The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) User Reviews

Mysterious and Intriguing

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 19 January 2016]

In California, the college professor Dr. Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) is haunted by a recurring nightmare where he is a man swimming naked in a lake that is hit by a row and murdered by a woman called Marcia. He also feels a pain on the hips. He seeks medical treatment with his colleague psychologist Dr. Samuel Goodman (Paul Hecht) in a laboratory but there is no positive result for the treatment. When Peter sees a town in Massachusetts in a TV show, he decides to travel with his girlfriend Nora Hayes (Cornelia Sharpe) to seek the location. After a couple of days, Nora decides to leave him but Peter continues his search. He arrives at Springfield where he eventually meets the gorgeous Ann Curtis (Jennifer O'Neill) in a club. Soon Peter discovers she is the daughter of the woman of his nightmares Marcia Curtis (Margot Kidder). Further, he might be the reincarnation of Marcia's husband Jeff Curtis (Tony Stephano), who died in the 40's in Lake Dream. But Marcia notes that Peter Proud is the reincarnation of her husband while he falls in love with Ann. What will happen to the trio?

"The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" is a mysterious film with an original and intriguing story of reincarnation. The first point that impress is the cast, with Michael Sarrazin, Margot Kidder, the Brazilian Jennifer O'Neill and Cornelia Sharpe. The plot is creepy but the film deserved a better conclusion. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Reencarnação de Peter Proud" ("The Reincarnation of Peter Proud")

Suspenseful Quasi-Supernatural Thriller in Da Palma-Style with Spot-on Performances

[classicalsteve · 7/10 · 12 April 2016]

In the 1960's and 1970's, a wave of interest in the occult and the supernatural swept popular culture in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe. Many books appeared on subjects such as telepathy, mysticism, pantheism, possession and exorcism, and reincarnation. Even rock bands such as Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult rode the waves and even created their own sub-cultures, forging highways of exploration into unknown and mystical territories. Such wide-spread appeal on these taboo subjects would have been nearly unthinkable only a couple of decades earlier. Eventually films began to appear which mirrored the tastes of younger audiences interested in these subjects, such as Rosemary's Baby, the Exorcist, and the present film, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.

Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin in a very convincing performance), a young professor of about 30 years old living in California, isn't having dreams. He's having vivid image-visions of miscellaneous episodes instead of dreams while he sleeps. He sees vivid images of bridges, monuments, buildings, churches, and houses in color of places he's never been. And he sees people he's never met. Most people dream in surreal settings where houses are distorted and even the laws of nature can be thwarted, but most often occupied by people from their lives, such as family, friends and lovers with the occasional supporting character. However, Proud's dreams are for the most part more like visions of another life than surreal dreams. For example, he sees a child running down the stairs of a house to school while his mother plays the piano. Of all these vision-dreams, one in particular is the most disturbing. He witnesses the murder of a young man in a lake at the hands of a lover of some sort he has spurned. And when this vision-dream occurs while he's asleep, he speaks with the voice of the man being murdered, which freaks out his girlfriend.

Because he's not really dreaming but having visions, he's become irritable and seeks psychiatric help. The psychiatrists use him as a kind of lab rat in their experiments on sleeping and dreaming, they and determine he's not dreaming as normal. Although, Proud insists his visions are real. Then by chance he sees a documentary about small New England towns, and he notices a couple of buildings which appear strikingly similar to the ones in his dreams. He decides to investigate. He drags his live-in girlfriend to Massachusetts where they wander around the state looking for the town. He finally finds it, but his girlfriend returns to the West Coast.

Proud then begins to do more investigating, and he finds the house which appears the same as the one in which there was a little boy and his mother. He then explores newspaper records and finds a man was drowned in the 1940's just after the war in a lake near the town. The record says it was an accident but the vision implies the man was in fact murdered. He discovers the name and begins asking older locals about who this man was. He meets the deceased's daughter at a local tennis club and eventually meets the man's widow played by Margot Kidder in an equally compelling performance. The man's widow appears like an older version of the woman in the vision. Could this be the man who Peter Proud was in a previous life? His psychiatrist friend from California wants to document Proud's findings, but Proud is reluctant to reveal his discoveries.

Certainly not for all tastes, but this is a very compelling mystery-thriller with quasi-supernatural elements. There is very little action, save the recurring vision of the murder, and the climactic ending. Much of the film is about Proud's investigations and his eventual relationship with the murdered man's daughter. Spooky electronic music, similar in style to music in other films of the period, such as "Escape to Witch Mountain", are often used when Proud sees a building and there's a flash to his dream-visions.

