A foster mother has The Premonition: her new daughter's unstable biological mother is going to come and take her away. It comes true, so what happens next? PS - it's beyond the power of an exorcist in only the way that an exploitation movie poster can promise.

Originally re-released as part of Arrow Video's American Horror Project, this film was once titled Turtle Heaven. I watched this movie because of the always dependable Richard Lynch (Bad Dreams, Invasion U.S.A.),who plays the carnival clown boyfriend of Andrea, whose daughter Janie (Danielle Brisebois, TV's Archie Bunker's Place) has been adopted by the Bennett family. Oh yeah - Jeff Corey (who would go from being blacklisted to becoming the premier acting coach in Hollywood) shows up as a cop.

Two mothers - connected by the young girl they love and see as their child, as well as a psychic bond - go to war. That's my best explanation of this very 1970's film. But back to Richard Lynch - did you know how he got his scarred looking appearance? The hard way. In 1967, high on drugs, he set himself on fire in Central Park, burning more than 70% of his body. But after a year of recovery, he started to act.

This seemed intriguing from its synopsis and, having received a "Special Edition" treatment on DVD, I had high hopes for it – but, ultimately, the movie proved a disappointment! Hence, I contrived to end my Halloween challenge this year with a whimper as opposed to a bang (worse still, it wasn't even really a horror film)!!

Anyway, the plot has to do with the kidnapping of a child from a foster home by its natural but unbalanced mother (Ellen Barber); aiding her is a creepy carny – played for all the eccentricity he's worth by Richard Lynch (his egomaniac here isn't all that different from the actor himself, as seen in his 15-minute career overview included on Media Blasters' DVD). The foster mother (Sharon Farrell) discovers she has paranormal abilities and attempts to locate her adopted daughter with the help of her befuddled husband's expert black female colleague. All the while, however, she has to contend with weird hallucinations – apparitions by a bloodied Barber (she having been killed by her own partner) and especially the recurring forming of ice on mirrors as if to obfuscate her view into the psyche (which, at one point, even causes Farrell to crash her car). Reliable veteran character actor Jeff Corey also appears as the investigating Police Detective.

The film had potential (in the accompanying interview, director Schnitzer states that when he was offered the original script – which he reworked – the parapsychology element wasn't even present!) but the end result is slow, muddled (would-be surreal visuals aren't enough in this case to keep one interested),pretentious (there's no explanation, for instance, as to why Lynch and Barber have to go into the occasional psychotic rage – which is as close as it comes to horror throughout),dull and even ludicrous (the finale in which the girl is 'lured' into the open by having Farrell play a tune on a grand piano in the town square in the middle of the night in front of an audience of curious onlookers!).

Five-year-old Janie Bennett (Golden Globe nominee Danielle Brisebois) happily lives with her foster parents Miles and Sheri Bennett (Sharon Farrell),oblivious to the fact that her insane birth mother is attempting to kidnap her. When the birth mother, Andrea Fletcher, and her boyfriend Jude (Richard Lynch),a carny, do attempt to kidnap the girl, Andrea cannot go through with it.

Writer-director Robert Schnitzer was influenced by the European directors of the 1930s and 40s, as many American directors of the 1970s were. This influence is evident, and definitely has an Italian sensibility about it. And to keep costs low, the state of Mississippi provided cop cars, the fire department created "rain" with their hoses and a real carnival that happened to be in town was used as Jude's work environment. This makes the film look bigger than it was.

The casting of Richard Lynch was a great decision, catching him before he got any bigger. Lynch was hired, according to Schnitzer, for his "widely divergent moods" and for just being "unique". Lynch, in turn, claimed to be influenced by "Rififi" and "Psycho" in his acting. And to some degree the legendary mime Marcel Marceau, which is evident.

Baseball fans will notice a cameo from Roy White, the multi-World Series winning New York Yankee (and coach). This is especially amusing considering Schnitzer had no knowledge whatsoever of sports and did not even know who White was when he appeared in the film. (He was an active player during shooting.)

What I love about this film is the unusual score from opera composer Henry Mollicone, especially in the second half. Although the movie has plenty going for it as a slow-burning horror story with carnival overtones, the music really makes it stand out.

The film had mixed reviews. Leonard Maltin called it mediocre, saying its "muddled script works against the eerie atmosphere in this supernatural tale." A more positive review by Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever called it "a well-done para-norm tale." Maltin is probably right for the most part, as the script could have been tightened... but that makes it no less eerie!

Arrow Video has cleaned up the picture and put this film on their box set, American Horror Project Vol 1. Thank you, Arrow! We get plenty of special features on the disc, too: Audio commentary with director-producer Robert Allen Schnitzer, who (of course) knows everything about the production. He also has a very sarcastic sense of humor that makes his stories all the more amusing -- are his tales of the turtle wrangler true or just a joke?

The Arrow disc has a brand new interview with composer Henry Mollicone. And an interview with actor Richard Lynch, which covers "Premonition" but also touches on acting in general, such as his work on "Scarecrow" with Al Pacino. If that is not enough, we even get three Robert Allen Schnitzer short films: 'Vernal Equinox', 'Terminal Point' and 'A Rumbling in the Land'. These films are so rare that IMDb does not even know about them.