Well, I personally am a huge fan of the movie The Devil's Daughter. I'd seen it back in the day and didn't remember much about it, apart from Winters' over the top performance. About 12 years ago I was able to tape it when it was on around 2 a.m. on a local station and a friend recently made a DVD-R for me from my old tape, which looks pretty darn good!
The movie is well worth seeing, I'd say. Frid's role is more than a walk-on; he plays an important part in the Belinda Montgomery character's gradual understanding of what's happening to her. As another fan commented, his final scene in the movie packs a poignant punch.
Winters is a hoot, and if memory serves, Abe Vigoda plays one of the cultists. I think the movie was directed by Jeannot Szwarc who worked a great deal on Rod Serling's Night Gallery series, and Joseph Cotten has a nifty little role in it. The Belinda Montgomery character is somewhat reminiscent of Vickie Winters in her "I don't understand" mode--I mean, if you walked into somebody's living room and there was a giant picture of Satan over their fireplace, wouldn't you think they were more than just "eccentric"? There are also these priceless two white-gloved garden-hat-wearing ladies who live next door, played by two character actresses whose names escape me. Their scenes add a disturbing note (because of how they're played) to the otherwise rather campy goings-on.
Some of those Seventies TV movies are surprisingly well done. Anybody remember Crowhaven Farm, with Hope Lange battling seventeenth century Witches in New England? Or Soimething Evil, with Patty Duke, where she has to paint a fullblown 9 foot magic circle on her floor to protect her family?
G.
