Summer of Fear (1978) starring Linda Blair

Is it any good? I'm in the mood for some 70s horror, Exorcist-style.

The book is great—a tween classic. I never knew about this movie but we all read it in the late 80’s

R1 Yes. It's probably one of the most memorable TV movies of the time. Very campy too.

Lee Purcell's icy white iris contacts with bloodshot sclera were on fleek!

My favorite scene when Linda Blair puts on a dress to wear to the dance and it looks like a towel wrapped around her. Then later on her cousin puts it on and looks absolutely stunning.

Poodle curls were all the rage

These shows would get rerun for a few years on our local channels in the summer time, and I remember seeing Summer of Fear probably around 1983 or so. I loved all of these teen "after school special" types of movies, they were a riot.

Jeff East had a big blond bush in it. I thought he was cute. Yes, I know what he looks like now.

R2 Yes. "Are you in the House Alone?" was another tween classic that became a TV movie.

R6 Stevie wore it best.

I have it on DVD believe it or not.

I loved loved loved this book. Lois Duncan used to write books I'd gobble up. I'm going to check this out.

R8 her hair looks like very thick pubic hair.

[quote]Carol Lawrence is also in it.

Making it an instant camp classic.

It probably would have been better with Vicki Lawrence in it.

It would have been better with Shelley Hack!

Oh, this was a treat, esp. the scene with the fake cousin witch driving a car with her witchy eyes that looked like she'd ingested 50 mushrooms. Damn, that was a time capsule. I love the wicker furniture and Blair's tacky blouses, haha!

Apparently Jeff East was so good in this that Wes Craven cast him in 1981's Deadly Blessing.

[quote] Carol Lawrence is also in it.

Fran Drescher too.

Wes Craven directed it

Macdonald Carey , Days of Our Lives patriarch Tom Horton, is also in it

Too bad Tom didn’t live long enough to see his good friend Marlena Evans possessed by the devil on Days of Our Lives

5.5 rating on IMDb. It deserves better.

I miss all of those satanic/witch/cult movies from the 1970s-80s. What was it about that era that was so fascinated by the occult?

Another similar TV movie is the campy and fun Midnight Offerings with Melissa Sue Anderson.

It's on YouTube. I know what I'll be watching tonight. Thanks, OP!

I love these fucking films. When I was a little boy in the 80's I was obsessed with these films.

Even then they seemed OLD. And lurid. I especially love the soundtracks and film stock they used.

I remember they had some really cheesy TV movies in the 70s. When I was around 11 or so, there was "Bad Ronald" about a teenager who had killed his family (I think) and disappeared. A new family with teenaged girls moved into the house where Ronald and his family lived. He was living in secret rooms in the house.

I believe this was the last of Linda's string of 70s TV movies. She spent the 80s working steadily in salacious B-movies. Then did smaller parts in movies and TV from the 90s on.

There really was no one like her in TV at the time, a teen who could carry a TV film. You had Linda Purl, Glynnis O'Connor, Robbie Benson, Susan Dey, Mare Winningham, etc. But Linda always did edgy stuff: runaways, kidnap victims, reform school, alcoholism...

Summer of Pubes

Why didn’t Lee Purcell have a bigger career? She was good in this.

OMG I bought this book at the bookmobile back in elementary school. I loved the book and the movie.

yummy pussy!

Lee Purcell is in the gay hating cult SCI-OOOOO so she can get rammed hard with a telephone pole up her smelly dirty cunt as far as I'm concern?

Another Lois Duncan fan here. I not only saw this movie, I was eagerly awaiting it. I think I recall being somewhat disappointed by it at the time, lol. I loved the book.

I remember this. Linda Blair, short and pudgy and poodle haired, looks like a dumpy frump compared to Lee Purcell, who was slim, tall. blonde, and gorgeous. The teenage witch seduces the Linda Blair's character's boyfriend and then her father. This was an entertaining, silly tv movie.

[quote] But Linda always did edgy stuff: runaways, kidnap victims, reform school, alcoholism...

I wouldn't call what she did "edgy." After her turn in "The Exorcist" she was typecast in "victim" roles in tv movies. After "The Exorcist" she never really had a successful movie again and her film career dried up quickly. I remember some interview she did where she said she really wanted to make a "rock and roll movie", I guess because she became a hard core groupie, partying and drugging with the likes of Keith Moon and Ozzie Osbourne. I think the "rock and roll" movie she ended up making was the execrable "Roller Boogie ("It's Love On Wheels!"). Linda Blair, except for lucking out and getting the role of Regan in "The Exorcist", never really had much of a career. And there was a very good reason for that; she had little talent.

