The Initiation of Sarah is another made-for-TV horror movie. This is part of an ongoing series that has featured The Intruder Within, Midnight Offerings, Curse of the Black Widow, Satan’s Triangle, Killdozer, Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell , Invitation to Hell, Summer of Fear, Savages and Moon of the Wolf.
The Initiation of Sarah
The movie starts with a swimsuit girl running on a beach. Is Dudley Moore going to show up? No, a bunch of teenagers are having a beach party. Is Roy Scheider going to show up then? Also, no.
Instead, we get Kay Lenz (American Graffiti, House, Death Wish 4) huddling under a blanket with Morgan Brittany (The Birds, Day of the Locust, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat).
A hunk of toxic masculinity approaches Brittany. “I was watching you swim. You look pretty good out there.” Brittany is hard pressed to resist such meathead charm and enters the water with him.
Lenz watches wistfully, wondering why no meatheads watch her swim. An undercurrent of lesbianism seems to exist. It is not believable, though, because Lenz and Brittany are not built like refrigerators with blue hair. The meathead gets handsy with Brittany. Lenz stares at him real hard, and he flops back in the water awkwardly.
We have ourselves a Carrie clone, friends and neighbors!
The Initiation of Sarah Conner
Lenz and Brittany are off to college. It turns out they are sisters. You might think the lesbian angle is out of play, in that case, but hold the phone. They are stepsisters.
Nevertheless, they will still have to grow out their moustaches and be pro-choice to become a porn genre. Plus, someone will have to explain to them that if they are concerned about pregnancy issues as lesbians, they are doing lesbianism wrong.
Lenz and Brittany arrive at college and encounter the Aryan Betas sorority, which is led by Morgan Fairchild. She was the TV version of Sydney Sweeney in that era. By that I mean, she gets by on features other than her face. Morgan actually kind of looks like a whippet.
Cue the white knights: like you could do better!
That is neither here nor there. The fact that I look like Anthony Edwards with leukemia after he got doused with skim milk doesn’t change the fact Morgan looks like a whippet.
The Initiation of Sara Lee
Girls primp themselves for sorority pledging. Lots of laughing and slips. They look so happy.
It makes one realize that certain strains of modern women are the most unhappy people in the world. They have gone so far backwards in their quest for power they have given up joy. Have fun with your cats, therapists and desk job at a man-founded company while you Facebook posts like, “True beauty is being comfortable in your own salsa-stained pajamas” and Googling “How to lose weight while sitting on the couch watching The Bachelor.”
Lenz and Brittany visit the Aryan Betas. They love Brittany but hate Lenz. They also speak ill of the PED sorority, calling it “pigs, elephants and dogs.”
Brittany and Lenz visit PED next. It is full of frumpy, snarky ladies who likely protest something in their spare time. They also have a creepy house mother played by Shelly Winters.
Sometimes I think Shelly Winters had no bones and organs. She was simply a solid mass of modeling clay, a female Golem who stomped through whatever movie she found herself in like a muskox. And I say that with love. Winters was in a giant octopus movie, after all.
The Initiation of Sarah Jessica Parker
Lenz and Brittany return to their dorm. Brittany gives Lenz a lesson in hairstyles, which is interrupted by a phone call from mother. Lenz remains in front of a mirror and beautifies herself with makeup. She is so pleased by the results she gets up to show Brittany.
Lenz overhears Brittany’s conversation with their mother. It boils down to, “Don’t let mousy old Sarah hold you back on your dream of being in the best sorority ever.”
Boy, that brings back memories. I once overheard my mom talking about me on the phone to someone, too. “How much do you think he is worth? That little? Well, I guess I will keep him then. Someone needs to vacuum and be a tax credit.”
Lenz smears cold cream on her face and breaks her mirror. Such drama genuinely works. The Initiation of Sarah is doing a decent job. Characters feel like real people. They are in a dramatic dynamic and behave in believable fashion. Plus, Morgan is a solid villain.
It’s almost like the people making The Initiation of Sarah know what they are doing. Where have these people gone? I’m beginning to think Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a documentary. California has been replaced by pod people, and they continue to expand their territory.
The Initiation of Sarah Palin
Of course, Brittany is picked by the Aryan Betas sorority, and Lenz is picked by PED. Morgan and crew show up to assimilate Brittany into their ranks. Morgan also tells Brittany that she may not associate with “pigs, elephants or dogs” while Lenz stands there in humiliation.
Will Brittany capitulate? Morgan ups the pressure, and Brittany caves. Lenz leaves in tears. Again, a lovely little conflict is developing. So simple, yet effective.
Brittany chases after Lenz to apologize. They pass beneath an archway that has a piano hoisted above it for plot purposes. The man hoisting this piano is none other than Robert Hays (Airplane, Cat’s Eye).
Lenz makes the piano fall on Brittany using the power of her angry mind but relents at the last second. She rushes forward and pushes Brittany out of the way.
Lenz and Brittany then behave like mature adults and agree that they should both do their own thing for a while. It might be healthy for both of them. Modern characters would not do this. They would be grim and emotional about everything because they lack EQ.
The Initiation of Sara (Starship song)
Lenz hauls her giant yellow luggage into the PED house and makes friend with all of the girls, who will eventually go on to terrorize HOA meetings and wear tummy-control underwear.
