This is Susan Lucci at her most evil, playing a demonic character whose beauty fools the people she encounters. Not to mention her superficial charm, passive aggressive and completely manipulative. Strip away that earthly facade, and it's obvious that she's a monster. Her first TV movie while working on "All My Children" simultaneously, she's mesmerizing but vapid, speaking her lines and wearing clothes as if she was an Alexis ripoff from "Dynasty". Newcomers to this Stepford like community, Robert Urich and Joanna Cassidy, as well as their two children, get caught up in the intrigue, although Urich and Cassidy have different opinions about the club Lucci wants them to join.
Ridiculous and campy, melodramatically acted and often cringe worthy, this doesn't show Lucci at her best. Obviously she's still acting in the daytime style of grab em' by the throat rather than subtlety, and Cassidy also falls into that trap when her loving wife and mother all of a sudden turns into a soul sucking vamp. The film suffers from some slow moving, dour sequences where there's little dialog, just sinister music and macabre facial expressions. Unlike the supernatural TV movies of the 70's, this seems a bit overlong and takes forever for anything good to really happen. It's only the twists during the final quarter that liven it up, indicating that real hell is suffering through a boring movie.
Ridiculous and campy, melodramatically acted and often cringe worthy, this doesn't show Lucci at her best. Obviously she's still acting in the daytime style of grab em' by the throat rather than subtlety, and Cassidy also falls into that trap when her loving wife and mother all of a sudden turns into a soul sucking vamp. The film suffers from some slow moving, dour sequences where there's little dialog, just sinister music and macabre facial expressions. Unlike the supernatural TV movies of the 70's, this seems a bit overlong and takes forever for anything good to really happen. It's only the twists during the final quarter that liven it up, indicating that real hell is suffering through a boring movie.