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

Brooke Shields screentested for the role of Ivy Templeton. Shields posed for the cover art for the film's source best-selling novel. Confirmed by Susan Swift in 2016.

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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 Horror Business (2005)

User Reviews

Robert Wise obviously had a mortgage.

I saw the movie last night, and I have to say that I was shocked by the poorness of the plot, the bad acting and the absence of the director touch; the producers tried to get a good hit with a really low budget, and it would be interesting to know how the film did in 1977.

The movie is full of awkward scenes: the girl screams and runs into thing, and the parents just look at her and run to the phone; the tribunal scenes are going nowhere.

M. Mason is overacting beyond any limits and, poor woman, she has to support over her shoulders one of the worst scripts ever: A. Hopkins seems lost and the actor playing the role of the father is useless (and have a very bad written character). I guess she thought she would film the new Exorcist, and she found herself in a low level exploitation of that trend.

Watch The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Omen series. They are way better directed and have a strong script. And they are much scarier and leave you with a sense of unease that lasts.

The only interesting scene, and there you see the director's touch, is when the little girl has a crisis and runs all over the house followed by the mother: everything is filmed from behind a window, and you can only hear the noise of the rain. Too bad the scene is then ruined at the next take.