Audrey Rose (1977)

A stranger attempts to convince a happily married couple that their daughter is actually his daughter reincarnated.

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Frank De Felitta (screenplay), Frank De Felitta (novel)

Stars:

Anthony Hopkins, Marsha Mason, John Beck

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marsha Mason	...	Janice Templeton
Anthony Hopkins	...	Elliot Hoover
John Beck	...	Bill Templeton
Susan Swift	...	Audrey Rose / Ivy Templeton
Norman Lloyd	...	Dr. Steven Lipscomb
John Hillerman	...	Scott Velie
Robert Walden	...	Brice Mack
Philip Sterling	...	Judge Langley
Ivy Jones	...	Mary Lou Sides
Stephen Pearlman	...	Russ Rothman
Aly Wassil	...	Maharishi Gupta Pradesh
Mary Jackson	...	Mother Veronica
Richard Lawson	...	Policeman #1
Tony Brande	...	Detective Fallon
Elizabeth Farley	...	Carole Rothman

Storyline

In New York, Janice Templeton is happily married to executive Bill Templeton and they live in a comfortable and fancy apartment with their eleven-year-old daughter Ivy. One day, Janice is stalked by a weirdo and she tells her husband. Soon afterwards the stranger contacts them and invites the couple to meet him in a restaurant. Elliot Hoover tells Janice and Bill that his daughter Audrey Rose died eleven years ago, burned in a car crash, and her soul has been reincarnated in Ivy's body. Bill and Janice believe that Elliot is nuts, and Bill tells his lawyer to get a restraining order against Elliot. However, Ivy has dreadful nightmares and only Elliot is able to calm her down. When Elliot abducts Ivy, Bill and Janice go to court to have him arrested. But Elliot wants to prove that Ivy and Audrey Rose are the same soul.

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Plot Keywords:

hare krishna | girl in a notably short outfit | girl in school uniform | knee socks | stranger | 

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Taglines:

Born 1959 - Died 1964 - Born 1964

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 April 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

As Duas Vidas de Audrey Rose

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sterobcar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The place where Ivy Templeton's (Susan Swift's) parents lived, was the Hotel Des Artistes in New York City, New York.

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Goofs

The school for girls where Ivy was sent during the trial was administrated by a character dressed as a Catholic nun and addressed as "mother superior". In the mid 1970s Catholic schools still had not fully embraced the celebration of Halloween due to its secular roots. Therefore, it is highly unlikely a Catholic school would allow a ritual with such pagan undertones as students dancing around a large bonfire to melt a giant snowman while chanting blessings for an early spring.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Janice Templeton: Ivy!
Ivy Templeton: Hi mom!

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Scissors (2012)

User Reviews

The haunting and the haunted.

"Audrey Rose" was bound to fail:coming three years after the exorcist farce and all its imitators ,it stood no chance at all.

You should not forget that Robert Wise tackled the paranormal ten years before William Friedkin' s masquerade ,and with highly superior results :"the haunting" (1963).Roughly ,the stories display strong analogies "Her soul is in peace now" says Hopkins at the end of "Audrey Rose" whereas Richard Johnson told his companions that now Eleanor (Julie Harris) had found peace at last.No matter if "the haunting" is primarily a non-religious film and "Audrey Rose" deals with a religion 700 million human beings put their faith in:both the shrink in "Audrey" and doctor Markway in "haunting" try a scientific approach;both movies include a skeptical character:Russ Tamblyn's Luke and John Beck's bewildered father ,and in the end ,these two men begin to realize that something eludes them ,something which is beyond Cartesianism.

The main difference between "Audrey Rose" and "the haunting" lies in directing:whereas the latter's was prodigious ,innovating almost at every scene ,carrying its audience in another world ,allowing them to experiment themselves,the former relies upon clichés -and it's when you see these scenes of Audrey screaming that you realize the bad influence "the exorcist " had on the fantasy and horror genre - and nothing in the shooting of the NYC ancient building -if at least he had borrowed from Polanski's "Rosemary's baby'- recalls the eerie pictures of the Gothic castle where Eleanor and her mates wandered.

Emotion was intense in "the haunting";here only Anthony Hopkins is able to generate desperate hope,tenderness and faith.Hopkins was interested in the fantastic genre at the time,for he made "magic" two years after and "elephant man" -which was realistic but was given a fantasy treatment- which boosted his career as none of his other movies did before.

"Audrey Rose" came at the wrong moment .In spite of its flaws,it deserves a watch .It's Wise's legacy (Unless "star trek " counts).