Two different men are possessed by spirits of Native Americans after they separately wander into a sacred burial ground. When John and Sybil come home with their son after a trip to the Mojave Desert, they bring an unusual stone back as a memento of the trip. The stone seems to cause strange noises and other horrible inexplicable phenomena.
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IN regards to viewers who may have seen THE RETURNING movie permit me to say that the version that has been peddled on the internet is not the real print or the final product that my company produced back in 1983. There has been a copy-right infringement of this film. Given the parasitic impulse and nature of some individuals- this perhaps is not surprising or unusual. Somehow, somewhere some character(s) or entity got hold of a tape of the film THE RETURNING and began to illegally peddle it. Also other characters out there- in order to hide and cover-up their illegal activity re-titled THE RETURNING:-- WITCH DOCTOR - being one of their cover-ups. We at Willow Productions will in the very near future submit the proper and legal version of the film THE RETURNING. Sincere apologies to all who may have- with good intentions- paid a fee to see such an illegal and inferior product. Gabriel Walsh : President : Willow Productions. Co. Ltd.
Where did this one come from?! The ingredients are there for something special, but what only occurs is an interestingly baffling curio. Mainly the bugs come from its big intentions, for such an ultra-limited production the execution comes off being creaky. Despite building mystic atmospherics and getting an eerie vibe, the ambitiously original concept (Native American spirituality) is not as well told or developed as it could have been. To tell the truth it's messy, but so unusual that it had me compelled. For long stretches not much would happen with it focusing either on trippy visuals (oh look at the pretty glowing colours) and moody performances that were led by a largely worded script. It could wallow on at times, but the low-temperament styling lent well to the melancholy and scarred nature of the story. How to explain without spoiling. Quite tough. A family is struck with grief when their young son is killed in a car accident. It hits the father hard, and something about some rocks that he son had collected on a camping trip begins to have an influence over him mentally. His wife is worried, as his state of mind baffles everyone around him. That'll do. Although the ending was a bit of a let down. The structure of the story was rather second-rate with lazy stabs of fading cutaways and hacked-up editing. However location photography was fluidly formatted with the breathtaking Utah backdrop and there were some creative tilt angle framing and light filtering. So there was an adventurous side and also add Harry Manfredini's oddly, uncanny smörgåsbord of a music score too. The effects are the low-rent side, but resourcefully used. Susan Strasberg, Gabriel Walsh, and Victor Arnold give fine performances. Strasberg especially so, and Ruth Warrick gives able support. It might not eventuate to much, but it has some appeal.
A couple lose their son in a freak accident. Two stones the boy had collected from an Indian Reservation keep his spirit "alive", along with those of two ancient Native American warriors.As stated in previous comments here, there is a great deal of befuddling intricacy in this film which may be a monogram of somewhat avant-gard directorial flair, or quite possibly just messy editing(I also got the feeling that it may have passed through a few too many junctions in post-production). Still, I found THE RETURNING to be a curiously haunting film which made me recall Peter Weir's THE LAST WAVE. While that film, though vastly superior, presents an Aboriginal mythos, the supernatural elements of THE RETURNING are of Native American lore. Both films, different as they are on many levels, present a similar incorporeal eeriness and unresolved metaphysical/spiritual mystery, despite remaining largely bloodless and actionless throughout. Good performances all around from the leads, especially Strasberg and Warrick.Opinions will be scattered regarding this film, but if you enjoy a brooding, more cerebral type of horror, give it a shot. Clearly there are many who don't like it, but I personally feel it is unjustly maligned and worth a look.5/10
While camping on a Utah Indian reservation with his parents, young Jason finds a strange-looking black rock and brings it back to his suburban home where some kind of ancient spirit is released. The boy is run over and killed by a distraught truck driver (who seems to be psychically tuned-in to what's happening) and the father becomes possessed by the little boy's spirit and starts acting weird. He starts speaking in an Indian dialect, beats a schoolteacher up, tries to burn down the house, hears voices, digs up the dead son's corpse and brings him back to the house, while his wife (Susan Strasberg) just tries to make sense of it all.The final plot revelation has to do with warring Indian spirits, an ugly medicine man and reincarnation. There are a few good ideas here and it tries to tie up all the loose ends toward the conclusion (after a terrible opening hour), but it's also ineptly edited and paced by people who don't understand the importance of continuity and scene structure.You can tell the music is by Harry Manfredini, because much of it sounds just like his scores for the Friday THE 13TH movies.