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Julia Lofting (Mia Farrow) is grieving over the death of her eight year old daughter Katie (Sophie Ward). After spending several weeks in a mental hospital, Julia buys a house and attempts to get on with her life. However, strange things start happening, leading Julia to wonder whether she is being stalked by her estranged husband Magnus (Keir Dullea), haunted by her dead daughter or by the ghost of another dead child, or maybe she is just going crazy.

Yes, The Haunting of Julia (released as Full Circle in the UK and Canada) is based on Julia, a 1975 novel by American horror writer Peter Straub. The novel was adapted for the screen by Harry Bromley Davenport and Dave Humphries.

Not intentionally. While the family is having breakfast, a piece of apple gets caught in Katie's trachea (windpipe), causing her to choke and fall to the floor gasping for breath. Julia attempts unsuccessfully to get the apple out of Katie's throat while Magnus calls for an ambulance. Realizing that there isn't enough time, Julia tries to perform a tracheostomy with a kitchen knife. By the time the ambulance arrives, Katie is dead. In the book, it explains that Katie bled to death after Julia's attempt at the tracheostomy.

American doctor Henry Heimlich first published his findings about the maneuver in 1974. In 1976, the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross added the maneuver to their choking-rescue guidelines, to be used only after performing a series of backblows to remove the airway obstruction. It wasn't until 1986 that the guidelines recommended using only the Heimlich maneuver. This movie was filmed in 1977, a time when the Heimlich maneuver was in its infancy and not generally taught to the public.

The most likely explanation is that Julia had them brought over from the old house. She arrives at the new house bare-handed, then goes upstairs to start unpacking her suitcases, suggesting that her things had already been delivered when she took the real estate agent's key and moved into the house.

Julia had a substantial trust fund, evidenced in the opening breakfast scene when Magnus tells Julia to sign some papers authorizing the release of interest from her fund. In the novel, Julia is extremely wealthy, the heiress of a railroad fortune. Julia actually supports Magnus and, to a certain extent, Magnus' sister Lily (Jill Bennett).

No specific reason is given, but there are hints. Julia explains to Lily that things have been wrong between her and Magnus: "for a long time...and now that Katie's gone, there is no reason to try." The novel implies that the main reason for Magnus' pursuit of Julia was because of her money; whether or not Julia was aware of that, or even cared, is not mentioned in the movie, but Magnus' control over her and his ability to influence her doctor and others around her may have led her to believe she would be better off on her own. Certainly her friend Mark Berkeley (Tom Conti) concurs. Breaking away from her life with Magnus following Katie's death might have been Julia's attempt to take control of her life. Or maybe Magnus was right in that Julia was acting impulsively due to her fragile mental state. Or maybe she was being pulled to that house by an unseen force?

No definite answer is provided in the movie, but there are hints. At the breakfast table, Magnus says that it would help if Julia would put the trust fund in both of their names, suggesting that he wanted access to her money. Later, in a phone call, Magnus tells Julia that he made it clear to her estate agent that any contracts she may have signed are subject to a doctor's approval of her state of mind. Mark certainly believes that Magnus is trying to have Julia declared insane so that he can take control of her money, and he even says that to Magnus' face.

Two elderly sisters or "garden gnomes" as neighbor Claudia Branscombe (Pauline Jameson) calls them. Prior to the sisters, the house was owned by Heather Rudge. Rudge had a daughter ("born without any of the usual formalities") named Olivia who died after choking on some food.

While taking pictures of the children in the park, Julia notices a blonde-haired girl that strongly resembles Katie. She walks over to the spot, but the child has disappeared. Julia can then be seen picking up a knife and the dead turtle. Julia is subsequently accused of killing the turtle. Whether it was the blonde-haired child or Julia who killed the turtle is not made clear. However, it is mentioned later in the movie that everyone under Olivia's influence was made to kill an animal.

There are four possibilities: (1) the heater is being switched on by the ghost, (2) Julia can't remember whether or not she's switched it on or off, (3) it's a faulty heater, or (4) Olivia was testing Julia to see whether she could influence her mind and get Julia to do whatever Olivia wanted her to do. Whatever the reason, Julia finally ends up pulling the heater cord out of the wall.

