User reviews

Joan Hackett and Sam Waterston run a boys' school on the large estate that's been in Joan's family for generations. While the students adore Joan—and vice versa—they fear her strict husband. Sam's former mistress, Tuesday Weld, also works at the school and is Joan's best friend. The two women are tired of getting pushed around, and Tuesday comes up with a plan to get Sam out of the way. . . permanently.

Don't be put off by Joan's mealy-mouthed character; she's supposed to be frustrating and inept! If she had any more of a backbone or a brain, she wouldn't have been bullied by her husband or coerced by her best friend to commit murder. As an actress, she does exactly what she's supposed to do for the audience to enjoy the flow of the story. Tuesday is also very good—and gives a great Mia Farrow impression—in her strength and take-charge-attitude. Those of you who are used to seeing Sam Waterston in good-guy roles will be very surprised to see him as an indisputable villain in Reflections of Murder, and he's able to pull it off surprisingly well, especially since he's so famous for being nice and kind. When all the actors give great performances, I tend to give credit to the director, so hats off to John Badham for yet another well-acted suspenseful flick!

If you like these types of movies, it's very entertaining. I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to scary movies, so Reflections of Murder is just as much as I can handle without hiding behind a pillow. Braver audiences might want to look for something spookier, but it was a great addition to my Halloween lineup!

First of all, for those of you who don't know this already, this movie is a remake of the classic French film DIABOLIQUE. Secondly, I completely empathize with all the previous reviewers who claimed that this movie traumatized them as a child. I, too, could never quite shake the image of Sam Waterston rising out of the bathtub with those "dead" eyes...John Badham's direction is terrific and highly modern. It has a timeless look, unlike most 70s films with their washed-out, day-for-night cinematography and CHEESY use of the zoom lens. The performances are all solid. The story is taut and suspenseful. Fans who live in or near Los Angeles can rent this movie at Vidiots; everyone else will have to rely on eBay, amazon.com or some other source...

I despise subtitles; they're just too distracting. But after watching "What Lies Beneath" and "Reflections of Murder" back to back (thanks to recommendation from IMDb user dan-834-361678 on the WLB comment section) I'm now bent on watching the original.

This is a very good scary story with two killer English translations 26 years apart. They have different production values and plot lines, but if they are both so good, I just cannot resist seeing the one that inspired both!

I can vouch for both WLB and ROM, because I just watched them both. Either is worth a watch for horror fans. It's up to you whether you are inspired like me to watch the original in a non-native language.

I think ROM probably adhered more to Diabolique's original plot line, but WLB is still a very worthwhile horror film with more contemporary production values, bigger actors and will scare the pants off you.

Also for any Sam Waterston fans, you must watch the 1974 "Reflections of Murder". He's a real SOB in ROM (as Michael Elliott), which is no surprise at all to me as a fan of "Law and Order". I have seen his creepy side beaucoups de temps there.

Tuesday Weld (as Vicky) drops her pretty girl personae and long hair and turns in a dramatic performance that is quite respectable.

Some reviewers don't like Joan Hackett (as Claire Elliott), but I have to disagree. She seems genuine to me, and a conditioned female, as was typical of the 70's.

If you can find this movie, it's definitely worth a look if you're a horror fan. If not, you can certainly find "What Lies Beneath" for a more modern and cinematic take on the "Dialique" story.

It took a long time for TV movies to get respect. Classics like THE HOUSE ON GREENAPPLE ROAD, DAUGHTER OF THE MIND, and THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET paved the way to respectability for what was long the red-headed stepchild of cinema. And while REFLECTIONS OF MURDER may not earn a place in the pantheon, it certainly provides ample entertainment for those confined to home during the Chinese Virus Crisis.

If I didn't know it was an ABC TV movie of the week, I would have sworn this was an episode of the British series THRILLER, which often cast American stars. It had that hazy look of a British production--autumnal and overcast--and boys boarding schools always evoke England, though this film was set about as far from there as possible in Puget Sound, Washington.

TV movies often provided a prime-time stage for television series stars, B-listers and fading film stars. This film's cast was headlined by actresses Tuesday Weld and Joan Hackett, and the up n' coming actor Sam Waterston. They made for an impressive cast, and each performance is very good, especially Waterston's playing against type as a bad guy! I didn't think he had it in him, but he sure did! As Michael he was sadistic and with such a self-assuredly smarmy swagger, I wanted to reach through the screen and help the ladies hold him under!

And speaking of the ladies, Tuesday Weld--so dreamy and creamy as Thalia on DOBIE GILLIS a decade earlier--looked uncannily like Mia Farrow here (but is a much better actress). Weld's Vicky is the strong character, driving the action and bulldozing through the feeble protests of battered wife Claire. Joan Hackett does a fine job in a role that required her to play a fearful woman fast retreating into herself and her music. Vicky capitalizes on Claire's malleability, manipulating and dominating her weak will.