They should have cast someone to play the dad who was a real DILF. Instead there was this.

Thank you R22 I just finished it. I loved the book as a teen. I'm surprised they kept pretty much everything in except moving the location from New Mexico to California.

In the novel, Rachel just locked "Julia" in the darkroom. In the film, they have to go all out and have her go into witch-mode and have the obligatory car chase. Loved the twist ending.

Now I want to see all the Lois Duncan adaptations (except IKWYDLS) Killing Mr Griffin (1997) with Mario Lopez and Down a Dark Hall (2018) with Uma Thurman and AnaSofia Robb

Killing Mr Griffin was very good and spooky, I recommend

Ladies, did your hairstyle match the style of your pussy hair??

R9: my advice: answer “no.”

Look at those chubby faces in OP’s pic. Is it “Cabbage Patch: the Motion Picture?”

Cabbage Patch face with pubic hairstyle

[quote]I miss all of those satanic/witch/cult movies from the 1970s-80s. What was it about that era that was so fascinated by the occult?

I remember a spate of these supernatural/occult TV and theatrical movies coming out in the wake of [italic]Carrie: Midnight Offerings, The Initiation of Sarah, Fear No Evil, Jennifer, Nurse Sherri,[/italic] etc.

I watched last night. Linda had two acting modes: whiny and grating.

The equestrian scenes seemed shot at a different time; she was noticeably heavier on that horse.

Carol Lawrence floated through it like it was a General Foods International Coffee commercial.

R6 That hairstyle really makes me wonder what's going on down below.

[quote] That hairstyle really makes me wonder what's going on down below.

I doubt she had poodle pussy hair. Her natural hair was straight and stringy.

R6 trust me. CURLY POODLE PUBES.

[quote]Carol Lawrence is also in it

Talk about a summer of fear!

I watched it last night as well, r43. It's not awful, and found the story interesting enough at certain points to keep going until the end, which is more than I can say for a lot of other movies.

Linda Blair's hair is a marvel in this film. a lot of the aesthetic choices in this movie kept me going. That and the fact that it's been around 10 degrees F outside for 2 days, so I'm sort of looking for anything else to do.

Linda may not have been a master thespian, but she has a look and personality that make you want to side with her. I always thought she looked like a grown-up Shirley Temple.

I didn't have a major issue with Linda Blair's performance in this. There are parts where you can see she's "acting", but same could be said with basically everyone else in this film. I didn't think she was bad at all. Being a 12 or 13 year old staring in one of the most iconic roles of all time, would be difficult for just about anyone.

Satan's School for Girls, starring thespians Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd, is on Tubi. It's such a perfect snapshot of '70s TV movies.

The Spell, starring Lee Grant, is another great witch/occult TV movie.

Linda Blair had little acting ability. Before "The Exorcist" all she'd ever done with some child modeling and some commercials. She was totally untrained as an actress. She got the role in "The Exorcist" because she had the right "look" what with her chubby cutie pie face and sound (babyish little girl voice). Also William Friedkin questioned her in order to determine if she was psychologically sound enough to handle a role where she would be puking in the faces of priests and fucking a crucifix. He evidently was wrong on that score; after becoming world famous because of "The Exorcist" she started drinking, smoking, drugging and fucking rock stars at the age of 15. After a couple of high profile tv movies in which she played the victim again (in one she was a teen alcoholic, in the other she was a teen unfairly confined to a juvenile prison where she got raped with a toilet plunger) her career sputtered quickly. She was arrested for cocaine possession. She tried to reinvent herself as a sex symbol but that didn't work, but even as a n adult she looked like a pudgy little girl. Her only real film success was "The Exorcist." And she got that role out of pure luck, nothing more.

The wardrobe people probably had a hard time finding a matching wig for Linda Blair's stunt double. It looked like an afro in the fight scene.

[quote] Her only real film success was "The Exorcist."

Which made her into a cult star. I've enjoyed almost everything she's been in, especially "Savage Streets."

I've been on a horror kick lately. Two nights ago, I finally watched Murnau's "Nosferatu", last night I saw Halperin's "White Zombie", and today I watched Bava's "Black Sunday". So, I could use a 70s horror film right now (and I like Linda Blair). I'll try to find this one online.

[quote] Anyone see Invitation To Hell?

Yes. That one was great...and hilarious! Susan Lucci plays the proprietress of a devil-worshipping health club and tries to get her claws into Robert Urich.

The perfect double feature for "Summer of Fear."

Thanks, R23. I posted my response without seeing your post. Watching it now.

