Main Cast: Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins, John Beck, Susan Swift, Norman Lloyd
Release Year: 1977
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Audrey Rose is a "thinking man's" horror film, which in a way is unfortunate, since it tended to be ignored amidst the many spell-it-all-out scarefests of the late '70s. Marsha Mason and John Beck play Janice and Bill Templeton, a happily married couple, the parents of well-adjusted preteen Ivy (Susan Swift). Their family security is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious stranger, Elliot Hoover (Anthony Hopkins). At first mistaken for a potential child molester, Hoover explains that his obsessive interest in young Ivy is actually paternal. It is Hoover's contention that their daughter is the reincarnation of his own child, who died in a horrible accident. This information is dismissed out of hand-and then strange things begin happening. Directed by Robert Wise (who had previously helmed the psychological thriller The Haunting), Audrey Rose was adapted by co-producer Frank de Felitta from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Part of the 1970s horror cycle caused by the enormous success of The Exorcist, Audrey Rose is a more intelligent, nuanced example of the genre, which is both its blessing and its curse. Robert Wise has directed in a relatively understated manner, yet still provides a fair share of chilling moments. Working from a script that is far too wordy -- and, to its credit, tries to rationally discuss the concept of reincarnation while maintaining a horror framework -- Wise shrewdly makes the wordiness an advantage. He keeps the focus on the dialogue -- or, often, monologue -- while subtly overemphasizing ordinary movements onscreen to create tension or suspense. Wise also gives the film a visual style, and the snowman scene at the school is particularly well done. He is helped by Anthony Hopkins' intense, sorrowful performance, as well as Susan Swift's impressive turn in the title role. Ultimately, the script's pretensions and its stuffiness keep it from being the first-class thriller it could have been, but it's still a decent alternative to better-known thrillers. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
John Hillerman - Scott Velie; Philip Sterling - Judge Langley; Ivy Jones - Mary Lou Sides; Aly Wassil - Maharishi Gupta Pradesh; Mary Jackson - Mother Veronica; Tony Brande - Detective Fallon; Stanley Brock - Cashier in Store; Pat Corley - Dr. Webster; Elizabeth Farley - Carole Rothman; David Fresco - Dominick; Richard Lawson - 1st Policeman; Ruth Manning - Customer in Store; Stephen Pearlman - Russ Rothman; Robert Walden - Brick Mack; David Wilson - 2nd Policeman; Karen Anders - Maria
Credit
Dorothy Jeakins - Costume Designer, Sheldon Levine - Costume Designer, Shirley Strahm - Costume Designer, Art Levinson - First Assistant Director, Robert Wise - Director, Carl Kress - Editor, Michael Small - Composer (Music Score), Harry Horner - Production Designer, Victor J. Kemper - Cinematographer, Frank de Felitta - Producer, Robert Wise - Producer, Joe Wizan - Producer, Jerry Wunderlich - Set Designer, Tom Overton - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael J. Kohut - Sound/Sound Designer, Wiliam L. McCaughey - Sound/Sound Designer, Aaron Rochin - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank de Felitta - Screenwriter, Frank de Felitta - Book Author
A woman and her five-year old daughter, Audrey Rose Hoover, are killed in a car accident. Two minutes later, Ivy is born nearby to Janice and Bill Templeton.
Years later, when Ivy is almost eleven, she begins having nightmares. A stranger, Elliot Hoover, visits the Templeton family and tells them about his daughter and wife. He believes that his little girl was reincarnated in Ivy. They think that he is psychotic and don't believe him. But Ivy seems to be disturbed by her nightmares which keep getting worse. One day Elliot Hoover happens to come to their house and sees Ivy acting in a panic and burning her hands on her cold window, screaming "Daddy help me!" and "it's so hot!"
Hoover is able to calm Ivy's recurrent nightmares down by calling her Audrey Rose, but after he abducts her, he is arrested. His subsequent attempts to argue a case for reincarnation at his trial became a cause célèbre.
A leit motif in the novel/movie is the Hindu belief of reincarnation. There are constant references to Hinduism, of the belief that the human soul does not die, but is immortal. The movie ends with a quotation from the Bhagvad Gita -one of Hinduism's holiest books.
