TV-made thriller involves Parker Stevenson as a pop singer who is suddenly and mysteriously struck ill; needing a break from his busy schedule, and picking up a young nurse from his recent hospital stay, he happens upon an empty, isolated palatial estate in rural California, one with a dark past. Crack TV writer David Levinson penned this third-rate haunted house teleplay, and was a little late in getting it made--by 1981, the genre had pretty much played itself out. Lisa Eilbacher is the nurse who is ultimately the key to the strange happenings (after being introduced, top-billed Stevenson hasn't much to do). With her serious elfin face and worried little expressions, Eilbacher's later claim that she's never felt so at home as she does being in the house is rather preposterous (this despite the fact the local librarian was recently killed in the driveway!). The scenario itself seems awfully familiar (as does Billy Goldenberg's spooky music, with its echoes of Bob Cobert's score for 1976's "Burnt Offerings"), although the locations are interesting and the supporting players add some interest (much more so than the sleepy leads). The house, it turns out, is obsessed with Eilbacher (which is a ridiculous angle, but let it pass), even returning her old Raggedy Ann doll from childhood; however, nothing in the final 15 minutes manages to explain the fill-in-the-blanks plot. Is there a ghost in the house or are the bricks and mortar holding it up responsible for the haunting?

A pop singer suffers a nervous breakdown and decides to vacation out in the country, but not before recovering from a fall onstage at the last performance. He takes the attending nurse from the hospital he was recuperating at as a personal nurse, as they slowly fall in love at this remote mansion set in the outskirts of a small town.The film begins in a rather humorous vain, as a couple decide to 'make out' on the lawn, at which point a hose extends out like a serpent to spray them down, like one would dogs.The House is indeed alive with some presence, using the resident cameras as veritable eyes; so when the crooner and his love interest move in, they become the subject of rumors throughout the small town, apparently, there were some rather tragic deaths in the house's history, but when the local librarian comes to deliver some interesting documentation, she is invariably crushed to death at the front gates, like the great giant metal teeth of a hell mouth, followed by the manager {with a cutting reflection}, and even intermittent lover Tanya {"there's nothing like a hot blood shower to help get the cobwebs out"...} goes insane.It is a sort of 'coming home' for Sheila, with the incessant sensation of deja-vu. Sheila reveals that she has no recollection of her existence prior to seven, but "The Rag Lady" knows*, a classic characterization of the 'crazy cat lady' type who lives in a shack filled with garbage... and cats. But she apparently knows too much for The House's liking, divulging her own involvement in its history, gets a scalding dip for her trouble.The House also does not seem to like the fact that Gary and Lisa are to be married, and refuses to let them out, complete with locking doors, windows, freezing air conditioning, suffocating heat, slammed gates, breathing walls, and the serpentine hose. ∞_____________ * Played by none other than Joan Bennett, who is recognized as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard of Dark Shadows, in quite a role reversal, displaying quite a range.

I first saw this when I was eight years old, and it was pretty damn scary at the time. Lisa Eilbacher has the sexiest voice and is a total fox. Parker Stevenson was pretty cool as well.The death scenes in this movie were pretty graphic for TV, especially the underwater shot of the "rag lady" belly-flopping into the pool. The house looked like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. My only complaint about this movie was that you never got a feel of the floor plan. With a house this fantastic, I would like to have known how the rooms and hallways tied together. But none of it was filmed in a way to show spacial relations. This movie even had some pleasant humorous moments. A very ambitious T.V. movie indeed.

wow.. well let me start of by saying that it looks like a lot of you are about my age, because I remember seeing this as a child too. I looked on the internet for YEARS and asked everyone about this movie.. I couldn't remember the name. I thought that the name was The House.. anyway.. I searched really hard for this and was SOOO delighted to find it. It was sucha memorable movie for me. I was mesmorized by it even as a 9 year old child. I remember that I loved that house ( with the indoor swimming pool) more than that house loved "sheila"!!! It didn't scare me at all. I just thought that how cool it would be to be Sheila, haha. I am so happy to have found this movie. Now I wonder where I could get a copy to watch with my kids and friends that I have raved about this movie to for years. Every movie about posessed houses or computer run houses reminds me of this movie. This movie must have been the first to explore that plot.