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Reviews
A Howling in the Woods (1971)
Great suspense thriller that never lets up !
A year after their classic comedy series, "I Dream of Jeannie" , left the air, stars Barbara Eden & Larry Hagman made this wonderful TV movie in 1971. After five years, Liza Crocker ( Eden ) returns to the small town that her family founded generations ago--Stainesville, out west in Nevada. She has come out here because she is seeking a divorce from her husband, Eddie ( Hagman ), back in New York. When she reaches Stainesville, she finds that old friends she grew up with have a mysteriously hostile attitude toward her, and old acquaintances are even worse. She drives up to the Stainesville Lodge where her step-mother, Rose ( Vera Miles )greets her. Rose introduces Liza to her new step-brother, Justin ( John Rubenstein ). Liza is very anxious to see her archeologist father, but , as Rose puts it, "He's down in Mexico poking through those ruins of his. We had no idea you were coming." Shortly after Liza's arrival, she learns that a little girl had been murdered in the town recently and the girl's body had been thrown in the lake. A stray dog can be heard howling in the woods. There is a bizarre double-murder / conspiracy that has occurred in Stainesville, and the locals are determined to keep a lid on things forever. Only Rose seems to be aware that, now that Liza has returned, it is only a question of time before the entire truth comes out. Eddie has followed Liza to Stainesville because he does not wish to lose her. "A Howling in the Woods" was filmed entirely in and around beautiful Lake Tahoe, Nevada and features excellent performances from a wonderful cast. The audience can't help but root for Barbara Eden's character ( the former 'Jeannie' is extremely gripping here ! ). The viewer gets bits & pieces of relevant information all through the film, but the suspense never really let's up right until the very end. This is one of the finest TV movies of the early 1970s and it sometimes is shown in the late evening on a local station. You should set your VCR to tape this one if you can. A marvelous and very well written mystery / thriller that could rival even a similar theatrical film shown today, "A Howling in the Woods" is a small screen cinematic triumph that should not go ignored...if you can help it!
The Good Son (1993)
Though Mac does not sink to pure evil, film is quite good.
This film was extremely suspensful. Macaulay Culkin's performance was just fair, but everything around him was great. The location filming--especially at the cliff in Minnesota overlooking Lake Superior--was grand in its scope. Wendy Crewson was looking very nice as Mac's mother. Elijah Wood was fantastic and very thoroughly balanced Mac's performance in the film. Even though young Culkin had to play an evil child, with that angelic face, he was never quite able to project this 'bad seed' type of a lad. However, there were a few scenes where he was quite successful at it. The tree-house scene and the one at the ice-skating pond were quite thrilling. That cliff climax was enough to take your breath away. Academy Award winning composer Elmer Bernstein's score was easy-going enough, and yet very powerful when it had to be. When the film was coming to a close, you had to ask yourself which boy would ultimately survive, because only one could. Which boy would emerge as being 'the good son' ?