best movie i've ever seen.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If you go in with your expectations adjusted to the fact that the stars of this are Troy Donahue and Joey Heatherton, hardly renown for their thespic abilities, then you should enjoy this rather overwrought drama that wants to be a thriller but isn't very chilling at all. Troy shows up out of the blue when heiress Joey almost runs him down and is transfixed from the beginning telling her she's the reincarnation of his long lost love, Joey's great, great grandmother. This gives her understandable pause until he shows her a locket of the woman that Joey is a dead ringer for, apparently they had bottle blonds in the 17th century! It doesn't get any more believable from that point on but if you like 60's potboilers this has its charms. Jeanette Nolan as Joey's aunt who knows most if not all the secrets gives the best performance and her hairpieces have to be seen to be believed! One is so mountainous that it's bigger than her head!A great deal of fun in an over the top ridiculous kind of way.

Young 21-year-old Julie (Joey Heatherton) is dating old but dependable Harry (Nicholas Coaster). Then she meets young hunky Ben (Troy Donahue) who seems instantly smitten with her. It seems he thinks she's the reincarnation of a woman he loved in another life! He knows a lot about her family that there's no way he could have known. Is it true? Obscure little thriller. The basic plot is interesting and it moves quickly enough. Donahue and Heatherton are certainly an attractive couple and shown in their bathing suits often. But this movie has problems. It's flatly directed and Barry Sullivan and Coaster are dreadful in their roles. Donahue and Heatherton are bad too but Donahue tries and is actually very good at times. Old pro Jeanette Nolan however is superb as Aunt Sarah. The ultimate resolution was disappointing but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained. I give it a 6.

Taking over for Sandra Dee as Troy Donahue's blonde vis-a-vis, that outstanding thespian Joey Heatherton is about as exciting as the film's credits. As for Donahue, he tries valiantly as a psychopathic man who may or may not be a re-incarnation of Heatherton's great-great grandmother, but no matter how many convulsions he has, he still lacks the spark to be a sustainable leading man. This story of a so-called family legend has potential, but can't escape the leads, being notable mainly for its romantic supporting actor, Nicolas Coaster, and the wild and wacky hairstyles of Heatherton's aunt, Jeanette Nolan, who seems to have gotten this role because Ruth Gordon wasn't available. Her initial appearance has her in a hat which resembles a pom-pom, and in subsequent scenes, her overly piled coif resembles everything from roadkill to a soufflé. Her performance of a wacky but wise aunt is fun to watch, sort of like that crazy older relative that manages to be dragged out for family holidays whom the younger members enjoy watching get tipsier and tipsier.Unfortunately filmed in black and white (which really doesn't help make this any spookier), that makes much of the dramatic action truly boring, even its climax on a storm-swept lake. Poor Barry Sullivan plays such a beast of a power-throwing patriarch that it is difficult to feel any empathy for him other than the poor material the actor has to speak.A non-Gothic version of a similar story was "A Kiss Before Dying" where Robert Wagner gave a much more convincing portrayal of a psychopath, one you really felt a tinge of sympathy for. Even Robert Walker's psycho in "Strangers on a Train" was more ingratiating and fun to watch than Donahue's here.

This silly potboiler starts out promisingly enough to get you hooked, but sadly veers off track toward the end. However, the plot is not the reason to watch this film. It's the 1965 trappings - the cars, the clothes, the sharp-focus black & white photography - that keep you glued to this picture. It's an inadvertent but accurate time capsule. Viewers with a camp sensibility will have a field day with Jeanette Nolan's hairdos alone. Each scene she's in brings yet another mind- blowing creation which we're supposed to believe she whips up on her own. Joey Heatherton sports a few odd coifs herself. Joey was a fine 60's-style sex kitten and her look is immortalized here. Troy Donahue's acting skills, which were passable in previous films, here prove why his career didn't last much longer. Nice scenery along California's 17-mile Drive. Watch this film for a guilty wallow in 1965 mindset.