Two larger questions are asked by the film. Did we live in previous lives? And, if we did, the more frightening question posed: is it in our best interests to discover who we may have been or leave well enough alone, as the old saying goes? Reincarnation and other questions about life after death are still popular, but the present film fed into an audience which was very hungry for this kind of material during the 1970's.

Nice time-capsule of 1970s mystery genre.

[pugetsoundads-com · 7/10 · 22 August 2015]

I recently watched "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" on Youtube 40 years after I saw it in a theater.Reincarnation is a complicated subject, but the film does a fairly good job of explaining some of its intricacies.

Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) begins having strange dreams of people that he has never met and places he has never been to. In order to find some peace, he goes in search of the images in his dreams and finds them in a town in Massachusetts.

I really enjoyed the slow unraveling of the mystery and the performances are great, especially Margot Kidder as a widow with a terrible secret.

Not great, but truly spooky

[notmicro · 15 June 2002]

Peculiar film which mixes murder-mystery with the supernatural concept of reincarnation, along with a large dose of early-70's movie sexuality. I saw this several times years ago on TV, and was quite impressed with it, somewhat against my will; now I wish that I could see it again. It is deeply and disturbingly creepy at points, and contains chilling scenes which I will never forget; it has the quality of a bad dream that you can't quite get out of your mind. At the same time, it is not in any way a typical "horror" or fantasy film; in an odd way it is somewhat subtle and intellectual without being at all high-brow (the lead character is an inquisitive college professor).

The main protagonists are played by Michael Sarrazin and Margot Kidder (both Canadians). Sarrazin was becoming quite popular at the time, and something of an unlikely heart-throb, but his career later fizzled out. His rather sleepy and laid-back acting style works well here. Kidder at first seems bizarrely and very severely mis-cast playing a far older alchoholic widow, but her performance begins to get under your skin once you get past the terrible age-makeup that was used on her (she plays her own age in flashbacks). She was actually much younger than Sarrazin at the time, and the same age as the radiant Jennifer O'Neill who plays her adult daughter. It would be interesting to know the behind-the-scenes info on the casting decisions.

The production is rather slow-moving, although it eventually gathers speed and certainly ends with a bang! Unfortunately, as a whole the thing never quite works. It probably could be a much more interesting and intense film, and I have read that Paramount has acquired the rights for a remake.

Originally available on both VHS tape and LaserDisc.

OK supernatural thriller

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 3 March 2004]

The original novel was a very good (and spooky) tale of a man reincarnated (Michael Sarrazin) and falling in love with his daughter (Jennifer O'Neill) from his previous life. Unfortunately he was killed by his previous wife (Margot Kidder) and she's starting to suspect something...

The movie has a good cast and is well-done but it's slow-moving and seems more interested in showing sex, nudity and violence that giving us a good story. Heck,within the first 5 minutes there's gratuitous female nudity! Kidder masturbates in the tub, O'Neill has a nude love sequence with Sarrazin and there are disturbing shots of a man violently raping his wife. Also there are shots of the guy totally nude walking to a lake. But, then again, I saw it when I was 13...ANY nudity shocked me! I went with my mom, my younger sister and her friend--they all walked out pretty stunned (and embarrassed)...I walked out very interested! To be honest the book was more explicit, but it WAS well-written. The movie just didn't do it justice. Also Sarrazin's acting was pretty bad but O'Neill and Kidder were very good.

All in all it's OK. Avoid the TV version which is so heavily cut it's impossible to follow. It is available on YouTube uncut.

Supernatural melodramatic tale about a bewildered professor who's surprisingly reincarnated

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 10 December 2022]

Interesting and offbeat film about reincarnation shot with an attention to nice design and traditional style , adding some erotic scenes . When college professor, Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) experiencing flashbacks of an earlier existence , as he recalls having been murdered in a previous life and nowadays returning to a new activity . Then he's mysteriously drawn to a place he's never been , but which seems familiar and where he soon finds his previous incarnation's wife. This woman, Marcia Curtis (Margot Kidder) , sees in Peter startling characteristics which he shares with her dead husband, Jeff. Peter learns he has been reincarnated , cementing the fears of the unsettling wife . But she isn't about to sit still for such surprise . Much to the dismay of grirlfriend (Cornelia Sharpe) , he returns to the scene of the crime . Along the way , Peter meets the daughter (Jennifer O'Neill) of the reincarnated person and he falls in love for her . Now an electrifying motion picture ! Suppose you knew who you had been in your previous life !. Where you had lived...whom you had loved and how you had died. What then? You Only Have One Life to Live...Or Do You?

