| Ben
Gazzara, Elizabeth Ashley, Michael Douglas
This one starts out with such promise but in the end kind of
folds in under its overly-complicated plot and seemingly overlong running
time. Ben Gazzara
stars as a divorcee whose ex-wife (Elizabeth Ashley)
starts receiving creepy phonecalls from her nephew Michael, who died 15
years ago when just a boy. When people start turning up dead around town
(by killer bee sting, fall -- during a Halloween pumpkin-carving contest,
and other "accidents"), they enlist the help of her other nephew,
Craig (played by a very young -- but still already rather busted -- Michael
Douglas), now a psychiatrist at a home for wayward boys, to suss
out what's happening. Some seriously creepy scenes -- most involving telephone
harassment (my favorite!) -- keep things moving nicely, but ultimately
the clunky reveal goes on a bit too long (it was based on a John
Farris novel -- I have the same problem with some of his books).
Philip Leacock would go on to direct the superb Dying
Room Only the following year.
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