie with an all star cast and network TV standards. Don't expect a lot of blood, because they weren't allowed to go very far on TV back when this was made, but it's nice to see the likes of Sally Field, Julie Harris, Jessica Walter, and Eleanor Parker in a film of this sort.

Definitely not your run-of-the-mill family/Christmas reunion tale, this surprisingly suspenseful made for TV horror flick explores the darker side of the holiday season. The all-star cast(Sally Field, Eleanor Parker, Julie Harris, Jessica Walter, Jill Haworth, Walter Brennan) is wonderful, the direction(by John Moxey) is rock solid, and the script(by Joseph Stefano, of PSYCHO fame) is a good, effectively creepy little story.

This is a neat little thriller by the prolific producing team of Spelling-Goldberg. It's written by the screenwriter of "Psycho"! When Christmas comes and a glut of weepy or cheerful specials are filling the airwaves, sometimes a dose of morbid, downbeat drama can be a nice change! Ever-cranky Brennan plays a father who is dying (and suspects his second wife, Harris, of doing him in.) He sends for his four daughters (Parker, Walter, Haworth, Field) to come to his aid. At 50, 32, 26 and 26, these ladies are the least likely sisters one could imagine! In fact, Parker had played Field's mother only two years prior. The ladies don't even look like they could be related. It matters little, though, once the drama sets in and the acting begins. Brennan apparently would have preferred sons as each lady has a male nickname: Alex, Freddie, Jo and Chris. Parker, still lovely when lit correctly, does a great job in her role. Harris matches her and gives a good performance in a difficult part. Walter is a touch over the top, but is fine and Field is charming...though eventually she gets to scream her head off. The film is very simple, made during a time when TV movies didn't feel the need to pad out to fill two hours if the material didn't warrant it. The movie, sans commercials, runs 78 minutes. The result is a pretty tight little story that builds to some genuine suspense. The climactic thunderstorm goes a long way in providing the right atmosphere.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS is the story of the Morgan family, and their Christmas reunion. Patriarch, Benjamin Morgan (Walter Brennan) is near death, which is the only reason his daughters, Frederica (Jessica Walter), Joanna (Jill Haworth), Christine (Sally Field), and Alex (Eleanor Parker) have reunited.

The siblings have reason to believe that their father's current wife, Elizabeth (Julie Harris) just might be trying to speed up his departure. They already suspect that Elizabeth had something to do with their mother's untimely death, and are now asked to commit their own unspeakable act in order to save their father's life.

Stranded by a severe storm, with the phone line dead, what unfolds is a story of family dysfunction, bitterness, and insanity. Not surprisingly, nothing is quite as it appears, and no one is above suspicion! Oh, and there are murders as well! Several murders in fact.

Sort of an updated "old dark house" suspense / thriller, this made-for-TV movie is a wonderful example of the above average quality of such movies of the period. It also has a fairly menacing killer, straight out of a giallo! Annnnd, the final twist is perfectly... executed!...