Bay Cove

Not meant to be taken too seriously. The plot moves quickly and there is never a scene that is an obligatory "gross out." After a slow start body the story it picks up quickly and it really keeps you on your toes with the psychological teasing.

The acting is not bad and is about as convincing it needs to be for a TV movie (1950's TV mom Barbara Billingsly is in it). The plot does drag on when the main character suspects the secret of the island town. It doesn't take long for your, "rationality senses" to kick on and you start to think the Pamela Sue Martin character is just plain crazy for not leaving when she has a chance instead of trying to find allies where she suspects none exist.

As a cheap buy its not a bad movie, but its quality goes down as the price goes up.

I bought this at the store for a $1.50 expecting absolutely nothing, but actually this is not at all a bad film, and rather interesting. It is slow paced, which is a good thing, the tension builds up as the film moves along and it gets more and more interesting until the climax. This is a suspense film, and a well done one, many movies about witches fail but this is one that does it pretty well. The acting is pretty decent also, good acting from Tim Matheson and Woody Harrelson. Not much gore but it doesn't need it, it was made for TV so most profanity and gore and nudity is absent but it works with the film. This one is recommended to buy for a $1.50 if you want a pretty decent suspense film.

I really miss not seeing Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. This movie is almost a continuation of that role as she moves to an island [without Gilligan] off the Maine coast that is infested with witches. Tim Matheson of "Buried Secrets" is her handsome husband and Barbera Billingsley plays against type as a chilling housekeeper. There's not much of a psychological developement to this movie, but there's a lot of gripping scenes as Martin learns something may be wrong as all her friends keep dying strange deaths. This movie could also be a reprise of her "Poseidon Adventure" character if you count Woody Harrelson of "Cheers" as the adult version of her little brother from that movie. Susan Ruttan and James Sikking also have compelling roles in this as just two of the witches who wish her harm. The special effects are light but excellant and the ending is just a little anti-climactic. If I had made this movie, Pamela would be warring mano-a-mano with sorcery of her own. I really love this movie, but for some reason I wish the Bots and Mike at MST3K had gotten ahold of it and riffed it a little.

I'm getting tired of reviews that say things like "this was good for a TV movie" or "this was good because it only cost me a quarter in a junk box."

A movie is either worth your time or it isn't. Here's my take: If you are a HUGE fan of Tim Matheson or Pamela Sue Martin, and are entertained by formula TV movies, sure, watch it.

For everyone else. You can do a LOT better.

If you are a fan of Woody Harrelson, nah (he's barely in it). If you are a fan of Barbara Billingsley but only as Beaver's mom, skip it, because she shows more range than that in this. (I liked her performance a lot but she's not in it enough to save the movie.)

This movie started kind of promising with a nice, atmospheric, dark spooky night with thunder in a church graveyard following a priest into a church.

Then a cheap jump scare sets you up for what to expect from the rest of the movie. From there, it goes very slowly.

Characters are very slow to catch on, even when they're told exactly what's going on, in order to pad out the movie, I suspect.

There are lots of recognizable actors if you were born in the 80s or before.

I never realized Tim Matheson used duck face so much. His acting was way over the top, in my opinion. Woody Harrelson unintentionally (or intentionally?) played a mouth-breathing creeper when he's supposed to be a trusted friend.

Typical TV movie pacing with a story that keeps getting side tracked and a script that keeps the audience way ahead of the characters. I was very surprised at the generous number of high reviews. This is a 5/10 at best. For me it's a 2, but a couple of things make me bump it to a generous 3. Still, I do NOT want to watch this again.

While not completely original, I found it to be an intriguing story that just took way too long to tell. It felt plodding and clumsy to me. A few things that kept me watching were: Pamela Sue Martin and some of the rest of the cast, including Barbara Billingsley, who both did decent jobs despite the script; scattered interesting scenes and moments of ambience that were more plentiful as things went on; and waiting for the payoff, which, to me, was surprisingly enjoyable, albeit abrupt. Was it worth sitting through? Not in my opinion. You could do worse, sure, but you could do so much better, too.

A married couple named "Jerry Lebon" (Tim Matheson) and "Linda Lebon" (Pamela Sue Martin) are living in Boston and decide to move off the coast to a place called Devlin Island. On the island is a small community which goes by the name of Bay Cove and is populated by people who have lived there a very long time. However, things are not as they seem. Not only do the neighbors act a little weird but there are a number of strange occurrences which being happening shortly after Jerry and Linda arrive. Anyway, rather than spoil the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this wasn't a bad movie, all things considered. Even so, because this was a made-for-television movie there were some parts which I thought were rather tame. Especially in the horror department. I liked the performance of Pamela Sue Martin and the fact that the director (Carl Schenkel) managed to keep the suspense going for the most part and that proved enough to justify the time spent watching it. I give it an average rating.