One of director Wes Craven's made-for-TV movies (the others being 1978's Summer Of Fear and 1985's Chiller) this starts off on the right foot showing us that Susan Lucci (a longstanding cast member of soap opera All My Children, and snubbed at the Emmys more times than I'm sure she'd like to count) is "evvvillllllll" when after being runover by a limo driver she pops back up like a jack-in-the-box and simply points her finger at him to make him meltdown into a gooey mess.

From there we're introduced to Robert Urich and family who are moving to town because he's gotten a new job at the local technology firm. Soon they're making friends and being pressured to join the local "Steaming Springs" country club (that just so happens to be run by Lucci). Urich resists but the rest of the family secretly joins leading to all sorts of mild Satanic hokum and a dopey "laser-shooting, heat resistant spacesuit" finish that gets more ridiculous as it goes along.

If you want to see a completely silly TV movie filled with familiar faces (Soleil Moon Frye, who'd go on to fame as TV's Punky Brewster, even gets to tear apart her beloved plus bunny, swing a cro-bar at dad, AND talk in a demon voice!) and cheesy situations then you might want to check out this watchable telefilm.

It comes nowhere close to matching Craven's other output (though it is better than, say, Deadly Friend) but if you're a fan of his work you at least have to see this once (and consider the fact that between this and his next film he managed to make a little movie called A Nightmare On Elm Street).

I get the feeling writer Richard Rothstein was attempting to be satricial by shining a light on the "decade of greed" the 80's was but generally this is pretty standard stuff. (Chris Hartley, 10/14/04)

Directed By: Wes Craven.
Written By: Richard Rothstein.

Starring: Robert Urich, Joanna Cassidy, Susan Lucci, Joe Regalbuto.