Anscules The only thing worthwhile about this embarrassment is the opening 20 seconds or so. Very moody, intriguing, even brave. Everything after that is hopeless. Clearly aping The Exorcist (Marsha Mason isn't fit to drink from Ellen Burstyn's shoe), the film ends up being a weird hash of TV movie and student film... even Marsha Mason bashed it one year after it came out (!). Really, Wise must've been directing this from the catering truck or something. A few things that had me almost hating this ting from the opening credits (none are spoilers). Everyone is smiling so hard their faces will break, even when doing something no real person would smile during.... like being alone in a dark room. Ear to ear smile in a home dark room looking at the 10000000th shot of your kid? No. When the girl is handed a single balloon by her dad in the park she practically explodes with glee, running around like a person with some sort of a problem. All of this serves to fulfill a dreadful movie cliche: all of these people are soon to be miserable so let's see the counterpoint. Look how far they've fallen. It's on the level of junior high emotional appeal...Then, mom waits outside her daughter's school door. The instant the bell rings - in fact I believe the ringing overlaps this - kids begin pouring out of the doors. That's not how it works. Kids don't line up against the door looking at their parents through the glass waiting for a bell that allows them to open the door. That's the kind of movie this is.Finally, the worst part. Cinematography. Some of the ugliest, phoniest garbage I have ever seen outside of 1970s network tv shows. Any sequence in the apartment is utterly hideous, with light glaring off actors' cheeks and coming from all directions. Nobody's house interior ever looked like this. Oh. I spent a good stretch of the film with the subtitles on and sound muted because the girl's performance has got to be one of the most annoying things I've ever heard. See this and tell me you aren't moved into any other emotion than annoyance at all the whining. Flabbergastingly awful. I only wrote this review bec so many seem to be lukewarm about it.

TheBlueHairedLawyer Ivy Templeton is a preteen girl living in New York City in the 1970's. She does daily activities with her mom and dad, goes to Catholic school with lots of friends and has the picture-perfect family life. Her mom and dad are sophisticated and live in a high-class apartment and have high-class friends. One day Ivy's mom notices a strange and sad-looking man watching Ivy on the street corner. He begins to stalk the family and they believe he may want to molest or attack Ivy. As it turns out, he used to be the successful owner of a large steel factory in Pittsburgh until his wife and daughter were killed in a horrible accident. His daughter's name was Audrey-Rose, and he believes Ivy is her reincarnation. The Templetons are skeptical until Ivy begins to act erratic and harm herself and the strange man, named Hoover, warns that Ivy may be in danger. Audrey Rose was based on a book by Frank De Felitta. It was highly popular and stated to be "the scariest since the Exorcist". Audrey Rose had very good acting, a beautiful soundtrack and a creepy plot, but what really made it good was the ending, as Ivy is hypnotized and goes backwards through different stages in her life. This was probably very difficult for the actress to pull off so considering that, it was a very convincing scene in the film. Audrey Rose shares elements of films like the Lovely Bones and Alice, Sweet Alice. It's really worth watching.

reagenwilson While the overall plot of the movie was excellent, especially for that period of time when the subject of reincarnation was new, Susan Swift's acting "ability" made this movie unbearable to watch. Her constant whining and inability to control her facial features was a huge distraction not to mention that she looked as though she had a mental illness. I cannot believe that she was actually picked for a big screen movie, she lacks any form of talent and is one of the worst actresses I have ever seen. I looked up her biography and it's no surprise that she only starred in a total of 4 big screen productions, someone finally realized the dud that they had on their hands. The old saying that money talks really must have rung true when her parents took her to that audition.

eytand94 Robert Wise may have directed "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music." But he has done a fair share of horror films and thrillers, including "The Curse of the Cat People," "The Day The Earth Stood Still," but most notably, "The Haunting." However, hardly anybody seems to remember a 1977 film called "Audrey Rose." It is another film from the famed director that, in my eyes, is very memorable and atmospheric.Janice and Bill Templeton are leading a very happy marriage with their daughter, Ivy. The last thing they want is a strange man by the name of Elliot Hoover stalking them. Worst of all, he sets his eye on Ivy. Soon enough, they are able to talk to Hoover. He explains that his wife and daughter, Audrey Rose, died in a horrible car accident, and that his daughter may have crossed over into Ivy. Of course, Janice and Bill dismiss Hoover as a lunatic. But that's when Ivy begins to exhibit strange behavior. Could Hoover be correct? Is Ivy really the reincarnation of Audrey Rose? Now, when "Audrey Rose" first came out in 1977, it was subject to mixed reviews, mostly because it was seen as a horror film, and I can understand why. It was released a few years after "The Exorcist," when horror films were becoming more modern and faith was being challenged. But I don't see "Audrey Rose" as a horror film. Instead, I perceive it as a supernatural thriller with a touch of family drama. And it's a very good one.Based on the novel by Frank De Felitta, creator of "The Entity" and director of "Dark Night of the Scarecrow," "Audrey Rose" is a nifty thriller for three reasons.First, Robert Wise gives superb direction. He registers the exact amount of passion that he had for "The Haunting" and he has chosen an effective story that challenges the beliefs of the viewer. Do we choose to believe Hoover in that his daughter has come back in the form of Ivy? Or is Ivy simply an ill child in need of psychiatric help? It is a great story.Second, the acting is quite good. Anthony Hopkins and John Beck give very nice performances as Hoover and Bill. The wide-eyed newcomer Susan Swift is especially believable in the scenes in which Ivy shows off the nightmarish behavior of Hoover's dead daughter. But I, and many other people who have seen the movie, feel that the greatest performance belongs to Marsha Mason, star of "The Goodbye Girl," as Janice. Once Audrey Rose takes over Ivy, Janice's fear of losing her daughter shows and Mason's acting intensifies as the movie goes on.Third, the film has a tremendous atmosphere. The scenes of rain pattering on the windows as Ivy screams for her daddy are incredibly creepy, and so are the scenes at Ivy's school and inside the banal hospital.There are plenty of movies about possession and bad seeds, but a reincarnation thriller is very uncommon. "Audrey Rose" may be a little long, but it is a super-effective supernatural thriller that is very creepy. It will leave you with questions, and raise ideas about reincarnation. Robert Wise has given us a thriller to remember.