This one deals with thorny subject of reencarnation , but not one in the long line of demonic kiddie pic , though some critics have considered this one as a slow-moving take-off on other films . A psychical sex thriller with contrived plot , partially lacking in thrills , sex and psychic phenomena , this takes its proud place in that tiny elite of features with scenarios so mysterious that their entire action has to unfold before the title premise can even be established , as the happenings constantly have to be padded with other trappings . This is a very impressive , and sober-minded film in medium budget with adequate performance . Stars Michael Sarrazin who moves prosaically through the proceedings as the man whose recurring nightmare results to be a memory of his former life , but the story is so minimal that the proceedings constantly have to be padded out with hideous travelogue footage and emoting-by-numbers from a shfting and evident uncertain cast. The starring quartet : Michael Sarrazin , Jennifer O'Neill , Margot Kidder , Cornelia Sharpe are acceptable ,diving decent interpretation . Very good cast is hampered by slow-moving and some boring filmmaking , adding a tense and suspenseful musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith , as well as an atmospheric cinematography by Victor J. Kemper . The movie is notable for giving a strikingly sober portrait of a weird supernatural mystery and especially focusing on the emocional plight of the paranormal malarkey , however, packing a weak staged ending . Screenplay adapted by writer Max Ehrlich from his homonymous best seller novel.

Director J. Lee Thompson provides a passable but turgid filmmaking , including some flaws and gaps . Thompson previously had a nice track record in the English cinema from 1950 until 1961 , directing good Western ( McKenna's gold , White Buffalo) and all king genres as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes), terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud, Eye of the devil), adventures (Flame over India ,Kings of the sun, Taras Bulba , Tiger Bay) and Warlike ( Guns of Navarone, Von Braun , Chairman , The passage). His two biggest successes turn out to be ¨Guns of Navarone¨and ¨Cape Fear¨. Thereafter , the filmmaker's career subsided in a morass of slickly realized but middling films. He moved into the field of international spectaculars , at which point his filmmaking seemed to lose its individuality . J. Lee Thompson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Caboblanco, Evil that men do, Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable .

For Pete's Sake!

[ptb-8 · 6/10 · 15 July 2006]

Popular for about 6 months on first release in 1975 and never seen or heard of again, this sort of creepy thriller was effective enough for 19 year olds who thought they might need a warm up for AUDERY ROSE or a re-zap after THE EXORCIST. Michael Sarrazin was an interesting 30 something actor who looked as though he was about to be a big star. THE'RE'S ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE (check US title) with George.C Scott, THEY SHOOT HORSES with Jane Fonda, then FOR PETE'S SAKE with Streisand(!), this thing and then a slide into B movie oblivion. He acted with some of the biggest and most durable stars of the 60s and 70s. Nobody knows him today in current filmdom and I would be keen to see how he has fared. Like the co stars here: Jennifer O'Neill the gorgeous woman from THE SUMMER OF 42 (also a forgotten film, huge in 1972, as were her three young co stars) and the derailed Margo Kidder whose SISTERS to SUPERMAN rocket to fame was only matched by her plummet to earth. Maybe PETER PROUD cursed them all and nobody's career was reincarnated either. Sad for all concerned. Each were interesting actors and all their films worth seeing. Even this one.

"I'm going to wash off your stink."

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 19 January 2020]

Ever-engaging Michael Sarrazin, an actor whose star shone brightly in the late 60s and well into the 70s, is the title character here. Peter Proud is a college professor with a hottie girlfriend (Cornelia Sharpe). His life seems to be great, but he's currently being plagued by recurring nightmares about a woman (Margot Kidder) whacking a swimming man (Stuart Thomas) fatally with a paddle. While having these nightmares, he will actually speak in the murder victims' voice; it would seem that he is an honest-to-God reincarnation of the dead man. Seeking answers, and an end to his dreams, he seeks out their locales in reality. He eventually encounters the now much older Kidder as well as her now-grown daughter (Jennifer O'Neill).