That photo of Blair at R54 is hilarious. Is "Savage Streets" a comedy? It better be, because she looks funny as hell in that photo. If that's "serious acting" on her part that's pretty sad.

I give Linda a lot of credit from walking away from the business and not trying for a comeback. The work she does with animals is much more rewarding.

R58 It's not a comedy (at least intentionally). More of a vigilante type action film.

[quote] I give Linda a lot of credit from walking away from the business and not trying for a comeback.

She didn't "walk away" from the business. Her career simply dried up. What with the little talent she had a "comeback" would have been a remote possibility, at best. At least she found something else to do; she's some kind of animal rights activist now. Oddly enough, she never married. But for a while there she was quite the uber slut. I heard Rick James (she had an affair with him) wrote "Super Freak" with her in mind.

A lot of actors have kept pushing even though their careers have dried up. Linda walked away.

According to IMDB she has a lot of recent credits to her name. She also makes a lot of appearances at conventions and does interviews for the home video market. There is a recent interview with her as an extra on the Summer of Fear blu-ray talking about working on the movie.

[quote] Linda walked away.

From what? Leading roles in A-list movies? The only roles she could get were roles in trashy, low budget productions. Her career went bye-bye. Of course it would. She was a flash in the pan.

[quote} According to IMDB she has a lot of recent credits to her name. She also makes a lot of appearances at conventions and does interviews for the home video market. There is a recent interview with her as an extra on the Summer of Fear blu-ray talking about working on the movie.

Her "credits" are pretty dismal. And of course she'd do conventions and interviews. What else can she do? Face it, Linda Blair fangurls; she made a splash in a movie from 1973 and after a couple of "victim" tv movies it was all downhill from there.

I hope Linda is a part of this reboot and that she gets a lot of money for it.

An "Exorcist trilogy?" It will probably be a shitfest, all most reboots are.

I watched this a few years ago on YouTube and assumed it was a DL fave because of how camp it is. Lee Purcell's accent is great 😆

[Quote] in the other she was a teen unfairly confined to a juvenile prison where she got raped with a toilet plunger)

Excuse me r64! Did you forget Airport’75?

Linda: The people (on the airplane) are so interesting!!

I like Linda. I found her funny and likable in the interview she gave for the special addition DVD.

Special edition of the exorcist dvd I meant to say.

Airport’75 also stars Helen Reddy!!

Linda Blair was in some of the worst movies of all time: "Exorcist II: The Heretic", "Airport 1975", "Roller Boogie." And of course there were all of those awful B movies she did. What a career.

Let’s host a Linda Blair film fest. We’ll show the movies in r73’s reply.

I’ll wear roller skates and satin shorts like it was 1977.

SUMMER OF PUBIC HAIR

Seeing Fran Drescher in this was a surprise. How did a girl with that accent wind up in rural California horse country? It’s only Frans’s third IMDB credit, and I wonder how she got cast in this thing.

Blair has said she started doing Z list movies to pay the bills. The Exorcist 2 and her drug arrest sank her film career or what was left of it. She could never escape the role of Regan anyway.

She fucked and sucked Rick Springfield

When she was 15 no less.

R77 her legs.

[quote]I heard Rick James (she had an affair with him) wrote "Super Freak" with her in mind.

Nope, he wrote Cold Blooded about her.

If she had an affair with Rick James then she sure as hell must have been super freaky, yow.

Linda was living with the much older Rick Springfield when she was a teenager. As perfect as she was for The Exorcist, she like child actors did not find much success in her adult career primarily because they physically grow out of the 'look' that got them work in the first place. All actors are hired because of their look/type, those who begin their careers as adults usually have an easier time transitioning into different types as they age, but not always, especially the good looking ones who never really learned how to act. Outside of the rare exception (Jodie Foster), who could act (her perfomrnace in Taxi Driver is one of the best film performances by anyone adult or otherwise), child stars are the least likely to transition successfully because their physical type changes the most drastically. Also most child actors are taught really bad habits which are difficult to get lose, similar to actors on Soap Operas.

She looks like Stevie Nicks on the cover!

I love this movie! Very nostalgic vibes for me. I loved seeing a young Fran too. I used to read these schlocky ‘80s teen horror novels, this seemed cut from the same cloth, though it’s from an established writer.

[quote]Linda had two acting modes: whiny and grating

"Mother, it's so exciting! The people are so interesting!"

This movie aired on TV every year on Halloween when I was a child and I LOVED it.

Saw it again as an adult expecting a fun nostalgic trip, and oh boy let's just say my taste in films as a child was shit.

