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Audrey Rose (film)
Encyclopedia
Audrey Rose is a 1977 horror film
, with metaphysical content, directed by Robert Wise
, starring Marsha Mason
and Anthony Hopkins
. It was based on the novel of the same title by Frank De Felitta. The original music score was composed by Michael Small
.
as testimony. Hoover testifies in court that after his daughter's death, Hoover had traveled to India and become a believer in reincarnation and Hinduism
. The mother comes to believe Hoover's story, and testifies as much, but the father does not, and has their lawyer request Ivy be hypnotized to show she is not a reincarnation of Audrey Rose. During the hypnosis, Ivy revisits the traumatic car crash as Audrey Rose and dies during the relived trauma. The last scene is the mother writing a letter to Hoover thanking him for transporting Ivy/Audrey's ashes to India, and indicating this is with her husband's permission, who she says has started to accept what she and Hoover believe to be true. The movie closes on a quotation from the Bhagavad-Gita
:
at the New York Times, who said of it, "The soul of the movie is that of "The Exorcist
" instantly recycled."
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, with metaphysical content, directed by Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
, starring Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason is an American actress and television director.She received four Academy Award nominations as Best Actress for her performances in Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two, and Only When I Laugh. She is also known for starring in the 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge.-Life:Mason was...
and Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
. It was based on the novel of the same title by Frank De Felitta. The original music score was composed by Michael Small
Michael Small
Michael Small was an American film score composer best known for his scores to thriller movies such as The Parallax View, Marathon Man, and The Star Chamber. Relatively few of his scores are available on compact disc...
.
Plot
Ivy Templeton is a nearly eleven year old girl, living with her parents, Janice and Bill Templeton, in New York. The parents notice a stranger stalking them over the course of a few weeks, and discover, over lunch with him, that his name is Elliot Hoover, and that he is convinced their daughter is a reincarnation of his daughter Audrey Rose, who died in a fiery car accident, along with his wife, two minutes before Ivy was born. Hoover had come to believe this through information given to him by two clairvoyant psychics. The husband asks a friend of his, an attorney, to hide in their apartment to hear Hoovers full story to build a case against him, but when Hoover speaks Audrey's name out loud, Ivy hears him from her room and enters an altered state where she cannot be calmed down without the assistance of Hoover. In this state, she bangs her hands on a window and becomes burned, which Hoover says is a result of her daughter's experience of being burned alive in the car. The mother is afraid of Hoover but also concerned for her daughter, while the father is hostile to Hoover and demands he stay away. Ivy continues to be disturbed by nightmares which keep getting worse. Hoover appears at their home during one of her nightmares, and at the request of the mother Hoover is able to calm Ivy down by calling to her as Audrey Rose, but is arrested for allegedly briefly abducting her to his recently rented upstairs apartment. The film then moves forward some months to an ongoing trial, where Hoover is attempting to persuade a jury that his actions were necessary to grant his daughter's spirit peace. The trial has become a worldwide phenomenon, with a Hindu holy man giving an explanation of reincarnationReincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
as testimony. Hoover testifies in court that after his daughter's death, Hoover had traveled to India and become a believer in reincarnation and Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
. The mother comes to believe Hoover's story, and testifies as much, but the father does not, and has their lawyer request Ivy be hypnotized to show she is not a reincarnation of Audrey Rose. During the hypnosis, Ivy revisits the traumatic car crash as Audrey Rose and dies during the relived trauma. The last scene is the mother writing a letter to Hoover thanking him for transporting Ivy/Audrey's ashes to India, and indicating this is with her husband's permission, who she says has started to accept what she and Hoover believe to be true. The movie closes on a quotation from the Bhagavad-Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
:
"There is no end. For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does it ever cease to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval..."
Main cast
- Marsha MasonMarsha MasonMarsha Mason is an American actress and television director.She received four Academy Award nominations as Best Actress for her performances in Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two, and Only When I Laugh. She is also known for starring in the 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge.-Life:Mason was...
- Janice Templeton - Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
- Elliot Hoover - John BeckJohn Beck (actor)John Beck is an American actor. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois. Renowned as a gritty actor with plenty of presence on set, he is ultimately best-known worldwide for playing the role of Mark Graison in Dallas during the mid-1980s, but is also well-known for several other roles in which he...
- Bill Templeton - Susan SwiftSusan SwiftSusan Rachel Swift is an American actor and former child actor.-Early life:Swift was born in Houston, Texas. She attended Pepperdine University and became an attorney practicing in Downtown Los Angeles...
- Ivy Templeton - Norman LloydNorman LloydNorman Lloyd is an American actor, producer, and director with a career in entertainment spanning more than seven decades. Lloyd, who currently resides in Los Angeles, has appeared in over sixty films and television shows....
- Dr. Steven Lipscomb - John HillermanJohn HillermanJohn Benedict Hillerman is an American actor, known for his starring role on the television show Magnum, P.I.-Early life:...
- Prosecutor Scott Velie - Robert WaldenRobert WaldenRobert Walden is an American television and motion picture actor. He is best known for his role as Joe Rossi on Lou Grant for which he was nominated for an Emmy three times and his role as Joe Waters on Brothers...
- Brice Mack
Reception
The film received a poor review from Vincent CanbyVincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
at the New York Times, who said of it, "The soul of the movie is that of "The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
" instantly recycled."