The original story line was of a writer who moved into this supposed haunted house in hopes of sparking an idea for a new novel. He is haunted in his dreams by the ghost of a young girl who lures him into the cellar. Over a period of about a month and creative investigation on the houses history, he discovers that a young girl, who was 15 years old at the turn of the century, became pregnant by her boyfriend. The father was so ashamed and so enraged by his daughters behavior, that he walled her up alive down in the cellar. Nearly a hundred years goes by before her story is learned by our writer. He opens up the wall in the cellar and finds a cavity that has been exposed to the elements. The odd noises he heard during the previous month seems to have been coming from this cavity. He decides its all in his imagination, and that it could make a good book. What he doesn't see is that there is another room off to the side of the cavity that contains a skeleton of a young girl. This movie was based on a short story entitled "The Hidden Truth". And was written by yours truly in 1987.

The always outstanding Terry ("The Stepfather," "Pin") O'Quinn gives a typically vivid, intense and beautifully wrought performance as Bob Anderson, an affable and eccentric novelist who smokes raunchy cigars, wears a fedora and suffers from writer's block because of the recent untimely death of his wife. Bob moves into a creepy, decrepit old Victorian house that's haunted by the dangerously seductive and melancholy spirit of murdered, adulterous 19th century housewife Evelyn James (a fine, sultry debut performance by Blair Parker, a voluptuous, raven-haired brunette beauty who looks quite delectable sans clothes). Evelyn wants the troubled, on edge Bob to kill himself and join her in the after life so she won't be lonely and unloved anymore. Writer/director Phillip Badger does an adept job of creating and sustaining an appropriately brooding, spooky atmosphere, the story may not be especially novel, but it's constantly absorbing throughout, the ever-spunky Kristy McNichol contributes an appealing turn as a concerned neighbor, grossly underused late, great flash-in-the-pan 80's scream queen Elisabeth ("The Howling," "Deep Space") Brooks has a nice cameo as a foxy night club torch singer, the movie offers an almost painfully poignant, trenchant and accurate examination of how maddening loneliness can become, and the startlingly bleak conclusion packs a potent emotional punch. Eerie, erotic and refreshingly offbeat, "The Forgotten One" qualifies as an extremely well-done and undeservedly neglected little fright film sleeper.

This kind of "case suggestive of reincarnation" has intrigued me for years, but not since The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and the Two Worlds of Jennie Logan have I seen a movie so unique. Bravo to all involved, for their courage. Blair Parker (Evelyn) is gorgeous, but this seems to be the only movie she ever made. The movie is haunting (no pun intended), and I would like to find a soundtrack if there is one.

I had never heard of this film, and didn't think this would be too great. But this movie was pretty damn good. Who knew? I am a little biased, because I really like Terry O'Quinn (from those good old "Stepfather" movies). But I'm also biased in the other direction, since I really dislike Kristy McNichol. In this film, a recently-widowed writer moves into a house in Denver, only to find it haunted by a blood-curdlingly scary (at first) ghost. When he collects enough courage to investigate, he finds that the ghost is actually a blood-warmingly hot woman, who died in the house. His neighbour (McNichol), first believes him crazy, then tries to save him as he falls in love with the occasionally bare-naked and occasionally homicidal ghost. The first half was very scary, and by the end, it actually got pretty sweet. In the end, I was very glad I watched it, and a pleasant surprise is the best surprise of all.