[Yuletide Terrors] Day 7: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

On Christmas Eve four daughters are summoned to the country home of their estranged father (Walter Brennan). He believes his new wife is slowly poisoning him. And he has one request: kill her before she kills him! A raging storm cuts the phone line and washes out the roads, not to mention a poncho wearing pitchfork wielding psycho running around. Will anyone survive the holidays?

Home for the Holidays premiered on ABC way back in 1972. And it’s a fun little thriller. The pair of screenwriter Joseph Stefano (Psycho) and director John Moxey (The Nightstalker) make this low rent shocker memorable. I was surprised by the amount of well earned suspense. The script originally called for a snowstorm, but the budget was so low and the shooting schedule so tight, it was changed to a rainstorm. That cost cutting measure worked in its favor. The constant thunder and nonstop rain is more oppressive than snow. And rain makes the outdoor chase more believable than running through two feet of snow for help.

The mostly female cast is solid. Julie Harris plays the concerned older sister. Jessica Walter plays one hell of a lush. Jill Haworth as the Slut, going through husbands like tissues. And the Flying Nun herself, Sally Fields, plays what is perhaps the first Final Girl.

It all may seem quaint by today’s standards, but I find movies that get back to basics refreshing. A one trick pony can still have a hell of a trick. And it’s barely over 70 minutes. It seems Home for the Holidays has yet to make a digital debut. You may run across it on VHS, or try checking YouTube.