While "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" misses its chance for true greatness by holding no real surprises, it plays out in a very entertaining, compelling way. It's kind of like a supernatural soap opera, with an array of interesting characters and a passing nod to parapsychology themes and study of dreaming individuals. It includes many quick cuts to flashback moments, that allow people in the back story to get fleshed out. As we come to see, Kidder is notably more sympathetic than her victim, who was NOT a good man in life. It would seem, however, that his spirit is hellbent on vengeance.

This is a good, solid film with elements of both melodrama and thriller, and a number of capable performances. Sarrazin is appealing through it all, wanting to do the right thing although he can't deny his attraction to O'Neill. She is similarly enchanting, playing the kind of gal a guy could easily fall in love with. Kidder does well in a true character role, although the makeup department doesn't go to great lengths to "age" her; in real life, she was actually *younger* than O'Neill by a couple of months. Lending fine support are Paul Hecht as Peters' concerned new friend, Thomas as the studly but rotten murder victim, Norman Burton as a psychiatrist, Debralee Scott as helpful kid Suzy, Steve Franken as Peters' doctor & tennis partner, and Addison Powell as Ken from the tennis club.

While the ending does fall short of being completely satisfying, it's an interesting move on the part of director J. Lee Thompson and company to conclude in such an abrupt manner. While there are light and charming moments, as well as some humour, there is a somber feel to the proceedings overall.

Scripted by Max Ehrlich, based on his novel.

Seven out of 10.

Intelligent, Intellectual Thriller

[HeartMonger · 10/10 · 18 June 2003]

Edge of your seat thriller, pre-Dolores Claiborne, wrings every chill out of it's story line of a young college Prof. played out gloriously by Sarrazin, who begins to see visions in his sleep. He can't explain them, or tell what they are, and the dream parapsychologists can't seem to help him either. he soon learns that he is reincarnated from a previous life. He goes to where he lived, meets up with people he knew, and finds out he had a daughter. Things get complicated when he falls in love with his former daughter, and his former wife, played outstandingly by Margot Kidder, killed him and he is on a self journey to find out why! Tense, and underrated due to poor distrubution. This film is arguably one of the best thrillers of the seventies, with a haunting musical score by Jerry Goldsmith. Great camera work and scenic locations add to this fine piece of work! Nightmares for months!

Is Margot Kidder Proof of Satan's Existence?

[inspectors71 · 2/10 · 24 March 2016]

I certainly think so. I've never seen anything with Kidder that didn't make me cringe with embarrassment while wanting to spritz with Holy Water.

Now, let's back-track to the review I was planning to write.

J. Lee Thompson's The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, based on a novel by Max S. Ehrlich, is a perfect reason for people to giggle and point at the 1970s. It's a dopey, overly-dramatic, performance-free glob of hippie-dippy spiritulalism, perfect for anyone who wants to get in touch with the silliest of the Me Decade. If you know anything at all about the Hindu belief in the journey of souls through reincarnation, don't be shocked when Hooey-wood takes the idea and turns it into a lugubrious chunk of nonsense about some rich New England dimebag who gets murdered by his wife, and his soul pops up- -for totally no reason at all--thirty years later in a young university professor.

If it weren't for the mystery that Michael Sarrazin's Peter Proud has to unravel to explain his out-of-his-body-and-in-somebody-else's dreams, all we would have would be lots of naked people swimming and sexing, principal characters driving around Massachusetts in gigantic Chevrolets, everyone looking as if they are in the death throes of painful mortification, and Margot Kidder, painted up with flour in her hair to make her look old, swilling bourbon, and, I am not kidding, soaking in her bathtub while masturbating to the memory of her no-good-nik husband raping her in 1947.

On occasion, there is some real mystery here, but every time the story begins to treat the audience as a group of adults--instead of dim teens--Thompson and screenwriter Ehrlich throw in some nonsense that stops everything dead in its tracks.

Sarrazin goes to the house of his previous self (good time for mysteriousness, right?) and we spend more time gawping at the pudgy teenager in the tight shorts who wants to jump Peter's peter.

We're adults here, right J.? Then treat us as such!

By the end--and if you didn't see it coming, you must be new to movies--we're left with nothing solved but for Kidder's character's liver glowing in the dark. 105 minutes of nonsense and nothing to show for it.

Unless watching Kidder play with herself is all you need in a motion picture.