Winters exerts her influence on Lenz. A whole lot of lore is dispensed in rapid fashion. Something about Winters used to teach witchcraft at the college, PED has not had an initiation in twenty years because a girl died and Winters is aware of Lenz’s powers and wants to help them grow so they can take revenge of the Aryan Betas. It is also heavily implied that Winters is Lenz’s real mother.
Winters is good in this kind of role. She brings menace to the proceedings while still keeping it in moustache-twirling territory. Morgan is the true engine of the movie, however. She is a horrible person to Lenz, which culminates in Lenz’ mind-pushing Morgan into a water fountain.
Lenz then gives a speech:
My first day here, I saw you and I thought you were beautiful, but I was wrong. All you care about is how popular you are. Everybody gives you everything. You don’t have to work at anything, like friendship. You don’t care about how other people feel. All you give a damn about is how good you look! Well, I’ll tell you something. One day all these poor, stupid girls who laugh at your cruelty are going to see how ugly you really are. And they’ll hate you! And they’ll turn on you and you won’t have any friends left at all!
Lenz dropping truth bombs like democrats dropping voters.
The Initiation of Sarah Michelle Gellar
Lenz’s speech appears to touch Morgan’s cold, dead heart. She apologizes to Brittany and wants to apologize to Lenz, as well. To facilitate apologizing, Morgan wants to know all about Lenz, what she likes, her favorite movies, who she is dating, etc.
It appears Morgan not only wants to apologize to Lenze. She wants to stalk her, as well.
But, wait! It isn’t stalking! Morgan has an evil plan. She uses her newfound knowledge to convince Hays to call Lenz and invite her to a party. How does Morgan convince Hays? With the power of molestation!
The girls of PED take this news with great aplomb. Everyone is happy and celebrates with a tea party as Lenz gets ready to join the ranks of the socially-accepted. Lenz puts on a pretty dress and makes a grand entrance down the staircase as the doorbell rings.
Lenz answers the door, but Hays is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a bunch of car lights come on and shine in her face. Lenz is then pelted with tomatoes, eggs and mud by Morgan and company.
“Pig pen! Pig pen!” they shout.
This movie is cribbing from Carrie extra hard right now. The great Tom Holland (Psycho II, Fright Night, Child’s Play) came up with the story. It was maybe Holland’s first foray into work behind the camera. He started out as an actor, showing up in things like Combat! and The Incredible Hulk.
The Initiation of Sara Gilbert
Winters cleans Lenz up and tells her she can crawl into a hole or make Morgan pay. “Use your powers! Get angry!” Winters is very Return of the Jedi Emperor in this scene.
Meanwhile, Morgan decides to take a shower. This ended up being a controversial scene for her to film. She agreed to do it topless, and when it came time for cameras to roll, suddenly the set was crowded with an extra 25 visitors who just happened to show up to watch filming.
Perverts find a way.
While Morgan is in the shower, Lenz remotely locks the door and turns the water to scalding. Brittany also gets trapped in the shower with Morgan for some reason. They try to dodge the water in the small space while the camera operator tries to dodge Morgan’s top half.
They are all successful.
The Initiation of Sarah McLachlan
We reach the climax, which features dueling initiation ceremonies. The Aryan Betas put on robes, hold candles, blindfold initiates and make them eat grapes that are “cat eyes.”
The PEDs go a slightly different route. They incorporate a satanic altar, a dagger and human sacrifice. Modern college students would look at that and say, “How monstrous! Not a “Free Palestine” sign in sight!”
Winters then riles Lenz up enough to send a telepathic wind to blow through the Aryan Beta initiation. The wind also causes Morgan’s face to shrivel up and look like petrified pizza. This curse hearkens back to Lenz’s “how ugly you really are” speech. Justice is thereby served.
However, when Winters encourages Lenz to sacrifice a fellow sorority sister to complete the ritual, Lenz draws the line. Lenz then destroys herself and Winters with fire.
The movie ends with Brittany joining PED and mooning over a picture of her and Lenz in happier times. Truly, when all is said and done, good times are remembered, and satanic telekinesis is forgotten.
Conclusion
The Initiation of Sarah is a fun little entry into the world of made-for-TV horror movies. It copies a bit too much from Carrie, but that is somewhat forgivable under the circumstances. This was the era of limited content. How were kids going to see something like Carrie? They weren’t. The best they could do was see a watered-down version on TV.
The cast helps The Initiation of Sarah stay afloat. Lenz and Brittany are sympathetic, and Morgan is wonderfully nasty. The addition of Winters as a reclusive witch and Sarah’s real mother is perhaps a bit too much plot. All of that feels superfluous to the main triangle of Lenz, Brittany, and Morgan.
An attempt at a love story between Lenz and a teaching assistant is also put forth, but that also does not go anywhere, beyond some clumsy discussions on the nature of good and evil in people.
The Initiation of Sarah premiered on ABC on February 6, 1978. That was a Monday night, and also the night a big blizzard hit northeast USA. Snow fell at a rate of four inches per hour. Boston got more than 27 inches. Wind gusts reached 83 miles per hour.
On that kind of night, hunkering around the TV to watch something like The Initiation of Sarah would have been a perfect activity…if the storm didn’t kill reception.
The Initiation of Sarah was also remade in 2006. Morgan came back and played the mother of Sarah in this go-around
