gavin6942 A man (Robert Urich) get a promotion and moves his family to an isolated community. Here there are a different way of doing things, and a local country club dominates the lives of the citizens... with more going on than meets the eye.Although this film is entertaining to a point, its made-for-TV origins limit the fun Craven could have had with sex and blood... this film is quite tame, and completely bizarre. Don't ask too many questions about how the plot works, or you'll go crazy.Mike Mayo nails it on the head when he says, "A capable cast can't compete with goofy plot revelations", and laments that the film "lacks the subversive excesses of his early films". It's true. Maybe this is a swipe at exclusive clubs or yuppies, but it's just toothless. And the biggest plot revelation is revealed in the first minute of the film...Michael Berryman has a small cameo, and Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) has some memorable lines and moments, including one with a bunny. If you're waiting for a creepy scene, the closest you come is during a sleepover. And Susan Lucci? The DVD box calls her a "sexy director"... I guess "sexy" meant something else in 1984.This film could be ranked as Wes Craven's oddest film, and makes a good drinking picture for you and some friends. I suspect most people have never heard of it, and I doubt that Craven really tries to get people to notice.

Woodyanders The Winslow family -- honest, morally upright dad Matt (a fine and likable performance by Robert Urich), sweet mother Patricia (a radiant portrayal by the ever lovely Joanna Cassidy), son Robbie (Barret Oliver), and daughter Chrissy (cute Soleil Moon Frye of "Punky Brewster" fame) -- move to an affluent California suburb to start a new life for themselves. Matt suspects that the local popular country club run by the alluring Jessica Jones (deliciously played with sinister sexiness by Susan Lucci) that everyone belongs to is harboring some kind of dark and deadly secret. Can Matt rescue his family from the club's wicked spell? Noted horror director Wes Craven, working from a compelling script by Richard Rothstein, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, neatly grounds the fantastic premise in a plausible everyday suburban reality, and does an adept job of creating and sustaining a spooky and uneasy mysterious atmosphere. Moreover, the narrative offers a neat critique about the quintessentially 80's upwardly mobile yuppie obsession with power, success, and material gain that folks will literally sell their souls to obtain. The able acting from a sound cast rates as another substantial asset: Urich makes for an engaging hero, Lucci has a ball with her juicy femme fatate role, plus there are commendable turns by Joe Regalbuto as Matt's jolly, ambitious friend Tom Peterson, Kevin McCarthy as stern, but hearty CEO Mr. Thompson, Patty McCormack as Tom's perky wife Mary, and Nicholas Worth as a menacing sheriff. The climax with Matt venturing into hell to save the ones that he loves is quite gripping and exciting. Dean Cundey's glossy cinematography and Sylvestor Levay's shivery synthesizer score are both up to par. A solid and satisfying film.

FieCrier In the opening scene, a chauffeur is distracted by two women in bikinis and runs over Susan Lucci's character Jessica. She pops back up and fries him.A family with a young boy and girl move to a new neighborhood. The father has developed a sensor of some kind which his new employer wants for a Venusian spacesuit. The suit can already withstand blasts of flame, as well as shoot lasers and flames. His old fraternity buddy recommended him for the job.The fraternity buddy gets initiated with his family into a local "club," called Steaming Springs, run by Jessica. They, and practically all the other characters want the new family to join too, but the father is very resistant. He grows more resistant the more insistent and strange the others become. People who belong exhibit sometimes strange behavior, like a boy at a sleepover who is found watching violent stuff on TV late at night, and who becomes hostile when it is shut off.Not surprisingly, the spa contains a gate to hell, the door code of which starts off with 666.It's a somewhat entertaining movie with lots of familiar character actors in it. Despite being directed by Wes Craven, there wasn't anything about it that really bore his hand, to my eye.

mm-39 Robert Urich was a fine actor, and he makes this TV movie believable. I remember watching this film when I was 15, and when seeing it a second time my opinion stays the same. People lose who they were when enter this exclusive club, in a computer rich Californian town. Urich try's to figure out what is wrong with his family, and I love the Halloween space suit idea, brilliant. This film is about the battle of one's sprit. TV quality, that exceeds, the big budget, Gangs of New York. I wonder if Robert Urich was the compassionate man he portrayed in many of his movie? I hope so! 6 or 7 out of 10.