Out of Print Alley: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

It’s Christmas and I have been inspired to get out my Santa hat and watch a yuletide horror flick.  Beginning with this article, and continuing with each future month, I will feature an out of print film(i.e. either not available on dvd/vhs/ or potentially having never had a home video release at all) in an article entitled Out of Print Alley.  This month I thought it would be fitting(albeit a tad premature) for our unreleased flick to be the Sally Field led film Home For the Holidays.

It has been nine years since the four Morgan girls have come to see their father at the family homestead and pops should be thrilled because they are coming back for Christmas.  However, the gals aren’t really interested in carving up the bird with their old man but are more concerned by a letter the eldest sister received telling them that their stepmother is trying to poison their father.  The girls haven’t been around for a long time because they all blame Mr. Morgan for their mother’s suicide.  To cope with their Mother’s death, one of them became a pill popping boozer and another one a relationship inept gal with a bitchy attitude.  It seems the only two sisters who actually have their shit together are the eldest, Alex, and the youngest, Christine(a.k.a. Sally Field).

All of the sisters except Christine are convinced that their stepmother really is trying to murder their father and why wouldn’t they be suspicious, she was acquitted several years earlier of murdering her previous husband.  While at the house, a torrential rainstorm leaves the sisters without a phone and stranded, as the town is 9 miles away.  A pitchfork wielding killer wearing a yellow raincoat is out to kill the members of the household and it is ultimately up to Christine to figure out who the killer is before it is too late.

This out of print gem was a made for TV film that first aired in the fall of 1972.  While there are several cuts that allude to a commercial break, it is hard to believe that there were so few interruptions for television back then.  Even though the commercial cuts are apparent, they are neither annoying, nor do they distract the viewer from the film itself.  While I wouldn’t call this film a slasher per se, I would say that it has many elements similar to that type of film and that is important because this film pre dates the big boys of the genre by several years.  The film has more in common with a Hitchcock film than a Cunningham film but the scene with a pitchfork kill could have been straight taken out of any number of later day Slasher films.

The ironic thing about this film is that besides a few decorations and mentions of Christmas, the film really has nothing to do with the Holidays at all and doesn’t really get the viewer in the Christmas mood.  The characters really aren’t driven home by the holiday itself and unlike most holiday films, it doesn’t feature a climate that has snow.  I think this may actually help the film as it could be watched at about any time of the year and doesn’t necessarily need to be revisited around the Christmas season.  Supposedly the film makers had wanted to use fake snow for the exterior shots but the cost was too high for the meager production budget. The sister’s performances can be hammy at times and pretty damn melodramatic but Sally Field is perfect as the leading lady.  I am actually kind of surprised that this film was sent straight to the boob tube, as it is miles above many of the films that have been released in theaters.

Home for the Holidays was released on VHS by Anchor Bay several years ago but has since gone out of print.  I got my grubby little hands on an old rental VHS copy on eBay but if you don’t want to wait for a copy to come up for auction, the film can be purchased on Amazon starting at $19.99.  I think it is a travesty that this has gone out of print and am actually kind of surprised as Sally Field is a pretty damn big deal(what with the osteoporosis commercials and all).  Recently we have seen releases for other made for t.v. films such as Dark Night of the Scarecrow and Norliss Tapes, hopefully this will follow suit.  Maybe Anchor Bay will actually get this out on dvd or Mr. Lustig over at Blue Underground would be so kind as to give us a release.  Until then the VHS will have to do.

I hope you have enjoyed the first edition of Out of Print Alley.  Next month we will look at an out of print film from a genre that is near and dear to my heart, the western.  Until then, stay sick.