Steineded How sad is this?

Pluskylang Great Film overall

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Foxpup82-79-884183 I was pretty sure what I was going to get when I decided to watch this on NetFlix, as I've seen most of the more successful 70s teen horror movies, and as I hadn't even heard of this one, it didn't bode too well. However, i do enjoy movies that are "so bad they're good" and thought perhaps The Spell would fall into this category. Firstly, the main character is supposed to be fat enough to be teased relentlessly about it - she's very slightly overweight. So this immediately made for a weak premise. People do get teased for being hopelessly nerdy - this would have been a far more believable scenario to get things rolling along. The family is well played - all very unlikable characters, shallow and annoying. I agree with one of the other reviewers - you will be rooting for them all to die under the hand of the "fat" teenager. (this movie is so bad I've forgotten the name of the main character already). Simply put, there wasn't enough drama, with the exception of the (SPOILER!) mom's friend's spontaneous combustion and the popular girl taking a tumble...if I had to describe this movie with one word, it would be "tepid". It's not totally unwatchable though - it reminds me a lot of an After School Special movie (those in the U.S. will know what I mean), albeit with some supernatural violence. If you love ugly 1970s fashion and annoying people, you might enjoy this movie. Otherwise watch Carrie or even Summer of Fear, instead.

marymorrissey honestly! the beginning of this movie is quite extraordinary on account of the lousy camera work. The hand-held work is clearly not in any way... intentional! and the sound is amazingly awful. it's worth sitting through for this one scene in which Lee Grant one of those "damned good actresses" who is absolutely horrible in this film goes to visit some old woman who greets her in a caftan with open arms but suddenly is brought up short while... some metal thing starts to come out of her mouth an' honey it sin't dentucreme! then her black tongue comes out while Lee acts to the hilt giving it her granted all and the woman's face comes apart and she goes stumbling through the window. honestly it's so funny that I intend to record it with my video-camera. A parapsychologist! Honey she needs the fire dept and who knows what all else! a so bad it's horrendous movie... to compare it to Carrie is like comparing I don't know "Love American Style" to "Romeo and Juliet" it's just so awful... a train wreck! another hi-lite is when Helen hunt (who was kind of a provocative beauty in her youth, a la Lela sobieski) is trying to explain to transactional analysis Lee grant momma of the 70s that the supposedly fat girl (who really isn't fat at all, incidentally) is a murderous witch along with her lesbian gym coach who also has this witchy satisfaction whenever someone's face burns up or what have you and ... Helen is so frightened that she puts on the radio to mask her telling mom of fat-tie's murderous witchy ways, and the music she happens to find ... is some kind of I don' tenor what again "LOVE AMAERICAN STYLE" type soundtrack it's so ridiculous! Oh Lee Grant, Oh Helen Hunt Oh my goodness! To the person who remembers seeing this at age 8 and being impressed, honey you were probably more like 2 years old, OK?!

preppy-3 An overweight plain high school girl (Susan Myers) is tormented daily by her peers. She acquires powers that allow her to destroy (or kill) her enemies. But she's getting out of control. Can her mother (Lee Grant) stop her?This was basically a TV remake of "Carrie". "Carrie" was R rated so most teenagers (like me) couldn't get in to see it. This was quickly made (it shows) and put on TV--it was a HUGE hit. For what it is, it's not bad. Grant and Myers especially are good and it's pretty well-written. The deaths or "accidents" are pretty tame (compared to "Carrie") but there IS a show-stopper near the end where one woman seems to decompose (or something) in seconds. For 1977 TV it was pretty graphic. It all leads to a showdown which (when you think about it) is pretty silly.Still this was good and I give it an 8. Anybody know how to see this? Like other 1970s movies it's disappeared!

moonspinner55 Odd that Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant and talented television director Lee Philips would get involved in this: a small-screen variation on Brian De Palma's "Carrie", a boob-tube imitation that is strictly for boobs (and children, like myself in 1977, who weren't allowed to see R-rated "Carrie" in the theater). The young girl is plain and overweight but finds in the occult a release to her frustrations (what a great lesson to all the plain, overweight teenagers of the world!). Incidentally, there were other "Carrie" clones right about this time: "Jennifer", "Ruby", De Palma's own "The Fury" (guess he couldn't get enough of that telekinesis). This one stoops to low means of occult-related revenge, and shame on Philips for wasting his--and our--collective time.