Terrifically Terrifying Story Of Reincarnation

[Rainey-Dawn · 9/10 · 21 May 2016]

All - everyone - give outstanding performances in this terrifically terrifying story of reincarnation. I was about 3 years old when this film came out but was introduced to it as a pre-teen or teen. Anyway I saw it a handful of times as a teen and watching it again all these years later I have to say the film still gives me the chills.

Peter Proud has nightmares, he seeks help in a dream clinic and later he and a friend feel he must be experiencing flashbacks of a previous life - Jeff Curtis. Peter sets off on a journey to find out who Jeff Curtis was and why he was murdered before.

The film is a little graphic at times, mainly with sex, rape and murder - but that is NOT all there is to this film - it's mainly Peter "finding himself" or should I say "finding Jeff Curtis".

9/10

A tale of reincarnation that Freud would have loved!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 November 2016]

Michael Sarrazin plays the title character--a professor who is having strange, vivid and recurrent dream about another person's life. It's troubling him...especially since these all have the same story again and again...of some woman bashing her husband to death with an oar on a lake several decades ago! Peter seeks out help from various professionals but this gets him no where. Then, by chance, he sees a scene on television that is right out of his dreams---and it's in Massachusetts--a place in which he's never been!

The trail takes Peter to this town and there he's able to assemble the many details of the life that's stuck in his head...and now he's thoroughly convinced he's the reincarnation of this dead man! But here's where it gets really creepy. He meets the woman who committed this murder and begins dating her daughter...who is the daughter of the dead man. And, in a way, it's like Peter is having sex with his own daughter! Kinky, weird and definitely something right out of Freud!

So is this any good? Well, yes...but I have a SERIOUS caveat--there is a lot of nudity, a rape and some masturbation. It's NOT a film for kids or the prudish! And, much of this is very gratuitous. Oddly, despite showing so much nudity, in the final scene which SHOULD have been very bloody there is none! Still, a compelling story and it's well made and worth seeing.

Peter be not Proud...

[Coventry · 5/10 · 5 May 2006]

This creatively titled but little known 70's film blends supernatural horror with family drama and eroticism, which is a bizarre combination and every fan of cinema should be wary of it. Max Ehrlich adapted the screenplay from his own novel and, even though I'm not much of a reader myself, for once I tend to believe the people who claim that "the book was, in fact, better". Fundamental elements featuring in a story like this, such as character drawings and filming locations are better left to the imagination of each individual reader. Peter Proud is a tormented college professor whose reoccurring nightmares and lively hallucinations all indicate that he lived a previous life already, in a small Massachusetts town during the 1940's. Obsessed with the vague content of his visions, he ventures to a place he only knows about from his dreams. He discovers that he's the reincarnation of an infamous ex-soldier, who was married and father of one gorgeous daughter. The wife murdered him during a nightly swim and she managed to keep it a secret for almost 30 years until, now, the adulterous Jeff Curtis reincarnated as Peter Proud. The basic premise is truly intriguing and (correct me if I'm wrong) never been done before, but still I wouldn't call this film much of a success. The plot contains too many redundant aspects but regretfully lacks thrills, involvement and pace. Also, too often this film just serves as a poor excuse to touch on sexual topics that were, I admit, extremely controversial in the early 70's. It's not very common to stumble upon an American-made 70's thriller that broaches incest, rape-fantasies and female masturbation, so I definitely acknowledge its shocking impact when it first got released. That's exactly what you read in the other submitted user comments on this website: people vividly remember their first viewing of "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" and continue to regard it as a curious and thought-provoking cult film. Too bad the wholesome has severely dated by now, and the only REAL elements remained to impress you are the sublime cinematography and the extraordinary courageous performance by Margot Kidder. Oh, and the totally unexpected climax but I can't say anything about that, of course...

Don't go swimming in the lakes of your dreams.

[Nick J · 8 August 2001]

Possible spoilers here, but since this film is VERY deleted anyone who has never seen it probably never will, so here goes...

I saw this film on British TV in the late 70s (I think) and to my knowledge it has never been seen or heard of again. I was starting to think I had dreamed the whole thing until I found it here!

My memory of it is quite faded as I was only about 10 at the time. I know it must have been very good because I sat through it all glued to the tv screen. Some of the scenes fascinated me- Peter going to places he had never been to before but knowing them anyway (I think he had seen them in dreams?) and seeing his surprise when those places of his dreams turned out to be real.

