Home for the Holidays

Four daughters return to the old homestead when they receive a note from their elderly father saying his new wife is slowly poisoning him to death. The daughters are an eclectic bunch; an alcoholic obsessed with the memory of their dead mother, a many-times married blonde, the eldest sister who constantly frets over them and the youngest who doesn't seem to know what's going on through most of the film, played by a very young Sally Field. The rain has washed out the road (hate when that happens)the phone is dead and someone is bumping off the family one by one. For an older tv movie this one is actually done pretty well. Decent writing and well acted, it will have you guessing. **1/2

A really entertaining proto-slasher with an all star cast that tells the story of a dying man who summons his daughters back home for Christmas when he thinks his new wife might be poisoning him. Someone in a yellow raincoat and carrying a pitchfork doesn't want that secret getting out and, one by one, the daughters are terrorized and murdered. Acting is better than most films like this thanks to the great cast and the rainy atmosphere helps a lot in keeping things creepy. The only downside is that, given its TV movie origins, it can't embrace the slasher aspects as much as if it had been a theatrical release so all the horror scenes are kept in PG territory.

Decent horror-thriller from the 1970s. Some of the acting is a bit over the top but I expect it from these older films. Worth watching - recommended 5/10

When the film begins, Benjamin (Walter Brennan) has brought his four daughters home using various pretenses. His real goal is to gather them together to ask them to do him a favor...murder his wife Elizabeth (Julie Harris). He's convinced she's trying to poison him and although he's been a poor father, he tries to use guilt to get them to do the deed. Not surprisingly, they don't....but soon the daughters start dying off one by one. Who is responsible? This is a good made for TV film with one big problem...the casting of the daughters. You are expected to believe Sally Field (26) and Eleanor Parker (53) are sisters! A mother and daughter, maybe...but not sisters. Some just be able to look past this...I couldn't. It's a shame as with a more believable cast, the film would have been even better. The plot is interesting and the film worth your time...though I did predict the ending.

I remember seeing this movie once as a kid. Three items present made an impression on me: the yellow slicker or rain coat, the gloves, and the dark blue Mercedes Benz 300 SEL. I was positively surprised to see this movie online and the sentimental journey of seeing it anew was quite a charge to me! HFTH is perhaps not too original, being a kind of family murder mystery, but childhood nostalgia is childhood nostalgia, and the musical score is actually breathtaking - almost as if composed by some neoclassical master. Very well suited for this rather 'gothic' melodrama. The composer was George Aliceson(!) Tipton - a prolific creator of soundtracks back then. Two household names of the 70s appear in this ABC movie of the week: Sally Field and Jessica Walter. Having been somewhat type-cast as a neurotic, Walter plays an alcoholic here, and she does not survive to the final credits. A feel good drama for the frequently boring Christmas/New Year's Holidays, I dare say.

This Christmas thriller is unique for a bunch of reasons. In addition to a solid cast and good acting, this TV movie creates a surprisingly early slasher atmosphere, replete with a mysterious hooded killer, wet rain, and woodsy setting. Julie Harris, Sally Field, Jessica Walter, and Eleanor Parker are all superb. For those who like their Yuletide cheer mingled from time to time with a good thriller or slasher flick, try this kissing cousin to Bob Clark's "Black Christmas." It's sure to bring a smile to your face around the warm, Christmas fire!

Written by Psycho's Joseph Stefano, Home For the Holidays involves a bunch of sisters reuniting at their ill father's home while someone's out there in a raincoat and pitchfork killing anyone in sight. Could it be their stepmother who might also be poisoning their father? An early attempt at a slasher movie with an all star cast and network TV standards. Don't expect a lot of blood, because they weren't allowed to go very far on TV back when this was made, but it's nice to see the likes of Sally Field, Julie Harris, Jessica Walter, and Eleanor Parker in a film of this sort.

This is made just before the slashers came out and it is a perfect example towards the slashers. Don't get me wrong, it's more an whodunit than a slasher but the first points to make it a slasher are visible. There are a few first person shots involved and we have a hero. They even try to mislead you by showing the killer's clothes a view times. On the point of gore or even blood well, there isn't any. It's somewhere between the Italian Giallo's and the, here we go again, slashers. But the acting is sublime and that's the reason why you keep watching. Up to this review it's only available on rental VHS in the US. And it doesn't go that cheap on the internet. Still for myself being a horror geek I enjoyed it. Even that it's low on the red stuff, but admit it, Texas Chainsaw and Halloween didn't had any blood too. If you are collection horror than this surely must be added in your collection.