After young David Swift told Rudge about what Olivia did to Geoffrey Braden, she realized that her daughter was evil and decided to end it when Olivia began choking on some food, just like it happened to Katie. Rudge then put her hand over Olivia's mouth so that she couldn't cough it back up, essentially smothering her own daughter as she was choking "on her own wickedness." Unfortunately, as Rudge (Cathleen Nesbitt) points out to Julia, "Evil never dies."

That question has been hotly debated by viewers of this movie. Whether Olivia's spirit actually took over Julia's body or simply "influenced" her in the way that she influenced the neighborhood kids to do her evil bidding is debatable, but it's obvious that Julia's behavior changed after the night she took some sleeping pills and Olivia's hand can be seen stroking Julia in her sleep. The next morning Julia acts as though she's in a daze, tells Mark the truth about Geoffrey Braden, and says only that she has to "help" Olivia. From that point onward, Julia becomes more and more childlike herself, for example, humming and laughing like a little girl—or like a grown woman possessed by a little girl.

No and no. Julia was at Mark's house when Magnus was prowling around her house and slipped on the cellar stairs. She was home in bed when David Swift (Robin Gammell) slipped on a bottle and fell over the stair rail. Neither did Julia push Miss Pinner (Damaris Hayman) down the stairs during the séance; Julia was standing near the séance table talking with Rosa Flood (Anna Wing) when Pinner fell. Thinking about it later, Julia thinks that Miss Pinner might have seen the ghostly child and fallen down the stairs in her haste to get away. It's also possible that Magnus caught a glimpse of Olivia, and he was so startled that tumbled down the stairs on his own. However, it was indeed Julia, now under Olivia's influence, who was lurking outside Mark's house and pushed in the window to knock the lamp into his bathwater. Her shadow can be seen passing across the screen after Mark is electrocuted. Mrs Rudge had a heart attack when she saw Olivia's evil eyes staring at her through Julia.

If you buy the idea that David Swift tripping on the bottle was accidental (brought on possibly by too much drink), then it's easy to think that Winter (Edward Hardwicke) was not killed because it just wasn't his time to die. However, if you are one of those viewers who believe that Olivia was somehow causing all these deaths, then the most likely explanation is because Winter didn't dare tell on Olivia when Julia asks him about her.

Those who have both seen the movie and read the book say that there are some significant differences. For example, Magnus does not die in the book. The relationship between Julia, Magnus, Katie, and Olivia is also more complicated in that Olivia and Katie are both Magnus' daughters—Olivia by Heather Rudge, Katie by Julia. In addition, Mark is Magnus' and Lily's adoptive half brother, whom they both dislike intensely. This information was not a part of the movie. In the book, Julia believes that Magnus killed Katie while trying to save her and doesn't remember that she did it until later in the story. Her acknowledgment of the truth is the final piece that allows Olivia to act through her. Julia's fate is also different, and it is Lily who sees Olivia at the end of the book.

After visiting Olivia's mother, Julia goes home in the rain. As she towels her hair dry, she sees Olivia (Samantha Gates) in the mirror. Julia goes downstairs to find Olivia sitting on the floor with the toy monkey. Julia sits down in a chair and picks up the monkey. She holds out her arms to Olivia, saying, "Come...everything's right now...stay with me." Olivia moves toward Julia. In the final scene, the sound of the monkey cymbals is heard, and the camera pans around Julia's chair, revealing her bleeding to death from two slashes in her neck, possibly inflicted by Olivia with the sharp cymbals of the monkey or maybe by Julia herself.

If you liked Full Circle/The Haunting of Julia, you'll want to see Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby - Nastro rosso a New York (1968) (1968). The stories are hauntingly similar, although Rosemary is dealing with witches instead of ghosts. Two other movies that are open to the viewer's interpretation include La morte corre incontro a Jessica (1971) (1971) and Gli invasati (1963) (1963).