Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Movie Notes: Audrey Rose (1977)

Quite dreadful supernatural dreck. Notable for its willingness to portray Hindu ideas about reincarnation, perhaps a sign that it was made in the 1970s. Certainly this is a Hare Krishna version of Hinduism, which seems very much of the era. Also, almost everything in the movie was shot on soundstages, making it look like a television program from the 70s.

The Story: Marsha Mason has a daughter named Ivy, but Anthony Hopkins keeps creeping around, claiming that Ivy is really his daughter Audrey Rose, who died in a car accident five years previously and who was unsuccessfully reincarnated. What exactly is unsuccessful reincarnation? I don't really know, but it makes her act a lot like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. This is actually fairly creepy stuff for a bit, if a slur on Hinduism, but then the movie takes a silly turn as Ivy's parents and Mr. Creepy go to court for custody based on the fellow's claim that she is a reincarnation of his daughter. Sure, the court allowed this case to be heard. Why not? The seventies were a strange time! During the trial, the girl is put under hypnosis and dies. The end. Or is it? Well, of course not. They were obviously expecting to reincarnate her in Audrey Rose 2.

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