Tubi Thursday: Wes Craven's Summer of Fear (1978)

 Summer Lovin' had me a blast.
Summer Lovin' had me so...never mind, there's a Witch in Town.

The heat is on!

Linda Blair is a young lady who's living a great life.

She has rich Parents, lives in the California Valley and has a horse.
She didn't in the Book this is based on, but Blair loved Horses, so...

In the Cold Open, a car crashed and we find out that her Aunt died.

The Parents fly to the funeral and return with her Cousin, who will stay for the summer.

What could go wrong?

Fun Fact: Blair's Nurse Friend is Fran Drescher.

Who watched this in 1978 and guessed she'd be in charge of the Screen Actors Guild?

Blair has big plans- a Dance with her Boyfriend and a Horse Riding Show the next day.

She suddenly comes down with hives and the Cousin goes with her boyfriend.

Her Brother is upset that they spend the whole time together and...I'm sorry, but I need to see a Family Tree.

Her Brother wants to date her Cousin?  What is he, a Roosevelt?

More things start to go wrong, including her Horse going rogue and having to be put down.
She even takes Blair's dress...and looks good in it.  The bitch!

She sees evidence that the girl might be a Witch, including a drawing with her covered in hives (via markers) and other occult paraphernalia.

She tries to learn more about Witches from a Professor friend...who almost immediately has a stroke and nearly dies.

As you can probably guess, she's 100% right.

Can she turn the family against Blair?
Will this '70s film have a happy ending?

To find out, stream this hidden piece of Craven's filmography now.

A decent Film- just set appropriate expectations for it.

This is a TV Movie.  It has a TV Movie Budget.
It has a TV Movie Scale.

The most our Witch does is off-camera magic and wear contact lenses.
I've seen lots of Films about Witches and the Occult- I think that this is the first one to have a Car Chase as the Climax.

Now I have to think that the unseen villain from Duel was some kind of Warlock!

The Film is fine.  It doesn't deviate too much from what you'd expect.  It is pretty low stakes and not exactly big budget.

Blair and company do fine.  Just don't expect anything amazing and you'll enjoy it.

Now, if everything truly is getting a Remake at some point, I know who needs to the play the evil Cousin... 

A fairly by-the-numbers TV Movie that doesn't have much Craven flair.  That said, it is breezy, enjoyable and just fine.