She Waits (1972)

Laura Wilson (Patty Duke, Valley of the Dolls, The Swarm) and Mark (David McCallum, Illya Kuryakin on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and better known to today's TV audience as Dr. Donald Mallard on N.C.I.S.) haven't been married long. And on their first trip to meet his mother (Dorothy McGuire, The Greatest Story Ever Told), she learns that maybe this marriage wasn't the best of ideas. Mom has been ready to go nutzoid ever since Mark's first wife Elaine died and she's convinced that her ghost is inside her home.Everywhere Laura goes, she starts hearing Elaine's favorite song and even her voice. Is she trying to possess her? Or she just being ridiculous, as the family doctor suggests? The movie never really gives in the whole way to the supernatural. It's more about Mark shutting himself off and not dealing with the past.The family maid thinks that Mark's mother is getting worse and worse, with Laura in danger of the very same insanity. And what's the deal with Mark's friend David (James T. Callahan, the dad from Charles in Charge)? And can you talk a ghost out of possessing someone just by, well, talking to them?Director Delbert Mann (Marty) puts together a competent story, written by Art Wallace, who was the main writer for TV's Dark Shadows. It fits into the 70's well, where possession and Satan and old ghosts of murdered wives were around every corner. It's slow moving, but if you understand that going in and know the conventions of TV movie horror, you'll find some good in this film.

A slow-moving but suspenseful American television movie for fans of old-fashioned horror suspense yarns without the slick special effects and gory deaths that modern genre offerings give us. Filmed on mainly one location, with a small cast and a predictable plot involving possession, SHE WAITS is a surprisingly effective outing for the genre which has plenty of creepy atmosphere to please the horror fan. For once the house in which the film is set actually does look haunted, and there are plenty of uncanny moments with doors creaking open of their own accord and sudden, jarring strings on the soundtrack to help raise the hairs on the back of your neck.The movie starts off very slowly and gets more involved as it goes along, ending with an insane turnaround with lots of plot twists and a whodunit aspect as the method of Elaine's death becomes clear and the finger of suspicion is pointed at one of the people gathered in the house on a climatic night. Before all this, SHE WAITS keeps us watching with some well-grounded fear sequences like when voices are heard talking from an empty room, or a music box keeps on playing a creepy old-fashioned tune over and over. The last fifteen or so minutes of the film are those in which the "possession" occurs and are extremely taut and gripping, with an unexpected revelation.The best efforts of a familiar cast also help us to keep watching through the slow bits. Patty Duke (a familiar face in the television movie realm) takes the lead role and portrays her possession realistically, and doesn't overdo it like some could. David McCallum seems an odd casting choice for the role of the subdued husband who takes a backseat in the action and remains calm, even when about to be shot! However McCallum pulls through and puts in a sturdy, if undemanding, performance. Famous faces like Lew Ayres and Dorothy McGuire fill out the rest of the cast and put in strong support, whilst James Callahan is good value as the family friend with a dark secret.When released on video in the UK (on the Cougar label), this was bizarrely renamed NIGHT OF THE EXORCIST , despite the fact that there are no exorcisms - let alone any exorcist - in the movie! I guess they thought cashing in on THE EXORCIST's title would make it more popular, but the two films (the first with its strong visceral gut-wrenching horrors, and this with its more subtle chills) couldn't be more different.

In 1967, Patty Duke took a big chance and starred in "Valley of the Dolls". It was a far cry from the sweet characters in "The Patty Duke Show" or Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker". Instead, she played a very (EXTREMELY) emotionally overwrought lady who destroys herself with booze and drugs. Her performance was terrible...and the script certainly didn't give Duke much of a chance. Sadly, here only a few years later, Duke is back...and her character is also quite overwrought and, at times, rather silly when it shouldn't have been. In "She Waits", Duke plays Laura Wilson, the new wife of Mark (David McCallum). It seems he was married before and apparently his first wife committed suicide. Now, Laura is started to receive psychic visits from the first wife...and over time, Laura becomes possessed by the spirit of this vindictive and nasty woman! But there's far more to it than this...and it turns out the first wife did NOT take her own life! So who did it? And how can the wife help solve her own murder?While the film does offer a nice twist at the end, so much of the film is just overdone and silly. Subtle it ain't!! Watch if you want....I just don't think it's particularly good.

I've just watched this movie twice; gorgeous visuals, really moody soundtrack. And this from a cheap TV movie starring Patty Duke! The story concerns a new bride arriving at her husband's family abode, to be unnerved by the possibility that she might be in danger of being possessed by the spirit of his deceased former wife. Patty Duke and "The Man From UNCLE" (McCallum) do a great job of acting, given the bad lines they have to deliver.And there's the problem = the dialogue is stunningly trite and obvious, no better than a daytime soap-opera. Pretend the characters are speaking a foreign language you can't understand, and you'll get a good frisson as the mood of this drama envelopes you. Don't turn off the sound, the music works perfectly.I Rate it at eight stars = two being deducted because of the dialogue.