Product Details

• Actors: Kay Lenz, Shelley Winters, Tony Bill, Kathryn Grant, Morgan Fairchild
• Directors: Robert Day
• Writers: Carol Saraceno, Don Ingalls, Kenette Gfeller, Tom Holland
• Producers: Allan Marcil, Charles W. Fries, Jay Benson
• Format: Color, EP, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Republic Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300279928
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,142 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good variation on a familiar formula., October 16, 2000

By	chad edwards (cincinnati, ohio USA) - See all my reviews

The lovely Kay Lenz stars in this teenage/supernatural suspense-thriller as a campus outcast who uses her secret powers to reap revenge on her tormentors. She is aided by her strange housemother(Shelley Winters) who also happens to be a witch. Fun and entertaining, in a juvenile sort-of-way, THE INITIATION OF SARAH is a sometimes effective variation on the standard CARRIE/teen misfit theme, made doubly enjoyable by Shelley Winters' hammy performance. She and the rest of the cast are clearly having a ball, and they make it well worth your 90minutes.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars KAY LENZ WAS TERRIFIC IN THIS MOVIE,, June 21, 2001

By	"dmab6395" (TEANECK, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

AND SHELLY WINTERS AS THE HOUSEMOTHER IS TERRIFIC. I SAW THIS MOVIE YEARS AGO ON TV. SO THAT'S HOW I'M REVIEWING IT. I'M SURE THEIR ARE SOME PARTS THEY COULDN'T SHOW ON TV THAT THIS VIDEO WILL HAVE. IT'S ABOUT 2 SISTERS, PATTY AND SARA, WHO GO OFF TO COLLEGE. PATTY IS PRETTY, POPULAR AND OUTGOING. SARA (PLAYED BY KAY LENZ) IS MORE PLAIN LOOKING, NOT POPULAR AT ALL AND VERY SHY, OH AND SHE IS A WITCH. MORGAN FAIRCHIELD PLAYS A GIRL WHO IS THE HEAD OF A SOROITY THAT PATTY GET INTO. SHE TRIES TO PULL THE SISTER APART. SHELLY WINTERS IN THE HOUSEMOTHER OF THE SOROITY THAT SARA IS IN AND SHE IS ALSO A WITCH. SHE TRIES TO GET SARA TO USE HER POWERS TO DESTROY THE PEOPLE WHO LAUGH AT HER AND DO TERRIBLE THINGS TO HER. THIS WAS BEFORE CARRIE AND ALTHOUGH THE STORIES ARE SIMILAR THIS ONE IS MORE TAME. IT IS ALSO WITHOUT THE RELIGIOUS ASPECTS. THIS IS STILL A GOOD WATCH-MAYBE TO RENT. NOT TO OWN.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT MOVIE, NOT SO GOOD PAYOFF, November 5, 2004

By	a viewer "a viewer" (antioch, tn United States) - See all my reviews

I, like most of the reviewers here, first saw this movie on television in 1978. It is great fun with stellar performances by the entire cast. Shelley Winters turns in a wickedly "funny-hammy" performance which borders on the ridiculous at times. Kay Lenz as the scapegoat girl with telekinetic powers (ala Carrie)is superb. Morgan Fairchild as the lead villainess and tauntress of Lenz is equally fine.

The payoff at the end, for me, is disappointing. Instead of following the "formulaic" horror theme where the heroine dies to sacrifice herself, I wish the writers had taken another route, namely, to have Sarah visit Jennifer who has been horribly disfigured into an ugly old crone and make her realize that cruelty and laughter at the expense of someone else doesn't pay. I would have loved to have seen the after-effect...that would have been great. That is why I give this movie four stars instead of five.