Probably one of the great TV thrillers of the 70's, and one I'd surprisingly never heard of. A family is besieged by what they believe to be a prank call from someone claiming to be the dead nephew who ran away years before and died due to the elements, and after a few calls, family members begin to die as well. Ben Gazzara is the uncle investigating the calls after coming back to see ex Elizabeth Ashley, plus a young Michael Douglas as the deceased older brother. Young cousins who never knew the deceased are a pawn in Gazzara and Ashley's divorce. Ashley is driven slowly nutty by these calls which adds intensity to the suspicions that Gazzara is up to something sinister. What a way to spend a ghostly Halloween!
As the drama unfolds, details of the past slowly come out, between what caused Ashley to take in her nephews and her unhappy marriage to Gazzara. Douglas doesn't seem much younger than Ashley, but that's a minor flawed detail. Things get more complicated when Gazzara catches a thief inside the house, and the film goes through a point where the viewer wonders how far a complex plot can go before it becomes convoluted. But that works in the film's favor, well developed and intriguing, with Ashley holding back until crucial later scenes and Gazzara dominating the film until necessary twists change that which makes this overall a very intriguing psychological mystery.
As the drama unfolds, details of the past slowly come out, between what caused Ashley to take in her nephews and her unhappy marriage to Gazzara. Douglas doesn't seem much younger than Ashley, but that's a minor flawed detail. Things get more complicated when Gazzara catches a thief inside the house, and the film goes through a point where the viewer wonders how far a complex plot can go before it becomes convoluted. But that works in the film's favor, well developed and intriguing, with Ashley holding back until crucial later scenes and Gazzara dominating the film until necessary twists change that which makes this overall a very intriguing psychological mystery.