Some scenes were so moving- an old lady in one of those places seems to think Peter is her son come back to life, she is crying for joy.

The final scene is so scary- why does he go for a swim in the lake when he knows the same woman who killed him before will kill him again? Don't do it! you cry, but to no avail, then THWACK! an oar over the head and Peter Proud II is no more.

I think it's a great film, but it's so long ago how can I be sure? I'd like to see it again but the chances of that are pretty slim.

A forgotten gem, lots of potential for a remake

[gvf · 7/10 · 29 October 2006]

Like some other reviewers here, I first watched this movie when I was young, in, say, about 1987. It fascinated and intrigued me and I found the whole premise to be very unique. There have been meager attempts at knock-offs since, but none of them have come quite close to this one. And then, a while ago, the film was back on television, and once again, I was spellbound.

Meet Peter Proud, a young college teacher who is haunted by visions in his dreams about, as it turns out, a previous life. One by one, he follows leads as to who and where he was then. Finally, he finds out that he lived in a picturesque New England town some 30 years ago. He travels there and manages to track down his "wife" from back then and his "daughter". At first, they have no clue who he is and what he came ("back") for, but his wife, an alcoholic who is still guilt-ridden about secretly murdering him back then, soon gets a pretty good idea when she realizes that Peter's mannerisms and his behavior are a spitting image of her dead husband's. As time goes by, he slips into a romantic relationship with his "daughter", and his visions slowly subside - except for the one in which he is killed by his wife during a night swim in a lake. Irony has it that while Peter goes for a swim in that same lake to get rid of his last and most terrifying vision, his "wife" follows him, cursing him for coming back - and kills him again.

While the movie displays some genuine 70s cheese (and I don't just mean the music) and some mildly wooden acting, it still has that fascinating premise which in my mind still makes it stand out as one of those almost forgotten "twilight-zoneish" B-movie gems of that era. There has been talk about a remake, and I would love to see an updated version. If whoever will produce that movie plays it smart, they will have plenty to work with.

The plot device saved it...

[wrlj2 · 7/10 · 6 March 2023]

If I were rating this film on the usual criteria of script, acting, direction, editing and soundtrack, it would get a 5 or 6 tops. It suffers from many of the same faults as most '70s B movies. The cinematography had some good moments, but it was the originality of the plot line that piqued my interest. I've viewed many films over the years, and do not recall one with a storyline as unique as this one. Reincarnation themes usually deal with lives in the distant past. The novel concept of exploring a life reincarnated from a generation still living was interesting, to say the least, and allowed the screenwriter to weave in some intriguing detective work, as well as the hero's personal reinvolvement with the past life. Bravo, Mr Ehrlich... it kept my rapt attention throughout.

Leave the past in the past.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 20 July 2022]

Take away the horror/mystery element of this mud 70's cult classic, and you'd have a fun trashy soap opera. Esteemed doctor Michael Sarrazin (as the title character) is having nightmares about a murder that took place decades before and wakes up believing that it's been in a different life. He begins to investigate what he's been dreaming about against the will of his girlfriend, Cornelia Sharpe, and ends up in the Springfield Massachusetts area where he meets young Jennifer O'Neill and her mother, Margo Kidder, and pieces begin to fit together, with Kidder bothered by the feelings she gets by his presence as more nightmares make Sarrazin begin to regress into the characteristics of the dead man whose identity he doesn't want to capture.

The combination of gothic horror and tragic romance makes for a fun film that is greatly aided by the beautiful location footage of several Massachusetts cities and towns, with the script that never let you guess what's going to happen. Sarrazin is quite subtle, with Tony Stephano as the ghost of the dead Jeff possessing him, and Kidder playing her character in two different time periods, and mesmerizing in both eras O'Neill comes off as a beautiful block which would have worked better had she been playing Kidder's part. This manages to be gripping and fortunately not campy. Due to be remade, you couldn't pay me to see the updated version. The subtlety of this one is all I need.

Intriguing and a bit unworldly

[Vomitron_G · 7/10 · 15 February 2006]

I stumbled upon THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD purely by coincidence and I doubt that many people have seen it. And after seeing it, I believe that this movie was unrighteously lost in movie-history. It's not really a horror-movie but more a supernatural mystery/thriller with a touch of drama and a mix of 70's eroticism. Now that's a mouthful, I know, but that's basically what it is.

