OllieSuave-007
A typical TV thriller where a teenage girl named Gail is harassed by a stalker with threatening notes and phone calls. This main plot point is distracted with the sappy subplot of Gail's dating life with her boyfriend, Steve. Her complicated relationship with her parents (played by Blythe Danner and Tony Bill) is more interesting and I especially liked the performance of Blythe Danner in the mother role (including the part where she says she does not want her daughter to settle down at an early age, but to find herself first). The plot's pacing, though, is very slow and takes a long time to gain any suspenseful traction. When it does, the thrills don't usually last long. And, the title is misleading. Acting was subpar - OK to pass on this one. Grade D
markcope1981
this film is a good film about Gail Osborne a girl who is raped at a house she is babysitting multiple flashbacks tell how she was stalked at school AND at her house AND while babysitting this inspired Halloween oh and when a stranger calls by the why hysteria lives should not assume this came first some people wished there was a body count but this is lucky this isn't a mindless gore flick Gail Osborne is a likable character and though there isn't a body count she belongs in the line of all those final girls this good movie that came before and possibly inspired movies of equal quality . further more this is not boring hysteria lives which is usually a very right site very good film
Michael_Elliott
Are You in the House Alone? (1978) ** (out of 4) Made for TV drama is actually disguised as a horror movie. The film starts off as teenager Gail (Kathleen Beller) is being taken to the hospital after being beaten and raped. We then flashback and see the events leading up to the rape, which include her dating a new guy, being made fun of by her old boyfriend and having several other men set themselves up as red herrings. The first hour builds itself up as a horror movie in the same vein as BLACK Christmas but things take a turn in the final act when the rape happens and I must admit that the movie got rather disgusting to me. This was made for TV so everything is very tame but at the same time I thought the rape stuff was very poorly handled and in the end it come off more distasteful than anything else. To make matters worse is the fact that the build up really isn't anything special because it's obvious from the first five minutes who the attacker is going to be. I caught onto the bad guy right from the start so each additional red herring they threw at me had little effect. The screenplay is full of those "made for TV" holes but that's to be expected. Beller does a pretty good job in her role, although she does go over the top from time to time. Scott Colomby stole the film for me with his very strong and believable performance. Dennis Quaid has a nice supporting part and Ellen Travolta (John's sister) also has a small role. This TV movie seems to have a decent cult following but there really wasn't enough here to keep me interested.
rixrex
The best thing going for this rather routine TV movie melodrama is spirited performances by the young stars, including a very youthful Dennis Quaid in a part that would have gone to Bruce Dern 15 years before. The movie is almost two separate movies in one, the first part leading up to the assault on the teenage female lead babysitter is a quasi-horror film not unlike the original When A Stranger Calls, which was released later. There are various suspects who may be making the terrorizing phone calls and messages, and we are in the dark until the assault. The second part, anti-climactic in a way, involves the girl recovering to be stronger and to bring the perpetrator to justice. Unfortunately this section is weaker than the first part regardless of the good intentions by the film-makers to show the difficult process of justice. The adult leads are really unspectacular and mediocre at best, and Tony Bill displays good reasons as to why he left acting to be a producer/director. There is a subplot regarding his character losing a job that really goes nowhere and was unnecessary to the main plot. Blythe Danner as the mother is often more hysterical that the teenage daughter, and comes off as hammy. She's done better work. Scott Columby is fine but could have easily been replaced by one of the other "Scott" actors of the time, either Jacoby or Baio. Alan Fudge is good, and shows why his last name was a big mistake. Where was his agent when he first started? Imagine if he and Barbara Hershey had gotten married!
AD
