Summer of Fear aka Stranger in the House (1978 TV-Movie) Rachel (Linda Blair) lives in a huge house with her parents, has a horse and a tall boyfriend and pretty much everything gong for her. Cousin Julia, who hadn’t been seen by the family for ten years, comes to stay after the death of her parents, and suddenly Rachel is plagued by horse problems, boy problems and health problems. Julia has even replaced her as Daddy’s Little Darling. After consulting with local occult specialist (Macdonald Carey) she is convinced Julia is a witch, and alienates herself from her friends and family when she says so. Fran Drescher plays a friend. She looked great back then, and Linda? Well, she was exploding from all the right places! Plot holes a-plenty, but enjoyable effort from Wes Craven. I actually remember my whole family sitting in the living room for this one when I was a kid. I had no idea who Wes was at the time.
Invitation to Hell (1984 TV-Movie) Robert Urich moves his wife and kids (including Punky Brewster) in to a new community when he takes a job for a Tech corporation. Everyone who matters is a member of “The Club”, and pushes he and his family to join to the point where he is creeped out by it. Long-time soap star Susan Lucci plays the Club’s director, it is shown in the opening scene that she isn’t exactly human. I thought this had a shot at being some cheesey fun, but it was nothing more than a flat Stepford Wives ripoff. Also with Kevin McCarthy. By the end I was begging for my invitation to be rescinded. 1984 was an eventful year for Wes Craven, after this was the disappointing sequel to Hills Have Eyes before finally nailing it with A Nightmare on Elm Street.