A young couple are plunged into a nightmare of terror when a stranger tells them that their young child is the reincarnation of his long-dead daughter. Read more
| Starring | Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins, John Beck, Susan Swift |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Wise |
| Genres | Horror |
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A young couple are plunged into a nightmare of terror when a stranger tells them that their young child is the reincarnation of his long-dead daughter.
| Starring | Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins, John Beck, Susan Swift |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Wise |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 49 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Horror |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 04 Oct 2004 Production year: 1977 |
| Format | DVD |
Before The Silence of the Lambs revitalised his career, Anthony Hopkins hammed it up in less successful movies like A Change of Season and Audrey Rose. Directed by Robert Wise whose credits include The Sound of Music, The Andromeda Strain and Somebody Up There Likes Me, this cashes in on the 1970s post-Exorcist interest in possession and the supernatural, with a tale about a young girl who may in fact be a reincarnation of Hopkins's deceased daughter. The cast (including Marsha Mason and John Beck as the girl's understandably concerned parents) is capable, but in the end it's let down by the drawn-out plot and the unlikely ending.
Rather painful and not very persuasive spiritualist thriller in the wake of The Exorcist; only moments of dramaturgy survive.
Say the name Robert Wise and most will look at you with a blank expression. Say the name's The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Star Terk and even The Day the Earth Stood Still and you will receive a warmer look. What have they got in common? Director Robert Wise. Wise has had a long and varied career in motion pictures. Like Kubrick, Wise danced his way through the genre's creating classics as he went. Unfortuantely even the great make bad film sometimes. Audrey Rose suffers from that old adaption problem, big ideas that may fit comfortably into an novel but rarely on the screen. A lack of focus gives it a jumpy feel. Too much time is given to themes that can be dealt with a single scene i.e, a long drawn out court battle to explain the whole idea of reincarnation and not enough to what could make great cinema, ie, the breakdown of the marriage. Focusing on the personalites rather than the idea would have made the film a lot more accessable. Wise does pull a great perforance from Anthony Hopkin's and the rest of the cast but fails to keep the film together, letting the pace slip losing his audience. I mean compared to the nail bitting pace he created in The Adromeda Strain, if you didn't know Audrey was a Wise film you would think it was a first time Director at the helm. There are moments the film hits some great peaks, but alas not enough to stop the whole experince being slightly confusing and at times boring. Give me The Haunting anyday.
This film could have been better I think. Not very much going on with this film little girl being recarnated, bad dreams of a previous life, thats it basically.