The Premonition (1976)

Excellent but underrated film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The Premonition (1976) ** (out of 4) Andrea (Ellen Barber) lost custody of her child but with the help of a circus performer (Richard Lynch) she plans to kidnap her. The adopted mother (Sharon Farrell) goes through some horrifying events as her child comes under attack from her original mother who is using ESP.THE PREMONITION has picked up a small cult following over the years thanks in large part to some positive press from critics and historians like Stephen Thrower. Before Thrower somewhat rescued the film, it suffered a pretty bad reputation as horror fans really ripped it apart but I'm going to go out and say that they were a bit too harsh. There's no question that the film is very flawed but at the same time there are enough interesting moments to make it worth watching.There are some effective things scattered throughout Robert Allen Schnitzer's film. This includes a very chilling sequence where the adopted mother walks into a room to check on the daughter only to find her in the arms of a mysterious woman. I'd also argue that the director creates a pretty good atmosphere that runs throughout the picture. Another major plus is that the performances are actually very good with Barber stealing the picture as the mother who wants her daughter back. I also liked Lynch in his role as well as Jeff Corey who plays the Detective.As far as the film's problems go, the majority of them are in the screen writing department. The film just gets bogged down with way too much plot and before long things get rather confusing. I think the screenwriter was trying to do too much in regards to the mystery and it just doesn't work in the end. Another problem is the stuff dealing with the ESP and the professor who is helping things. As it stands, THE PREMONITION is certainly worth watching but I think the horror crowd should probably stay away since it's really not a horror movie.

I was interested in the premise when I rented this during the late 1980's. Stories about the paranormal were common during the 1970's. The premise did have potential. Here, an adopted girl is kidnapped by her insane biological mother and the mother's boyfriend, and the police need the help of her loving adopted mother, who has psychic powers. I turned out to be disappointed, though. Also, the Mississippi locations were well-used, but otherwise this film is dull. It seemed so much longer than it was and it featured a lot of uninteresting chat. Also, a number of scenes came off as forced, a heavy-handed attempt to make the film more coherent, but often made it even harder to understand. Clearly the film was not well edited. It would be nice if some of the scenery could be used again to make a better film.

This seemed intriguing from its synopsis and, having received a "Special Edition" treatment on DVD, I had high hopes for it – but, ultimately, the movie proved a disappointment! Hence, I contrived to end my Halloween challenge this year with a whimper as opposed to a bang (worse still, it wasn't even really a horror film)!! Anyway, the plot has to do with the kidnapping of a child from a foster home by its natural but unbalanced mother (Ellen Barber); aiding her is a creepy carny – played for all the eccentricity he's worth by Richard Lynch (his egomaniac here isn't all that different from the actor himself, as seen in his 15-minute career overview included on Media Blasters' DVD). The foster mother (Sharon Farrell) discovers she has paranormal abilities and attempts to locate her adopted daughter with the help of her befuddled husband's expert black female colleague. All the while, however, she has to contend with weird hallucinations – apparitions by a bloodied Barber (she having been killed by her own partner) and especially the recurring forming of ice on mirrors as if to obfuscate her view into the psyche (which, at one point, even causes Farrell to crash her car). Reliable veteran character actor Jeff Corey also appears as the investigating Police Detective.The film had potential (in the accompanying interview, director Schnitzer states that when he was offered the original script – which he reworked – the parapsychology element wasn't even present!) but the end result is slow, muddled (would-be surreal visuals aren't enough in this case to keep one interested), pretentious (there's no explanation, for instance, as to why Lynch and Barber have to go into the occasional psychotic rage – which is as close as it comes to horror throughout), dull and even ludicrous (the finale in which the girl is 'lured' into the open by having Farrell play a tune on a grand piano in the town square in the middle of the night in front of an audience of curious onlookers!).

It is funny how this movie has stayed with me over the years, and I only saw it in its initial run and maybe one time after that on TV. THE PREOMNITION is a forgotten semiprecious stone that has a scare or two and decent acting by a cast including sexy Sharon Farrell (where is she now?) and perpetual bad guy Richard "Scarface" Lynch. The story, such as it is, is about the kidnap of a child and a woman's psychic abilities. To say more would give away too much. It apparently is available on video, so see it for yourself. A tidy enough little thriller that doesn't have the punch of a big Hollywood production, but made great "B" fare in its time. It could stand to be remade.