I'm glad I wasn't just imagining this movie. I could swear to God "Summer of Fear" was a young adult novel by the author Lois Duncan (she also wrote "I Know what you did Last Summer") but then I thought that might just be in my head, since I only vaguely remembered the title of this book, then Amazon recommended this movie to me, and I looked it up online, and yep, Lois Duncan book. This is also an early Wes Craven horror movie that would probably have been a Lifetime movie of the week if it hadn't come out years before Lifetime movies existed. I figured since this was a Wes Craven movie, I would enjoy it, so I gave it a shot.
In this movie, a young woman named Rachel's life is turned upside down when her cousin Julia comes to stay with her family after the mysterious death of her parents. Strange things start happening, and it almost seems like Rachel is cursed all of a sudden. More and more strange occurrences happen, and soon Rachel begins to suspect that befcousin isn't as innocent as she appears. Eventually, Rachel begins to suspect that Julia is using witchcraft to control people and get what she wants.
The thing about Lois Duncan is that she flies under the radar a lot because she's this sweet lady who doesn't have cussing in her books and she seems to write "horror lite" so you underestimate her, think her books aren't going to be that bad, and then she punches you in the face and throws you off a bridge, and you're in the water trying not to drown and wondering what the hell happened. "Daughters of Eve" is a book she wrote that is legitimately terrifying, and "Stranger with My Face" still creeps into my nightmares from time to time, and I read that over twenty years ago. I don't know how she does it, but somehow, someway, she weaves a story in a way that it sticks with you, and wiggles its way into your mind and pushes buttons you didn't even know existed.
This movie is a good example of that storytelling. There are these little details that are freaky in a way that I never expected. Like Julia is jealous because Rachel has a horse she loves, so Rachel puts a curse on the horse, hoping it will die, just to hurt Rachel. That's mean and cruel (seriously, who does that? If you want to hurt people that's bad enough, but to harm a poor animal just to hurt someone who loves it?) The story also plays on the fear of being the only person who sees the evil in someone, while everyone else loves that person. It's horrible feeling powerless and watching people around you get hurt when there's nothing you can do to stop it.
This movie deals with some themes that are common to Duncan's books. Envying someone's life so much that you try to take over their life, supernatural forces intruding onto everyday life, the banality of evil. Linda Blair plays Rachel in this movie (damn, she always gets hurt by supernatural forces) and she does a good job playing an innocent girl who's trying to keep evil from hurting the people she loves. Lee Purcell plays Julia, and she pulls off the creepy interloper role very well. The movie is cheesyand silly in places, but it works pretty well. I'm glad I watched it.
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