Rish Outfield's reviews
I love William Shatner. I've said it before and I'll say it again. And I'll have words with any man who says otherwise. But I'll be man enough to admit--I made a mistake in renting this one. If I had looked closely, I might have noticed it was a slow-moving made-for-TV melodrama that would be a waste of our time and garner no skulls or surprises. I'm sorry.
This was not a very good film. Shatner and Patty Duke are raising a twelve year old daughter, bickering, and trying to keep Duke from drinking. Enter Johanna (Stephanie Zimbalist), the enigmatic girl who they hire to take care of their house and cook their meals. But Johanna has a dark secret . . . or something, I sort of lost interest. Really, this wasn't much of a horror movie, just a dull overblown soap opera with no tension and an extraordinarily moronic ending. I'll waste no more time with it (yours or mine).
Best Scare: There ended up being a dead body or two . . . eventually.
I'd Recommend It To: Grandma.
Note: I had a little crush as a boy on Stephanie Zimbalist in "Remington Steele." It's odd that she virtually disappeared after that. If she hadn't, I'm sure we would've given this a Future Celebrity Appears skull.

The tyranist's thoughts
There was one reason that this movie was picked out and one that should have prevented us from renting it at all. The reason it got rented was William Shatner. The reason it should never have been rented is Made-for-TV. Just about anything pre-90's that was made for TV sucks. They simply didn't have enough freedom to explore some of the darker and more important parts of the medium. Plus, I don't think anyone was working in the field who knew what was going on. Don't get me wrong, I love Twilight Zone and all the rest, but can you name one made for TV movie from then that was worth seeing?
Stephanie Zimbalist actually plays a creepy housekeeper/maid/babysitter very well. John Houseman is is normal great self. William Shatner is William Shatner. They just didn't have a script to help them along much. It is unfortunate that so much effort is wasted like this.
I should probably address a couple of the skulls that we awarded this one. Yes, we knew it was made for TV before we watched it (but not before it was rented), but we still strongly felt that it deserved an Unfulfilled Promise of Nudity skull. It is just too blatantly obvious that this is what should have happened. The other skull I should address is the No One Dies At All. Someone did die (and no I won't tell you who), but it was so peripheral to the plot that it didn't even matter. When it comes right down to it, no one died.