The Initiation of Sarah

If you didn’t live through the pre-VCR era, you might not understand the abnormal amount of excitement something like ABC’s Movie of the Week could generate.  After all, short of theatrical reissues, there was no other way to see current or classic flicks.  We also had to change channels and turn up the volume by hand, but that’s beside the point.  While a fair number of major motion pictures popped up (in heavily edited form), you were just as likely to get a “copycat” production designed to spare network execs from paying for the real thing.  

Such is the case with The Initiation of Sarah (1978), a clone of Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976), minus the nudity, swears, Sissy Spacek and special effects.  That obviously doesn’t leave much to work with.  But that’s part of the retro charm of viewing these old made-for-TV horror rip-offs, many of which made as big an impression on the younger generation who watched them as the much higher profile originals.  In fact, Initiation had a remake of its produced in 2006. 

 

Here, Kay Lenz (a familiar face from just about every ‘70s TV show) stars as Sarah, a mousey new student who pledges the most popular sorority on campus, only to be rejected then harassed by its bitchy big sister played to perfection by Morgan Fairchild.  Relegated to the PED sorority (or “pigs, elephants and dogs”), Sarah is intrigued by the sordid past of her new house mother (Shelley Winters) who seems to have some insight into Sarah’s “powers” which only appear when she gets angry.  

 

Those telekinetic “powers” are pretty underwhelming.  The production obviously had the budget to do little more than yank people into convenient reflecting pools.  But it’s still a gas to watch the film trace over the Stephen King storyline, replacing a shower of pigs’ blood with rotten fruit and a few mud pies.  Sarah feels like a bizarre offshore excursion from the Love Boat.  That in and of itself should be enough to pique the interest of the Zenith generation.

 

Restored in a new 2K transfer from Arrow Video that really shines on hi-def (the film was previously included in an out-of-print double feature from Shout Factory), this Blu-ray special edition includes a can’t-miss commentary from TV movie expert Amanda Reyes, video appreciation, visual essay and interviews examining the film’s place in the feminist movement and cinematic trends.  There’s also a brand-new segment with Tom Holland (Fright Night) discussing what would be his first film writing credit.

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