Linda dear, why would you tip off a witch that you're ON TO HER???

Linda stars in my favorite episode of Murder, She Wrote--Murder Takes the Bus.

I think Rick barely mentions Linda in his bio. A wise decision no doubt.

Who was the actress who played Linda's mother? She had the scary eyebrows of eyebrow pencil death.

Carol Lawrence? I always thought she was such an elegant lady, probably because of her General Foods International Coffees commercials. I thought that product was so sophisticated and classy when I was a kid, but now I realize it was the Kool Aid of coffee. Carols IMDB resume is almost entirely guest in appearances on TV shows, but she did come from the stage. She’s still with us at 89 years old.

[quote]I thought that product was so sophisticated and classy when I was a kid

Me, too!!!

I was like 8 or 9 and begged my grandma to buy me the Cafe Vienna but she refused because, "YOU don't drink coffee, you are TOO young."

My persistence did pay off in that she relented and purchased some Celestial Seasonings tea to try.

[quote] I think Rick barely mentions Linda in his bio. A wise decision no doubt.

I guess you mean Rick Springfield. There were two Ricks in her life, him and Rick James. She's briefly mentioned in his memoir. They got involved with each other when she was 15 and he was 24. His only explanation for that was that "it was the seventies." Her parents were so indulgent that they let Springfield live with little Linda in the family home. In some film rag it reported that she and Springfield and her older sister were in a restaurant together and that little Linda was all over him while her sister just sat there not batting an eye. He said he introduced her to sex and that she was an "eager pupil." He seemed very lukewarm about the whole relationship, saying he found her somewhat attractive. Doesn't sound like a young man swept off his feet. Obviously the relationship meant more to her than to him. She claimed it was "love at first sight for both of us" but I doubt he felt the same way. They remained amicable after their parting. Just another dopey 70s pairing.

Still, for a non-actress signed for a movie as a tween- she's done pretty well. A lot of child stars just faded. Her string of sleazy 80s movies probably paid the bills.

Warner Bros. should give her a cut of the haul: the movie has earned nearly a half billion dollars.

Linda Blair was the ultimate exploitation star. Having been in several trashy cult films she also did drugs, slept with rock stars, and posed nude for a magazine.

[quote] Having been in several trashy cult films she also did drugs, slept with rock stars, and posed nude for a magazine.

Didn't everybody in the 70s and 80s do that?

I remember this movie. Saw it when I was a kid. As I recall, Linda Blair wore a bikini at one point and it was the first time I realized she was stacked and kinda hot. Hey, does everyone know that Linda Blair and the Superfreak himself Rick James were getting it on at one point? I love it!

Fran has always had such beautiful skin.

Linda Blair with the pubic hairstyle

I have a decent Linda Blair story.

Several years ago, maybe 2016, she came to Portland to appear at the Hollywood Theater as part of a screening of The Exorcist.

Some idiot in the audience, during the Q&A, got all weepy and said she felt so bad for Linda being a child and taken advantage of filming all this and she herself was a mother and boo hoo hoo. Linda looked at the woman like she was a bug and snapped, "I don't need your tears, they're fifty years too late!"

My best friend and I now use that as a catch phrase when people need to get over their shit. Also, I love that Linda, in her wackiness, rounded up to fifty years instead of down.

Pubes pubes pubes perm

OP I just watched last week. I have been rediscovering the TV movies of my youth. I love how dumpy Linda looked in the homemade dress yet Lee Purcell looked like a knockout (in the clearly tailored dress).

Linda is an odd duck. She is a well known animal rights advocate—which usually means a person is a bit off emotionally. She has done a lot of good for animals, yet her foundation is mismanaged and spread too thin. She also can never admit to any wrongdoing/take accountability when something goes wrong, which is bound to happen with rescue dogs. She was at the center of a very nasty pit bull rescue dog shelter scandal. A lot of the dogs in the care of her foundation had been neglected, starved, and died.

Summer of the pubic hairstyle

R89, And Carol Lawrence did four episodes of MSW

R51 I loved the kitchen in that film. I think it would still be cool to have it today.

What’s this about pubes? I didn’t see any pubes in this movie!

R106, including one where she plays the hardened sister of a mafia Don…or was he a Hugh Hefner type? Anyway, I recall a very bad Italian-ah accent-ah.

R29, oh, the bookmobile!! I bought a great little Gothic novel called Jane-Emily at the bookmobile when I was in 4th grade. I still have it. Also, great memories when the box of books would arrive with our orders via My Weekly Reader. That box, sitting on the teacher’s desk. The suspense!!