Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Coventry TV-movies from the early '70s, and particularly those legendary "ABC Movies of the Week", make it look so easy to deliver tense and compelling thriller stories! I truly love most of these gems, and "The Screaming Woman" instantly became a new personal favorite! Like the very best of its kind, this film is short and sober but tremendously compensates in atmosphere and plot-intelligence what it lacks in action footage. When a film is based on a story written by Sci-Fi genius Ray Bradbury, you can rest assured the script is pure quality. The plot is simple and straightforward, but oh-so ingenious and intriguing! The ageing and wealthy but mentally unstable Mrs. Laura Wynant returns home to her country estate to recover from a period in an institution. During her first estate tour, out on the horse carriage, however, she hears petrified woman's screams coming from underneath the soil. While Laura is convinced that an innocent woman is buried alive at her property, her greedy family members see her hysterical behavior as the ideal opportunity to control her finances. The already capturing story is made extra stirring thanks to the grisly sub plots and mysterious supportive characters, like the constant bickering between Laura Wynant's son and daughter-in-law and the odd-behaving neighbors. The amazing Olivia de Havilland is phenomenal as the misunderstood and disrespected elderly lady in distress, but she also receives good support for the entire rest of the cast, notably Ed Nelson, Charles Knox Robinson and Laraine Stephens. Jack Smight ("Airport 1975", "Damnation Alley") was one of the most underrated directors of his generation and he delivers some of his best work with this film. My only main complaints are that Joseph Cotton (one of my favorite actors of all times) should have had more screen time and that also the luscious Alexandra Hay's role is too small. The climax is genuinely spine-chilling and guaranteed to haunt your memories for the rest of your life.

lanny79-1 I will always remember this movie,it was so full of tension,the ending was a stunner,I remember seeing it numerous times in the 70s.It was so well done.I am glad that there are others that remember the impact this TV movie had on them.I would love to see it again,I wish they made more movies like this,more "Movies Of The Week" like they had in the 70s like this or BAD Ronald.It especially is wonderful to see very talented performers like Olivia De Haviland giving their all in this type of role.Well done thrillers/suspense movies are missed maybe one day they will get back to this type and level of craftsmanship,especially on network television,because it can stand the test of time if it is done well like this piece of work.

Estelle Edwards Yes, this was one of ABC's more graphic 'Movie of the Week' thrillers. What shocked me was seeing a woman buried alive still being able to communicate as dirt is falling down on her face. A few years ago, I had acquired this longing for finding most, if not all, of the ABC movie titles I had grown up watching, and this movie was hard to find! I managed to get a grainy but still watchable copy through Ebay after bidding and losing on it a few times. This is another one of those flicks which hasn't been rebroadcast in over thirty years. The great thing about this movie was that the son seemed more sympathetic to his mother's story. It's almost as if he never wanted to believe that she was crazy to begin with. The daughter-in-law, on the other hand, comes across as a greedy you-know-what who is anxious to have Laura committed for the sole purpose of getting control of the estate through her more reluctant husband. One gets the feeling that she hates her mother-in-law and only married the son because he comes from money. The scene where Laura bribes a kid to dig up the area where the voices are coming from is unforgettable. She gives the kid two dollars, I think, to do it, but he is scared off by the shock of such a gruesome discovery. Great movie!It is too bad that the Hollywood industry doesn't see fit to preserve television movies or give them the same consideration. Back in the 70's, the television movie was still a relatively new art form that left a great deal of room for experimentation. Perhaps that's why many of these features still strike a chord with many folks today.

masonx Laura, a woman in her late 50's just recovering from a sojourn in a mental hospital returns home to her estate in the temporary care of her son and his wife. A rather dubious couple to say the least. While walking in the grounds one morning she hears or thinks she hears groaning sounds emanating from the ground and tries to raise the alarm. Unsurprisingly when help arrives the voice is no longer evident and so the seeds of doubt are raised about her sanity. Caught this one on the box very early one morning and scared me enough to have a really lousy sleep. De Havilland is in her element here as the recovering patient and gives her character enough credibility to even make the viewer wonder as to her mental state. The black & white photography enhances the suspense of the whole story. Unfortunately not available on dvd or video.