Stranger in Our House (1978) ** (out of 4) Made-for-TV horror film about teenager Rachel Bryant (Linda Blair) whose life turns upside down when her cousin Julia (Lee Purcell) comes to live with her family after the death of her parents. At first everything seems okay but soon all sorts of strange things start to happen and soon Rachel begins to think that her cousin is a witch.Wes Craven made this shortly after THE HILLS HAVE EYES and it should go without saying that this here isn't in the same league as that terrifying thriller. This film's biggest problem is the fact that we've seen it countless times before and there's really nothing original done here. Even worse is the fact that the movie clocks in at 98 minutes, which is way too long. Had this made-for-TV movie been made five or six years earlier then it would have clocked in at maybe 72 minutes at the most. Needing to fill up a two hour slot, the film just keeps going and going without much actually happening.Again, the screenplay is clearly the problem with this picture because it offers up every cliché that it can find. The Julia character is obviously evil but no one sees it except for Rachel. Rachel, on the other hand, is the sweet girl but everyone really thinks she's losing her mind. We get countless scenes where the two fight and where Rachel begs for people to believe what she's saying. It's one thing for this to happen two or three times in a movie but it happens at least seven or eight times, which is way too long. Even worse is that the TV trappings don't allow for any suspense.Purcell is certainly the best thing about the movie. She is completely believable playing the "good" girl and I thought she did a fantastic job at letting that "evil" side of her character slip through. She's just a certain look in her eye that just helps sell her character. Blair is good as well, although there are times where she comes across as a whiny brat. Jeremy Slate, Carol Lawrence and Macdonald Carey are all good in their supporting roles.STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE is a pretty bland and boring movie that doesn't have too much going for it.

A teenage girl (Linda Blair)'s life is turned upside down after her cousin (Lee Purcell) moves into her house, and as time goes by, she begins to suspect that she may be a practitioner of witchcraft.One has to go into this film with the right mindset. The idea of Linda Blair being directed by Wes Craven is enticing, but do not put your hopes too high. This is the brainchild of Max A. Keller, who wrote the script, produced it, and put his daughter Nicole in the cast. Being made for TV, Craven was shackled by producers, the network and a very limited budget.That being said, this is actually a rather decent story. Some plot elements are a tad confusing. As revelations come out in the second half, not all of them make complete sense. And even the idea of a professor who specializes in witchcraft is strange, not to mention his living across the street.But overall this is alright for what it is. Definitely worth checking out, especially for Craven completists. It may not be his best work, but I can safely say it is not his worst.

Wow, you'd think a TV movie by Wes Craven would be pretty suspenseful, right? Wrong- this is a snooze-fest that plays more like an after-school special. I'm serious- there are no thrills to be found until maybe the last 10 minutes, if you can call the catfight between the two female characters thrilling. I saw this movie when it first aired and I could really only remember a scene where a horse freaks out. Guess what- that's pretty much the only scary thing that happens, and it's not even scary! I was so looking forward to seeing this again but now that I have, I can truthfully say it wasn't worth the $10 bucks I paid on ebay for it. A much much better movie in this vein was called Midnight Offerings. It starred Melissa Sue Anderson and was much more exciting, with a couple of confrontations between the two main characters and some real, actual thrills. The movie box said it was rated PG-13, but considering there's no violence, blood, nudity, or language, it could have been rated G. I'm not kidding. How Wes Craven could have made this is beyond me. I'm tempted to listen to the audio commentary he provides for this movie, but that would require watching the film again, and I can't imagine putting myself through that again.

Rachael Bryant's cousin, Julia comes to live with her family at the country farm, after her parents where killed in a car accident. Though during her stay, strange things begin to happen, like the horse seems to lose it around Julia and men in the Rachael's life seem to fall under her spell. She tries to convince her family and friends that there's something not quite right about Julia, but she gets dismissed as nothing more but jealously.I was quite impressed for what is was and Craven's low-budget TV feature (after such brutally raw efforts as "The Last House on the Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes") is an earnest curio, despite its timid treatment for a wider audience. This version is the international extended cut of American TV movie "Stranger in The House" and was adapted from the novel of Lois Duncan. The seductively adorable Lee Purcell definitely casts a spell over you in her hypnotic performance as the sweetly venomous cousin Julia. In the words of Cliff Richards, "She's just a devil woman. With evil on her mind. Beware the devil woman. She's gonna get you." An engrossingly likable doll face Linda Blair (who has one puffy hairdo!) is the main attraction (five years after her demonic role in "The Exorcist") and is tailor made for the part. While, it starts off slowly and the material sticks to a fundamental pattern. Craven manages to keep it interesting by drawing you in. He rallies up the ominous tension sufficiently and feed us to some black humour, but it does seem to lose that edge created earlier on by falling into predictability and nonsensical actions (plenty of rash decisions) that creep into the latter half. This is when it also finally picks up the pace and adds the (somewhat cheesy) thrills and chills to the mixture. The laughable special effects also kick in too. The way they approach the camera-work is glaringly workable and the overwhelming music score sticks to the same close-circuit cues. And throw in one of those endings. Yeah, one of those! The performances from the rest of the cast are simply okay and an early appearance by Fran Drescher wasn't too annoying. Good lord! Maybe it was because she didn't get enough screen time to provide her irritating twang.A compellingly solid offering without being too daring or surprising, but its Purcell and Blair's performances that makes this general item passable. Just move right in!