More 1970s TV movie madness, HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS is of note because it was Christmas themed. Boasting a script by PSYCHO’S Joseph Stefano, this 1972 pic is a murder mystery/psycho thriller that is, frankly, never very mysterious or thrilling, playing like a lackluster hybrid of PSYCHO and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
The title is ironic, as the family coming home for the holidays consists of four sisters summoned to their father’s country house on Christmas Eve due to a “family emergency.” The ladies, whose ranks include the promiscuous Joe, the high-strung Frederique, the naïve Christine and the seemingly level-headed Alex, are informed that their father is apparently being poisoned to death by his new wife Elizabeth—whose deceased husband was in fact poisoned, although his death was, like that of her current husband’s deceased former spouse, ruled a suicide.
The gals are given an icy welcome by Elizabeth, followed by an even less pleasant greeting from their father, who entreats them to murder his hated spouse. Before the night is done Frederique slashes herself up with broken glass and Joe tries to leave, only to meet her death at the hands of a pitchfork wielding someone.
On Christmas day a storm hits the area and the telephone lines go out, after which a drunken Frederique is drowned in a bathtub. Christine unwisely runs out into the storm, where she’s chased by the unidentified raincoat wearing figure who committed the previous killings. Back inside the house Christine finds that the latest murder victim is her father, seemingly at the hands of Elizabeth—but is she really the killer?
Director John Llewelyn Moxey can’t hope to overcome the standard 1970s TV movie lassitude, and doesn’t try. This film looks like exactly what it is, being filled with intrusive zooms and seventies-centric music that occasionally swells to Bernard Herrmann-esque string shrieks. The low budget is evident in elements like the unconvincing rainstorm of the climax, and also the lackluster chase that occurs therein.
The script, despite an extremely involved set-up that requires twenty minutes’ worth of expositional dialogue to explain, is predictable from start to finish. When Joe attempts to leave the house, for instance, any novice horror movie viewer can deduce, correctly, that she won’t be getting very far, just as the revelation of the killer in the final scenes isn’t very revelatory.
If this movie can be said to have anything going for it, it’s the acting by talented performers like PLAY MISTY FOR ME’s Jessica Walter, Sally Field and Julie Harris, whose efforts give this misguided film far more class than it deserves.
Vital Statistics
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
ABC Circle Films
Director: John Llewelyn Moxey
Producer: Paul Junger Witt
Screenplay: Joseph Stefano
Cinematography: Leonard J. South
Editing: Allan Jacobs
Cast: Sally Field, Jessica Walter, Eleanor Parker, Julie Harris, Walter Brennan, Jill Haworth, John Fink, Med Flory