Wes Craven directs Linda Blair, Lee Purcell and Jeremy Slate in this made-for-TV chiller where a horse girl begins to suspect her visiting cousin of being evil when she wakes up covered in boils and her boyfriend, her brother and her father all fall under the suspicious new girl’s thrall.

She looks like a curvy chipmunk, squeaks a lot too and I’m there for that. What a soft spot I have for Linda Blair’s post The Exorcist career descent! It is all sludge. The pretensions of Exorcist II. The near unwatchable Savage Streets and overrated Hell Night. Still yet to rewatch Chained Heat and Repossessed. Here we get some very light, near undetectable, horror mystery for an hour and then ten minutes of transformations and car chase stunts as pudding. Wes’ usual subversion and technical craft are nowhere to be seen but I get the feeling this was a learning experience for him. Based on a novel by the writer of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Cringey Dad needs to have a word with himself.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Hell Night (1981)