The story centers around Peter Proud, who's having disturbing nightmares of a woman beating a man to death. He also dreams of images of an unknown town. He soon discovers that the town really exists and in his search for answers, he starts believing that he is the reincarnation of Jeff Curtis, the man who was killed in his dreams. Things get even weirder when he actually meets Jeff's widow Marcia Curtis and her daughter Ann Curtis.

Michael Sarrazin's toned down way of acting is pretty suitable for the Peter Proud character and Margot Kidder is more than decent as Marcia Curtis (both young and old). But the best performance probably comes from Jennifer O'Neill as Ann Curtis. She comes off as young, yet mature.

The over-all structure of the story perhaps isn't flawless. The first part is intriguing and fairly high-paced, but the middle-part is a bit too slow. The ending is yet again satisfying. The movie itself often smoothly swifts between atmospheres. Sometimes creepy & violent, other times there's room for drama or even romance. This movie does contain a lot of nudity, sometimes casual, sometimes sweet, sometimes disturbing. Margot Kidder amazed me with her bath-tub scene, which was erotic and shocking at the same time.

The editing was rather good, using a lot of cross-cutting every now and then. A technique which, when over-used, could become annoying, but here it was used carefully, having the right effect. On a final note: Jerry Goldsmith's score was excellent with a lot of variety, reminding me a bit of Howard Shore's early work for David Cronenberg.

Like I said, THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD isn't perfect but it is an intriguing film. It might look a little dated now, but I can imaging that in 1975 it was quite shocking (with its hidden incest theme and all). So, when being in the right frame of mind, this movie is certainly worth seeing. Good luck with tracking it down.

Enjoyable creep-out

[sadief1880 · 9/10 · 2 October 2017]

Recurrent dreams of your murder that may signify your reincarnation! Others who've noted the superior cinematography and soundtrack are correct in identifying the elements that glue one to Peter Proud's predicament. I was an usher when this first showed up in'75--we always got 'gasps' from the audience at the preposterous climax! An opening screenshot saying "L.A. 1975" would make the film appear undated and retrospective. Otherwise exciting and a must-see especially for film students and aficionados.

Intriguing story and presentation hindered by wooden acting...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 22 June 2007]

J. Lee Thompson, a highly competent director of the old school, was an odd choice to helm this adaptation of Max Ehrlich's risqué bestseller about reincarnation. Ehrlich, who seemed to have a preoccupation with characters getting naked, spun an interesting yarn which was then dotted with an erotic undercurrent that didn't figure prominently in the story and seemed to be present just for the sensationalism--a quick turn-on device. Thompson's film doesn't skirt the pseudo-adult elements, yet he's not able to shake off the cobwebs and make this a really good suspense thriller. Michael Sarrazin plays a college professor whose recurring nightmares seem to spell out a previous life...one that ended in his murder. Sarrazin investigates his "past", becoming involved with Jennifer O'Neill, a country club beauty and daughter of deeply-troubled Margot Kidder, who holds the key to the mystery. Thompson's creepy dream scenes (with help from Jerry Goldsmith's spooky music) give the reincarnation theme some vitality, but, with such dull, colorless people at the heart of the story, it becomes a rather basic past-present tale, in and out of its clothes. **1/2 from ****

Don't come back

[Bribaba · 5/10 · 17 August 2012]

Made at a time when 'the kids' were running Hollywood, this was perceived as Lee J Thompson's attempt to get with the program. The veteran director had visited many different genre, everything from thrillers (Cape Fear) to war (Guns of Navarone), but this was his first venture into the realm of the supernatural.

Peter (Michael Sarrazin) isn't very proud of the dreams he's been having. - they feature total strangers and culminate in a murder. For reasons not entirely clear, he surmises that he must be the victim reincarnate. After his dreams fail to register on the dream-o-meter at the local clinic he sets out to resolve the mystery, perhaps discovering his previous self along the way. The trail leads him to a mother and daughter ,who may or may not be his wife (Margot Kidder) and daughter (Jennifer O'Neill). Odd bit of casting this as the actresses were the same age at the time.

The somewhat outrageous premise unfolds in a dated (even for the time), leaden way which it has 'Made-For-TV' all over it. It's certainly not the 'electrifying motion picture' the tagline would have us believe. The material would have been ideal for 'kids' like Brian De Palma who had already made Sisters, or Polanski who had Rosemary's Baby to his credit. I was half hoping that the film itself might be worthy of cinema's own form of reincarnation: the remake but really, it's best it stays buried.

great creative movie, spooky, but where did it go-i never see this on cable..

