Maybe not the exact quote, but a barb none the less towards Patty Duke who shows up unannounced at the home of her late husband's mother (Rosemary Murphy) who isn't exactly thrilled to see her, even if Duke's about to give birth to her grandchild. It's the middle of a very bad winter in the middle of the countryside somewhere in Minnesota, and Duke ends up stranded there with the very odd Murphy and mute daughter Sian Barbara Allen, unable to leave due to the weather and later going into labor.
A high class thriller with lots of twists and turns, highlighted by the arrival of Richard Thomas as "another" son, a rapist and murderer, and a far cry from John Boy Walton. It would be easy to compare this to the Tallulah Bankhead/Stefanie Powers Hammer hag horror classic "Die! Die! My Darling!", but it's much more complex than that. Duke isn't exactly a fragile flower, able to stand up to her "mother-in-law", but up against something much darker than what she expected to handle.
The performances by the small ensemble are all excellent with sweet spoken Murphy hiding glares of hate behind her seemingly kind eyes that ooze coldness at times. Allen makes the most out of her silent part, showing that acting doesn't always require words. Thomas may seem like the boy next door, but he's great at indicating a dark psychopath in this role that shows a different side of "mother love". Great direction from Lamont Johnson makes this a delightful thriller, with added intrigue concerning the mansion used worth researching.
A high class thriller with lots of twists and turns, highlighted by the arrival of Richard Thomas as "another" son, a rapist and murderer, and a far cry from John Boy Walton. It would be easy to compare this to the Tallulah Bankhead/Stefanie Powers Hammer hag horror classic "Die! Die! My Darling!", but it's much more complex than that. Duke isn't exactly a fragile flower, able to stand up to her "mother-in-law", but up against something much darker than what she expected to handle.
The performances by the small ensemble are all excellent with sweet spoken Murphy hiding glares of hate behind her seemingly kind eyes that ooze coldness at times. Allen makes the most out of her silent part, showing that acting doesn't always require words. Thomas may seem like the boy next door, but he's great at indicating a dark psychopath in this role that shows a different side of "mother love". Great direction from Lamont Johnson makes this a delightful thriller, with added intrigue concerning the mansion used worth researching.