Bay Cove

BAY COVEN (aka: EYE OF THE DEMON) opens with a diabolical death in a church building. The scene switches to the big city, where Linda and Jerry Lebon (Pamela Sue Martin and Tim Matheson) have a bit of a problem. It seems that Jerry has grown tired of the urban existence, and longs for a peaceful, more fulfilling life in the country.

Coincidentally, someone just happens to tell the Lebons about the tiny island town of Bay Cove, a wonderful place that fits Jerry's dream of a quiet spot. The next thing they know, they've moved into a huge house in this idyllic setting. Everything is perfect. Hell, Barbara "June Cleaver" Billingsley lives in a cottage on the property! How great is that?

Uh oh!

Snoopy Linda finds an old book in the cottage containing suspicious symbols! It's not long before the Lebons meet the rather pushy, oddball neighbors, and bad vibes begin... vibrating. As Linda continues her sleuthing, bizarre things start happening. The Lebons appear oblivious to the fact that everyone they meet acts in a dubious manner. After a while, even Jerry gets a demonic glow!

Enter Woody Harrelson as the Lebon's goofy friend, Slater. In no time flat, Slater gets a tad nosy himself and, oops-y daisy! He should never have parked so close to that cliff!

BOOM!

As made-for-TV occult conspiracy movies go, this one is a riot. Matheson goes from sappy husband to glaring jerk at will, and Martin simply plays her Fallon Carrington role from DYNASTY mixed with a dash of her old NANCY DREW days! Is it scary? No. However, it is a lot of fun to watch!...

Occasionally, made-for-television horror movies are surprisingly good, like GARGOYLES, SALEM'S LOT, or Pamela Sue Martin and Tim Matheson as a big city couple who decide to move to the nearby old-fashioned island of BAY COVE, which, it turns out, has some strange content...

Including an eerie old man who stares out a window SENTINEL style; neighbors who hatefully fear dogs like STRANGE INVADERS...

And last but not least, a cemetery that's most recent headstone dates back to the 1700's, possibly making the middle-aged residents a couple hundred years old...

As Pamela Sue's our investigative Mia Farrow ala ROSEMARY'S BABY (sans impregnation) while in-denial Matheson adheres quickly to the weird locals, taking the John Cassavetes soulless husband mantel; and Woody Harrelson's the heroine's best friend who, like Maurice Evans, gets a piece of clothing stolen before buying the farm...

Jeff Conaway is a deceptively mundane, preppy neighbor while the pivotal Ruth Gordon/Satan's watchdog role goes to Barbara Billingsly, who co-starred with Matheson on a few LEAVE IT TO BEAVER episodes. And add an eerie little girl (Marsha Moreau), who possesses an ability to always keep a tight eye on the newcomers, thus providing some EXORCIST vibes...

Produced by future BATMAN moguls Peter Gruber and Jon Peters, the suspense and intrigue goes hand-in-hand as our heroine stumbles upon the truth, getting more in danger while the surrounding residents, especially her seemingly perfect husband, become more enigmatic, possibly lethal...

And while originally named BAY COVEN, without the N lies a more subtle and suitable title as much of the film consists of obscuring that element (EYE OF THE DEMON and STRANGERS IN TOWN are other alternates). And the island itself is called Devlin... so you can't say they weren't warned.

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 couple move to a small community and island to get away from the lights and sirens of Boston. Once in Bay Cove, they wish they had never left the big city.

We meet Linda who has just been promoted to junior partner at the big city law firm she works for. She's married to a man named Jerry who seems to despise his big city life and career and wants to move back to the country doing "hard labour" jobs. After speaking to a couple who live on Devlin Island, and a small secluded community called Bay Cove, Linda and Jerry decide to move there and buy a house. They meet the neighbours who are very strange and then their dog starts reacting around them as well. Pretty soon Linda's dog is killed, her best friend dies in a mysterious accident while visiting on the island, and Jerry becomes extremely distant. Are these all coincidences, or is there a supernatural force at work?

I enjoyed Bay Cove for what it was - a late 80's made for TV chiller about a community of witches trying to secure their sacrifice in order to have immortality. I think that because it was made for TV it's potential wasn't used to the full extent, due to budgetary reasons and other restrictions that comes with being made solely for late night television. The story itself was told very well and it was easy to follow. There was enough mystery and suspense surrounding Bay Cove and it's residents that it made me as a viewer stick around and be invested the whole way through.

Acting was pretty good from all involved, especially Pamela Sue Martin who played the lead role of Linda. You feel for the character as you see all of these strange things happening around her and she can't do a thing about it. Tim Matheson was his usual fine self in the lead male role. Woody Harrelson makes an appearance in a very minor part as well and you can see the star quality even this early on in his career.

Overall I liked Bay Cove. It fell apart in the second half for sure which is why I rated it so average. The first 45 minutes to an hour were really good and the director did a great job creating the story and characters and atmosphere. The ending was a bit dull and ho hum and very made for TV.

5/10

I recently watched the Canadian film 🇨🇦 Bay Cove (1987) on Tubi. The story follows a pair of newlyweds who leave city life behind for a quiet coastal town-only to discover the town is secretly controlled by a cult. If they refuse to join, they may be the next sacrifice...

Directed by Carl Schenkel (The Mighty Quinn), the film stars Tim Matheson (Animal House), Pamela Sue Martin (The Poseidon Adventure), Barbara Billingsley (Airplane!), and a young Woody Harrelson (Cheers).

Unfortunately, this is one of those movies where very little happens, and the slow buildup never pays off. There aren't really any true horror scenes to speak of. The cast is solid, and Harrelson's brief appearance was a surprise, though his character quickly became annoying. There's a wild Jeep crash sequence that stands out, but otherwise the film is weighed down by odd character choices-like everyone pretending the children are normal when they clearly aren't.

In the end, Bay Cove doesn't offer much in the way of suspense, scares, or payoff. I'd give it a 2/10.