Wonderful character development!

What makes it different from others?

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Who would know that a telekinetic would be part of higher education. "The Initiation of Sarah", is like a whole new story here. Here you have two sisters who start college. A timid sister named Sarah (Kay Lenz) and popular Patty (Morgan Brittany). Hoping to get into the same sorority together, only to be met with animosity. It turned out that Sarah is adopted. And the sorority leader(Morgan Fairchild) drives the wedge between the two. When Sarah joins the opposite sorority, she meets another pledge name Mouse (Tisa Farrow). Sarah uses her telekinetic powers on several occasions. This draws attention to the den mother (Shelley Winters) to use her powers for her own purposes. When Sarah and Mouse started to bond, the den mother sets out her plans of revenge on the rival sorority. When Sarah discovers her den mother's plan, she thwarts it. This movie kinds of copies "Carrie". A few subtle changes but not too much. Enjoyed it though. 2 out of 5 stars.

Shy Sarah Goodwin (a strong and sympathetic portrayal by the lovely Kay Lenz) and her more outgoing half sister Patti (stunning brunette Morgan Brittany) go off to college together. Patti gets accepted into the snobby ANS sorority while poor Sarah has to stay at the oddball intellectual misfit sorority PED. PED's weird witch housemother Erica Hunter (the indomitable Shelley Winters at her most gleefully unrestrained and over the top) encourages Sarah to use her potentially lethal psychic powers on the ANS sorority, specifically targeting snotty stuck-up bitch Jennifer Lawrence (deliciously played to catty perfection by Morgan Fairchild) as the key deserving recipient of Sarah's wrath. Adequately directed by Robert Day, with decent cinematography by Ric Waite, a spooky score by Johnny ("The Evil") Harris, a rousing fiery conclusion, and fine acting by a solid cast, this modest made-for-TV "Carrie" cash-in clone does the trick as a fun little fright feature. Lenz and Fairchild excel in juicy substantial roles, with nice supporting performances by Tony Bill as an affable teaching assistant, a pre-"Airplane!" Robert Hays as a friendly frat guy, and Tisa ("Some Call It Loving," "Zombie") Farrow as the frail, timid Mouse. Moreover, there's a pretty racy and surprising gay subtext to be discerned in the relationship between Sarah and Ms. Hunter, who appears to be a repressed lesbian with a lascivious interest in comely young ladies. My sole criticism: the gorgeous Kay Lenz is rather miscast as a character who's supposed to be a frumpy and unattractive plain Jane wallflower. That minor quibble aside, this nifty flick overall rates as a most entertaining item.

OK, I never saw this in 1978 or in any reruns but because I grew up in the seventies, I have a weird affinity for liking these made for TV movies of the week. This one turned out to be a lot of fun to watch. The acting is pretty good by all involved, Kay Lenz in the title role makes it believable and Morgan Fairchild is good as the queen b....., Morgan Brittany is lovely as ever and Shelly Winters is completely over the top in her scenes especially towards the end of the movie. (SPOLIERS) Story wise it's not strong, the movie itself is a little slow at the beginning of the movie and there are some things left unresolved at the end of the movie such as what happened to all involved but that does not distract from a fun movie. My copy was on an older tape and it was quite granny but it reminded me of the quality of the made for TV movies of the week back in the 70's. I say if your a fan of the TV movie's of the week you'll enjoy this one. OH, and buy the way if you ever meet Kay Lenz be nice to her you just never know what may happen.

I always felt that this movie was chopped to pieces and that there was so much more to the story than what we got to see. I wish I could have read the original script for it. This is such a classic Carrie-type story, sort of a Revenge of the Nerds meets Carrie. But for some reason I just love the story. Maybe because both Morgan Brittany and Morgan Fairchild are in it. If you want a college horror story with a twist, this is it. It's creepy and fun.