Before The Silence of the Lambs(1991) revitalised his career, Anthony Hopkins hammed it up in less successful movies like Audrey Rose.
Directed by Robert Wise – whose credits include The Sound of Music(1965) and The Andromeda Strain(1971) – this film cashes in on the 1970s post-Exorcist interest in possession and the supernatural, with a tale about a 12-year-old girl called Ivy Templeton (Susan Swift), who Englishman Elliot Hoover (Hopkins) believes may in fact be a reincarnation of his deceased daughter, Audrey Rose, who died in a horrific car accident.
Complicating matters is the fact that Ivy keeps having seizures, creating the impression that she’s “reliving” Audrey’s death.
The cast – including Marsha Mason and John Beck as Ivy’s understandably concerned parents – is capable, but in the end, it’s let down by the drawn-out plot and the unlikely ending.
Elliot Hoover
Anthony Hopkins Janice Templeton
Marsha Mason Bill Templeton
John Beck Ivy Templeton/Audrey Rose
Susan Swift Dr Steven Lipscomb
Norman Lloyd Scott Velie
John Hillerman Brice Mack
Robert Walden Judge Langley
Philip Sterling Mary Lou Sides
Ivy Jones Russ Rothman
Stephen Pearlman Maharishi Gupta Pradesh
Aly Wassil Mother Veronica
Mary Jackson
