What a waste of my time!!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Originally airing on November 28, 1972, this ABC-TV movie was produced by Aaron Spelling and debuted on VHS in 1986. It's packed with future talent and is at the center of what we love most here: TV movies, Christmas movies and horror.Benjamin Morgan (Walter Brennan, Rio Bravo) is rich and dying and suspects his wife, Elizabeth (Julie Harris, one of America's most famous stage actresses), of poisoning him. He sends his oldest daughter, Alex (Eleanor Parker, Eye of the Cat) to find her three sisters and bring them home - the first time they've been back since their mother's suicide.The three sisters are Freddie (Jessica Walter, Arrested Development), Joanna (Jill Haworth, The Brides of Dracula) and Christine (Sally Field, Steel Magnolias). Their father tells them that they must kill their stepmother before she kills them. At dinner that night, Joanna harangues her stepmother with questions about how her first husband died, while Freddie screams in her room about how their father's affairs led to their mother killing herself.This is obviously the holiday get-together everyone hoped for.Soon after, Joanna tries to leave but is killed by a pitchfork-wielding person in a yellow raincoat. That same killer also drowns Feddie in the bathtub while Elizabeth keeps offering everyone warmed milk and honey. Soon, the phone line gets cut and everyone is trapped with a killer. But who is it?There are plenty of twists and turns here, as the love between a father and daughter and the love between husband and wife is contested. It's bloodless, as it's a TV movie, but it's also pretty dark, because the 1970's were the end of the world and the movies made then reflected it. You also get a cast packed with Oscar winners and nominees, all acting within basically one or two rooms, so there's plenty of emotion and suspense.

It's not a happy Christmas for the unhappy Morgan sisters. Their father whom they've been estranged for years from has summoned them to his bed side. It's not happy news that Walter Brennan brings them. He thinks that his second wife Julie Harris is trying to poison him.The sisters cover quite a span of years. From Eleanor Parker the oldest to Sally Field the youngest with Jessica Walter and Jill Haworth in the middle. None of them seem to have any men in their lives for various reasons. Brennan was quite the tyrant in his younger days and no doubt scared a lot of them off. As it goes in these Gothic horror films the bodies start dropping and the survivors start running. One of the women is indeed the guilty party. I think you'll probably figure it out as this is a made for TV film. A theatrical film might have had it come out differently.The cast is as professional as they come. Sally Field was shedding her Gidget/Flying Nun image and on her way to a pair of Oscars. Eleanor Parker is the tower of strength and Walter and Haworth are a pair of party animals. Brennan did not look well, I suspect he was having real health issues.Fans of Gothic horror and any and all of the cast should be pleased.

I remember seeing this as a little kid when it first aired in the UK. It was on really late, but I watched it and was afraid to go to bed after it finished. I've never seen it aired on the TV after that, and I found it really difficult to find a copy. Eventually, I found a DVD of it on iOffer, and it still holds up today!A dying old man summons home his four daughters at Christmas because he suspects that his new wife is poisoning him. However, this proves to be the least of their problems when a mysterious figure in a yellow raincoat brandishes a pitchfork and starts picking them off one by one! This is quite a neat little thriller, but sadly, because of its TV origins, very few people know about it, which is a real shame, because it deserves so much more recognition. Hopefully, it will be released on DVD soon, as I can't find any factory release in the UK, and there's only the out of print videotape in the US, so I consider myself extremely lucky to have a copy, and a decent one at that. I really recommend that if anyone is searching for this, go straight to iOffer for a DVD, and you can sit down and watch it back to back with Black Christmas (the original, not the horrible remake).This is well worth a watch. I highly recommend it!

Well-done made for TV thriller is a little known but worth wild movie.Sisters are summoned home by their bed-ridden father because he believes his new wife is trying to murder him. Now it seems that the whole family just may be on the murderer's hit list.Thanks to its great cast, this becomes a surprising good thriller, especially considering it was made for TV in 1972. A well-mounted mystery with some good suspense and set-ups. Aided along by a fairly moody atmosphere; this Christmas there's no snow, just heavy rainstorms.Sally Field, Jessica Walters, and the great Julie Harris turn in the best performances for this one. The subtle music score is nicely done, as is the whole movie. In fact, my only real complaint about this movie is the camera operator's apparent obsession with 'zoom' shots!All around, this is a pretty decent little thriller that's worth a rainy night watch.*** out of ****