From the late 1970s, The Initiation of Sarah is a TV film that pulled together two of the most popular horror themes of the decade- telekinesis and the satanic. It’s a female sorority set affair which mixes bitching drama, moving things with the mind action, and lightly horrifying mystery. Here from Arrow Video, both in the UK and stateside, is a new blu ray release of the film. It features a new 2k scan of the picture, a commentary track from respected TV Movie expert Amanda Reyes, and a few other extras.

The Initiation of Sarah was first shown on US TV on February 6th, 1978- and has become one of the most known/ celebrated of made for TV horror films. It was directed by Sheen UK-born Robert Day- in total he had ninety-three credits to his name, taking in both TV and big-screen work. Some of his notable work been British farce/ black comedy The Green Man (1956), Hammer fantasy adventure She (1965), and lightly Sci-fi touched espionage thriller The Big Game (1973). The Initiation of Sarah is a well-casted/well-acted TV movie- with a good even pace, and mild/ low-key but effective horror touches.

The film opens by introducing us to the film's lead characters-Patty Goodwin (Morgan Brittany) and her adopted sister Sarah (Kay Lenz). Patty is the more self-assured, if slightly gullible sister, and Sarah is more shy/ timid. We see the pair sitting on the beach, and they get approached by a man who asks Patty to come into the sea- she does, and the man starts attacking her. Sarah stands on the shore with staring eyes, and the man is thrown back into the sea. As we move on, we see the pair going off to college- at first, they stay in dorms, but fairly soon are visiting sorority houses.
Patty is rather taken by the most prestigious houses, where her mother went. Sarah also hopes to get in, but the bitchy and unpleasant president of the house Jennifer (Morgan Fairchild) makes sure she doesn’t. She lands up in less popular/often mocked house, which is run by hiding-something housemother Mrs Hunter (Shelley Winters).  And as the film moves on the tension slowly builds, as Jennifer tries to push the sisters apart, and belittles Sarah whenever she can. 

The film moves from being a college drama, edged with liberal bitch-ness and tame if well-executed telekinesis action. And as we move into the last quarter the more satanic tones come into play- with a great hedge maze finale. 

The film does certainly follow the expected plot unfold/ tropes of similar films of the period, but the mix of telekinesis and the satanic is well enough realized, with both the characterisation and flow of the film being both believable and entertaining. 

Moving onto this new Blu-Ray release, we get a 2k scan of the film- this looks bright, clear, and crisp- with a good balance of clarity and shadowy moodiness in the night time scenes. On the extras front- we get a really good selection of new content. First, off we have the commentary from TV Movie expert/ author Amanda Reyes- this is an extremely well-researched, detailed, and entertaining track. She begins by talking about the importance of the film, and how it started off the career for Morgan Fairchild. She gives us a brief potted history of the TV movie form, and comments on the opening creepy scene- giving bios of the three actors in it. She talks about the films Cinmatopher Ric Waite- how he came from a fashion photographer background, and how this may have informed the film's look. She touches on the score and talks about filming locations- then & now. We get more in-depth actor bios, and talk about other key work by said actors. She points out the film's good pacing, and its varied use of the Californian location. She discusses the figurative use of light and darkness in the film, and mentions how it pre-dated a lot of the 80’s sorority set horror films. Later on, she talks about the both the rich female relationships, and the touches of gothic in the film. She details other TV films with similar themes worth a look. Talks about the way the film was marketed in the press- and its ads/ poster artwork, and much, much more- so certainly a track one could play more than a few times.
Otherwise, we get Welcome to Hell Week: A Pledge’s Guide to the Initiation of Sarah (16.33) an appreciation by film critic Stacie Ponder and Queer Horror programmer Anthony Hudson, co-hosts of the Gaylords of Darkness podcast, looking at the film through a queer feminist lens. Cracks in the Sisterhood: Second Wave Feminism and The Initiation of Sarah (14.48) a visual essay by film critic and historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The Intimations of Sarah (16.19) interview with film critic Samantha McLaren discussing witchcraft, empowerment, TV movies, and telekinetic shy girls post Carrie. The Initiation of Tom (8.58) interview with Tom Holland on this his first film writing credit. With the first edition of the release taking in a booklet featuring new writing by Lindsay Hallam and Alexandra Wes.

The Initiation of Sarah certainly deserves the label as one of the more effective/ memorable TV horror films of the 1970s. And it's nice to see Arrow picking it up for release, with the normal wonderful selection of extras and classy print. Let us hope the label has a few more 70’s TV horror films in its sights, as it would be great to see the likes of Bad Ronald getting the Arrow treatment.