28 March 2024
The Spell (1977)
84 min.
Directed by Lee Phillips.
With Lee Grant, Susan Myers, James Olson, Helen Hunt, Lelia Goldoni, Jack Colvin.
Workable TV horror that's yet another variation on Stephen King's Carrie.

In this one, Rita Matchett (Susan Myers) is a shy, overweight 15 year-old high school student who just can't get a break.

Her mother Marilyn (Grant) seems to favor her sister Kristina (Hunt), her school peers give her a hard time, and her father has no time for her.

What's poor Rita to do?

Why, unleash her awesome, repressed telekinetic powers against her oppressors, of course!

Soon, Rita's foes are experiencing all kinds of mysterious "accidents." And before long, if you oppose this pudgy pubescent you just might find yourself spontaneously combusting!

Lee Grant is good as Rita's overprotective mother in a role similar to her part in Damien: Omen II the following year.

There's one genuinely scary scene in which an older woman knows what Rita is up to after one of her classmates has "an accident" in the gym.

When Grant goes to see her, the woman burns up before her eyes, preventing her from talking. Good stuff.

Overall, a little slow at times but not bad.

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