The Invasion of Carol Enders (1973 TV Movie) User Reviews

"It's Spiritual, Beyond Explanation!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 15 October 2018]

Poor Carol Enders (Meredith Baxter) is attacked by an unknown assailant, severely hurt, and rushed to the hospital. Simultaneously, another woman named Diana Bernard (Sally Kemp) wrecks her car under suspicious circumstances, and dies in the same hospital that Carol is in. Coincidentally, Diana's husband is a doctor at the same hospital.

When she regains consciousness, Carol begins acting strangely, asking for her "husband", Dr. Bernard (Charles Aidman). She also knows people and things that only Diana could know. Has Carol somehow become Diana?

THE INVASION OF CAROL ENDERS is a supernatural tale of soul transference, as well as a murder mystery. Carol / Diana finds herself in the middle of a police investigation into the events of Diana's "accident".

Shot on video tape, this made-for-TV movie looks and feels like a soap opera. Still, it is well-written and acted, and at just over an hour long, it zips right along. Produced and co-directed by horror meister Dan Curtis, it's a quality production overall. Ms. Baxter does a great job in her baffling role. Well worth a watch or two, and the ending has a nice twist!...

Slow and meandering

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 12 June 2018]

THE INVASION OF CAROL ENDERS is a slow and meandering TV flick of 1974, which promises plenty but ends up playing out as a very low key and stilted murder mystery. One woman dies and her spirit apparently transfers to another unsuspecting woman; while her friends and the authorities investigate, it becomes clear that the spirit has taken possession of the woman with a purpose in mind: to reveal her murderer. It sounds interesting, but this film is strictly pedestrian, almost entirely made up of people talking and struggling to bring emotion into their dialogue. Christopher Connelly, that stalwart star of Italian action cinema, co-stars, while Dan Curtis contributes some uncredited direction.

TV horror

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 24 March 2020]

Gene R. Kearney wrote one of the first made-for-TV movies, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, as well as the movie Night of the Lepus and scripts for several TV shows like Night Gallery and Kojak. He was joined by Merwin Gerard, who wrote the TV horror film The Victim and several episodes of One Step Beyond to create this 1974 TV movie.

It was directed by Pittsburgh native Burt Brinckerhoff as well as an uncredited Dan Curtis, who was also the producer.

Carol Enders (Meredith Baxter from Family Ties) is having more than a bad day. No sooner than her boyfriend tells her that he can't be engaged any longer, a man emerges from the woods and attacks her. She ends up in the hospital, where the spirit of a dead woman named Diana Bernard must find her ex-husband Dr. Peter Bernard (Charles Aidman, who narrated the 80's Twilight Zone reboot) to figure out who killed her.

Fans of Italian genre cinema should check this out, as Christopher Connelly (Night of the Sharks, Atlantis Interceptors, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Manhattan Baby) and Tony Russel (The Secret Seven, The War of the Planets) both appear in this movie.

Dark Shadows fans will also be pleased, as John Karlen (Willie Loomis from that Gothic soap opera, as well as Daughters of Darkness) plays David Hastings, the angry second husband of the dead woman and prime suspect.

I love the look of this movie, which was shot on video and has a very soap opera feel. It's like a self-contained Dark Shadows arc, which you can get through in a little over an hour.