Home for the Holidays

Home for the Holidays (1972)

Runtime: 73 minutes

Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey

Starring: Sally Field, Julie Harris, Eleanor Parker, Jessica Walter, Jill Haworth, Walter Brennan

From: ABC

A Christmas movie featuring slut shaming, vodka dinners, & a pitchfork-carrying killer wearing a yellow rain slicker. For awhile now I’ve known of this made-for-television movie shown on ABC, November of 1972. Directed by Tarantino favorite John Llewellyn Moxey and written by Joseph Stefano (of Psycho fame, although he mainly wrote in the made-for-TV genre), it does have a Christmas tree and Christmas Eve dinner but it is set in Southern California so it’s full of rain instead of snow; this allows for the killer’s rain jacket/red boots/red gloves ensemble.

Walter Brennan is an invalid dad who has daughter Eleanor Parker invite his other three daughters (Sally Field, Jessica Walter, Jill Haworth) home for Christmas. He believes his second wife is poisoning him, you see. What a dysfunctional family it is. Their mother apparently took her own life, the daughters don’t get along w/ dad and don’t trust their stepmother, dad literally slut shames one daughter… much of this 73-minute film is dialogue where these characters in this mystery deliver this tawdry material.

Someone starts killing while wearing a distinctive outfit and using a pitchfork as a weapon. Not only are there giallo vibes, this is also a proto-slasher; seeing some of these actors in such a picture is a rare treat, especially the aspect of (redacted) as a scream queen. Regrettably, the movie has more than one lull despite its brief length; that aside, it was an entertaining mystery w/ decent atmosphere and the expected red herrings. It was a rare TV film that came out on disc, although that was DVD, resulting in some dark scenes becoming nigh unintelligible when viewed on YouTube.

There are a few moments where you imagine Jessica Walter telling someone else, “Good for her.” Her saying that about her own character here… not so much, unless you are a fan of vodka dinners.