Summer of Fear

Craven’s dedication to the horror genre as the best template for addressing a family’s betrayal of its individual members for the sake of upholding either tradition or sanctity answers why the director of The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes chose to direct a made-for-television adaptation of a popular, and family-friendly, Lois Duncan (Killing Mr. Griffith, I Saw What You Did Last Summer) novel. Summer of Fear shows Craven evolving his aesthetic capabilities to service industry demands for genre works that could appeal to both youth and adult audiences.Visually, the film conforms to the demands of the television movie, with tight framings on character faces comprising nearly half of the film’s shots. Our introduction to Rachel (Linda Blair) occurs in one such shot, with the teen awakening one summer morning to be told by her mother (Carol Lawrence) that her aunt and uncle were killed in a car crash. The deceased couple leaves behind Julia (Lee Purcell), whose newfound homelessness necessitates that she shack up with Rachel and her family for the remainder of the summer. The efficient terms of the premise, in which Julia’s country twang clashes with Rachel’s more bourgeois notions of hip and cool, establish the class-based conflict that Craven was drawn to throughout his career. The band of killers in The Last House on the Left ripped apart the façade of a loving suburban home. The Hills Have Eyes took place on an atomic testing site where radioactive cannibals pick off members of a vacationing nuclear family. In Summer of Fear, Max A. Keller and Glenn M. Benest’s teleplay uses witchcraft as a narrative device to address the daily hardships of adolescent social life.Craven grasps that what sells the story’s horror isn’t the horror itself, but the sense of being abandoned by one’s own parents over a disagreeable personality trait. In Rachel’s case, her interest in competing horses makes her “a liberated woman” according to a local professor (Macdonald Carey), and her tomboyish depiction also makes her an intriguing prototype for the “final girl” alongside Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode from John Carpenter’s Halloween, released just six days prior to Summer of Fear in 1978. The film’s most violent moment occurs when Rachel’s mother smacks her across the face after she calls Julia “a witch,” and Craven plays it ambivalently, as it’s not clear exactly why Rachel’s slander disturbed her mother so much. The guardians in Summer of Fear seem to act out of preserving an imprecise sense of decency. The outburst of violence is the outcome of an unexamined family dynamics that Julia—who, it turns out, really is a witch—disrupts simply through her presence as an alluring young woman.The underlying nature of the family’s fragility in Summer of Fear never becomes an explicit focus of Craven’s direction, meaning any statement being made about the unthinking ideology of suburbia remains peripheral to any scene. On the surface, it’s Blair’s chipper demeanor that most compels Craven, as the camera constantly focuses on her in varying states of emotional distress. At her most despondent moment, she’s been dumped by her boyfriend, is suffering from a skin rash, and her pet horse has just been euthanized. Rachel’s humiliation is a slow burn, eating at her sanity in such a way that it’s as if her very existence is crumbling right before her eyes.The broader supernatural dimension of the plot, however, devolves into a kinda underwhelming conclusion in which Julia confesses her literal torturing and manipulation of Rachel with magic. The simple explication of Julia’s malicious hunger gives Rachel reprieve from her paranoia that her self-esteem problems might be greater than Julia’s constant presence, meaning the film’s preceding, intimate moments of grief are undercut by a finale the becomes hellbent solely on exorcising the demon. At least Craven and company have the decency not to toss in an explicit parting wink to The Exorcist.Image/SoundThe HD scan of Summer of Fear from Doppelgänger Releasing is mostly solid. Optional English subtitles.ExtrasA feature commentary by Craven helps contextualize his involvement with the project, which came about, in part, because he wanted to prove he was capable of directing different kinds of material. While Craven remains largely focused on explaining his process, there are lulls in the commentary into the banalities of the shoot, such as who took the most lunches from the craft services table. Still, Craven’s playful tone ensures that even when he’s gossiping and speculating on careers, he’s doing so without malice and in favor of thinking of a production as being akin to a summer camp. In a recent interview, Linda Blair explains how she was excited to make a movie with Craven and such a distinguished cast. Moreover, she talks about her introduction to the world of television movies. Rounding out this lean lot of extras is the original trailer and a photo and poster gallery.

SUMMER OF FEAR (1978) opens w/ a literal bang, as an out-of-control car crashes and burns! Rachel Bryant (Linda Blair- THE EXORCIST, HELL NIGHT) has lost her aunt and uncle in the explosion, and her parents leave town for the funeral. When they return, they bring Rachel's country cousin, Julia (Lee Purcell) back w/ them. She's come to stay for a while, during her bereavement. At first, it all goes swimmingly. When Rachel's poodle-haired brother, Peter (Jeff East) gets a gander at Julia, he's instantly smitten. Julia and Rachel's friend Carolyn (Fran Drescher!) are attacked by Rachel's horse! Perhaps he was set off by Julia's new vest and hot pants ensemble w/ mod hairdo! In no time, Julia has ingratiated herself w/ Rachel's family. Only Rachel seems to suspect that something might not be quite right w/ their houseguest. Oh no! The big dance is imminent, and Rachel's face breaks out in what look like pepperonis! Julia winds up going to the dance w/ Rachel's 12' tall boyfriend! Coincidence? Hmmm. Oh fudge! The horse takes a terminal tumble! Her boyfriend now Julia's, her horse reduced to dog chow, and that whole facial pepperoni thing, convince Rachel that some genuine hoodoo-voodoo, Ozark mountain witchery might be going on! Luckily, an expert in the occult lives next door. What are the odds? Armed w/ a way to reveal the truth about Julia, can Rachel defeat her wretched relative? This slab of made-for-TV cheddar is your basic, supernatural yarn. Blair is great, as is Purcell. Directed by Wes Craven, it's clear that the constraints of network television made it a tad silly. He still did what he could to make it suspenseful. When Julia finally reveals her true self, everything hits the fan! Vintage fun for the 70's horror lover...

I have this burned on dvd+r for a few years and I was excited to finally get a legit copy of Summer of Fear being it has been out of print for sometime. I even seen on Facebook where Linda Blair was talking about it's release. I was so excited! Really disappointed after watching it. The Artisan release is better quality and this release has been edited. Some of it is cut out. I guess, I will be keeping my burned copy because this re release isn't even as good as the burned copy I have, and it is recorded off vhs.

I discovered Lois Duncan's books around 1993, and the first I read was Summer of Fear. It brought me to tears when I read it, between the frustration of the main character being disbelieved and unable to do anything to save the family, and what happens to her pet. Well, this movie was quite a faithful adaptation, aside from trading the pet dog for a horse. Absolutely fantastic, the way it followed the book's plot. I'm very satisfied.As for the movie itself, I really loved all the actors, and I even liked the change from the book where the main character became an equestrian.Just to mention potential trigger warnings, there is the sacrifice of an animal, and modern-day pagans may take offense to the portrayal of witchcraft in the film. But the book and film are both from the 1970s, in the era leading up to the satanic panic, for context. If you just take it at entertainment value and consider the period of time in which both were created, I think anyone can enjoy it. It's a little risque in a single moment but overall it's a very clean movie with no bad language or nudity.

I saw this way back when it played all the time on TV. Linda Blair is always fun to watch. It was scarier then I remembered.

The seller who sold me this movie was absolutely fantastic. Great communication, and the film arrived in perfect condition within a week of ordering it. This film is a total classic from horror director Wes Craven. Sure it's low budget and a bit hokey now, but it's a lot of fun and completely enjoyable if you love 70's horror films like I do.