[smjm1982-1 · 8/10 · 2 January 2008]

I really liked this movie, it is one of those movies that really sneak up on you and spook you more as it goes along but why doesn't it ever come out on TV or USA or TBS or HBO.. To all with the power to put this back on TV, please get it back on.. I know a few people who would like this movie. Other movies like this i'd like to see on TV, basic cable or premium (ie:HBO) Also mysteriously spooky movies i'd like to see along with this one.. The Changeling, Ghost Story These are movies that, while they may not have had a great rating.. they were great in that they were all eerie & spooky, unlike Jaws, it didn't just come right out and bite you but it spooked you and I would love to see all these back on TV, all of them were about an 8 in rating.

Moody thriller that slightly misses the mark

[mnpollio · 6/10 · 9 June 2010]

A prior commentator in the reviews section here complemented the film as being like a bad dream that stays with you and that is a perfectly apt description for the atmosphere of this strange, moody mystery/thriller revolving around the supernatural belief of reincarnation. Michael Sarrazin is an academic plagued by vivid, surreal nightmares depicting the increasingly volatile relationship between a brutal wife-beater and his increasingly fearful spouse, which culminates in his murder while out on a nocturnal skinnydip. As Sarrazin starts to investigate the roots of these bizarre dreams, he comes to realize that the players in his dream have actual real life counterparts and comes to believe that he is the reincarnation of the doomed husband. As he discovers each new piece to the puzzle, certain parts of the dream vanish giving him a sense of peace. Unfortunately, his investigations bring him into contact with the man's (his own?) daughter, played by Jennifer O'Neill, with whom he falls into a romance, as well as the murderess herself (Margot Kidder), who begins to believe that there is something off about her daughter's new boyfriend. Director J. Lee Thompson ably conveys a surreal quality to the visions/dreams and injects the film with a sense of impending catastrophe that it fails to shake even after its lead starts regaining some peace of mind. However, the reincarnation aspect brings up questions that the film fails to address or even touch on. Most glaringly, why does Sarrazin's laid-back rather docile Peter Proud share so few personality traits with his violence-prone predecessor? Peter Proud is not depicted as either a woman-beater or especially violent about much of anything, so at what point did the "soul" which inhabits his body learn its lesson? Why does Sarrazin not feel uncomfortable with the ramifications of courting and having sex with a woman who is his predecessor's daughter? Granted, they are not blood related, but there seems something a bit incestuous about the whole romance. The acting contributes to the oddity of the film. Sarrazin's overly restrained acting always seems to keep Peter Proud as an aloof character, even during his more emotional moments. It is almost as though neither he nor the film want us to get too attached to Proud and his plight lest we be upset about what the film has in store for him. O'Neill is lovely, but again the romance between she and Sarrazin is surprisingly muted. By contrast, Margot Kidder is fairly terrific as the beleaguered battered wife who thinks she has gotten away with murder only to be confronted years later by the soul of her restless husband. Her increasing paranoia and desperation in the final scenes are almost palpable. Tony Stephano also pulls off a difficult passage as the "dream" man - a guy charming enough to make us believe that Kidder would fall for him, but with a hair-trigger temper that is truly frightening. An underrated film to watch out for, especially for those interested in the unusual.

Things that go zzzzzzzzzzz...thud in the lake

[Kazetnik · 3/10 · 23 June 2007]

This might have made an episode of the (original) Twilight Zone, although the flashing neon sign yelling Obvious Ending Coming would have made it a poor one.

Slow. Plodding. Unatmospheric. Wooden. Insulting. (I'll think of some more words soon....). I love slightly cheesy, mildly thrilling 70s 'B' movies. This is just a bore with pretensions of grandeur and intellectualism.

Somewhere here there are some interesting elements about sexual morality and masculinity, but the movie gives over so much time to driving through Anytown USA, to a square dance and to the deep brooding presence of our sexually magnetic hero, that there's no space for any development of its more intriguing ideas.

I want to see this movie again

[[e-mail] · 20 July 2002]

I saw this movie in 1975. It was so out of the norm for it's day, that it hit me like a ton of bricks. I only recently found out, that I can't buy this movie anywhere, which obviously annoys me. I haven't seen this movie for 27 years. I think it's time it made a comeback. If it ever comes out again, you can believe I'll be the first one in line to buy a copy.