MovieChat Forums > Audrey Rose (1977) Discussion > watchable, but absurd

watchable, but absurd

posted 12 years ago by beavertoof
13 replies | jump to latest

I have been into a seventies flicks nostalgia phase last year or so on my kindle fire, so just watched this flick.

Some great acting. Anthony Hopkins of course, the 'parents' and I thought Susan Swift was great too. The apartment was super cool.

But as a whole I just could not enjoy it very much due to how ridiculous some of the plot was. I know you must suspend disbelief for most all movies, and usually I have no problem with that, but this movie asks for a lot.

--warning, spoilers below--

I am sure the novel went into more detail, but just accepting what we see in the movie, the mother would not win any awards for mom of the year. I took Mr. Templeton's side through the whole thing. As much as I like Anthony Hopkins, if I was the father I would have wanted to kill him too. Hoover sets a new standard for stalking in this and the mom seems more than willing to just hand her child over to him at times. Bizarre.

The whole trial was idiotic. Hoover is on trial for kidnapping, yet somehow instead it seems the whole concept of reincarnation is on trial. Even if you accept that the girl was once Audrey Rose, what does it matter? She is still the daughter of the Templeton's so therefore Hoover is guilty.

The end after the poor kid was 'hypnotized' to death (did it not seem the dr. could at least be accused of planting memories during this?) the parents just let their stalker hold her close while they stand by with their thumbs up their be-hinds.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] munroe-9 10 years ago

Agreed with all your points. What on earth was the cause of death?

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] munroe-9 10 years ago

Thanks! Makes sense.

Earlier in the movie, when Hoover talks Ivy out of her nightmare while dad is at work, it seemed like Hoover had hope that Audrey Rose could find peace and Ivy live - or that's what I thought. He said, "Ivy's life is in danger!" and he spoke of doing some sort of ceremony to help Audrey Rose find peace. Or something like that. I'd have to watch it again. Or maybe read the book.

So, if that was true, that there was some sort of intervention that could be done to allow Ivy no longer to be haunted by the memory of Audrey Rose's death, was it just that the hypnosis session made that no longer possible? Just seemed like a loose thread that wasn't tied up.

And yeah, like many movies, they take some loose theology (in this case based on reincarnation) and adapt it for sake of a movie plot. I'm somewhat forgiving there, but this just wasn't fully explained, I thought.

Anyway - I have given this silly movie way too much thought already! :)

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] munroe-9 10 years ago

PS also love the 70s nostalgia thing - if you have other movies you've watched from that era that you thought were really good, please share the titles, if you would!!

[–] beavertoof 10 years ago

you have other movies you've watched from that era that you thought were really good, please share the titles, if you would!!

oh, a whole bunch lately... i have the kindle fire w amazon prime so there are gobs of them for free w that membership.

off top of my head.

Women in Cages
The Birdcage
(there is another one like the above two.. name escapes me)
Shivers
Carrie
Tenebre (I think 80's actually, but feels 70's)
soylent green
westworld
thx1138
frogs

[–] fuzzykids 9 years ago

I'm just about to re-watch this. I watched and read the book back when I was a child, when it was still recently made. I have a feeling that I will agree with you on most points now. But I recall as a child to be more sympathetic for Audrey's father.

As far as 70's horror that left lasting memories-

Rosemary's Baby
suspiria
alien
the brood
Phantasm
Children shouldn't play with dead things (have not rewatched this since I was a kid, need to hunt that one down)

I'm sure there is more, but that's what I got offhand.

[–] fiatlux-1 9 years ago

I absolutely love the horror films of the '60-'80s. They really knew how to build atmosphere.
But this one is an exception. It was clumsy uneven, dull, and the ending was terrible. Not every ending has to be happy of course, but this ending just did not work.

I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

[–] ElectricWarlock 9 years ago

It's an okay movie. Neither the best from that era nor the worst. My major problem with it is that it was about too long. It seemed to drag on at times and I feel 20 or 30 minutes could've been trimmed off. There really isn't much to the story other than a man telling a couple their daughter is the reincarnation of his daughter and there isn't enough to that to stretch out to two whole hours.

[–] breno_bacci 8 years ago

Good to know it wasn't just me.

That she died in the end, without much explanation, as if we were supposed to expect that things would turn that way, is just plain ridiculous. What was the point of the scene when the judge says he would only allow it to happen if there was no risk to the child whatsoever?

It made me think: "Good, so now I can be sure that they won't just kill the girl during this test in some inexplicable way, and probably I'm about to see some very surprising ending"...

Then a few minutes later... "WTF? You did just that, and even worse than I imagined!"

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[–] whatwazdat (374) 5 years ago

I know this is 7 yrs old, but I just watched it. Well, in horror movies, the Dad is that stupid disbeliever. He was the ultimate cause of his Ivy's death in the end. The movie is obviously swaying us to Hoover's side. He was right, and they were wrong. They stood there with their thumbs up their behinds because they caused Ivy's death. They wouldn't listen to Hoover and the Mom's pleading to not go along with the hypnosis. There was an acceptance that Hoover was right, that Audrey Rose is indeed Ivy. They let him have his moment with her.

You're saying we need to suspend disbelief, but you're not doing it. You're not buying this reincarnation thing, and you want the people in the movie to lynch Hoover despite all the evidence. The burning hands in the window, the fact that she only responds and calms down to him, all the coincidental dates of the death of Audrey, then the birth of Ivy, etc. The movie was obviously pro-reincarnation.

So I'm not sure what you're NOT getting in terms of the reality in that movie. You want everyone to lynch Hoover, to not believe him, etc. Then there would be no point, and no movie.