As has been noted, there are lesbian overtones as Vicky sits on Claire's lap tending her wounds ("Am I interrupting a tender moment?" sneers Michael when barging in). Later Claire and Vicky lay side by side in bed. It seemed to be pushing the envelope for the time, though just a few weeks earlier POLICE WOMAN broadcast its controversial "Flowers of Evil" episode in which lesbianism figured large in the plot.

Oh, while on that subject of that series, Ed Bernard, who played the coroner, was playing Det. Joe Styles on POLICE WOMAN at the time this movie was broadcast in November 1974. He had a beard on that series, so I suspect this movie was filmed a year earlier in the fall of 1973. Shining in a small role, Bernard sure made the most of his one scene, going all Columbo on the hapless Hackett (if she stayed another minute she would have cracked and confessed all!). Michael Lerner would be the film's fourth star as Jerry, a kindhearted fellow teacher also bullied by the malicious Michael. Utterly wasted was veteran actor R.G. Armstrong, who was relegated to a tiny part basically playing Onslow from KEEPING UP APPEARANCES, slunk in his recliner guzzling beer and grousing about the girls running the bathtub in the middle of the day.

The film boasts eerie atmosphere and strong acting by three very appealing performers. Director John Badham had honed his skills and was building up a head of steam here that soon led to his leap from the small to the silver screen with blockbusters including SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, WAR GAMES, and BLUE THUNDER.

So what's not to like? The film did drag in places, such as the school photograph scene that took so long to unfold for very little payoff. Yes, the ending was a series of shockers, but they were not especially satisfying. I feel that way about the bleak endings of a lot of late sixties/early seventies films, however, and this was no exception, though at the very end I envisioned how schlockmeister William Castle would have closed it out: The End ... or is it??

As a huge fan of Sam's, I came across this movie while doing a search of Sam-related items on ebay...my curiosity was piqued, and so I came here, liked what I read from others who had seen it, and ended up bidding on the movie, and winning it. I watched it as soon as I got it in the mail, and wow--what a movie!!!(Keep in mind that I've never seen the original version, "Diabolique"). I was hooked from the very beginning...and everything that I'd read about the bathtub scene near the end was true-- totally awesome!!! (In fact, I watched that part twice...and for those of you who saw this film as a child, and were subsequently traumatized, I completely understand why...great creep-out job on Sam's part!!) I can say honestly that this is a movie well worth checking out- I myself will be watching it several more times to come.

You've probably heard the old expression "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Well, that's how I feel about movie remakes. Unless there was something seriously flawed about an original film, I see no reason to watch a remake as the remake lacks originality and often is inferior in most ways. Of course, there are exceptions...but I have a hard time imagining a better suspense film than the older French classic "Diabolique" (1955). It's simply terrific. And yet, at least twice they've made English language versions that cannot compare favorably to the original. This one, "Reflections of Murder" is a made for television remake and a couple decades later, Sharon Stone made "Diabolique" (1996).

So is it any good? Well, if you have never seen the original and won't watch a film with subtitles, it's a good option (but watch the original anyway!!). But because I knew the story, the film offered no surprises and nothing in the way of improving the story.

By the way, if you DO see the film, look at the boy playing Joan Hackett's son--that's little Lance Kerwin of "James at 15" fame.

As a great admirer of the late Joan Hackett's work, I came across this film so I had to see it. The performances are outstanding. Sam Waterston is hateful and eerie, I cant believe it's the same man I watch on Law and Order. Tuesday Weld and Joan Hackett are riveting in their performances. The suspense never stops. For a film that was done in 1974 - it can hold up to any suspense film written today. I saw the original movie and it was quite good, but, the way John Badham directed this film, it tops all the other remakes, including the most recent with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani.

A woman teaches at a boys' boarding school on an island off the coast of Washington State, near Seattle that has been in her family for years. Her husband is a beast, who treats her terribly, and openly cheats on her with one of the other teachers, who he's rough with as well. The wife and the mistress resolve to drown him and make it look like an accident.

I'd seen Les Diaboliques (1955) and Diabolique (1996), so this is the third adaptation of Boileau and Narcejac's novel I've seen (and there are still two others I haven't!). I'd read the novel, but I'm not sure if an English translation is available.

This was substantially the same as the original film. Differences that I particularly noticed were that Claire confesses to one of her students, which added nothing, and that there was no detective, which I felt was definitely missing.

The story is a good one, and I have a suspicion that the film version of it that people like the most may simply be the first version of it they see. Any subsequent version will have lost the impact and surprise. I like the 1955 version the best, which is the first that I saw. I think this one would be better than the 1996 version, except...

While it was pretty good, there was one thing that really hurt it for me: the character of Claire Elliott. She was *so* shrill, *so* weepy, *so* useless, *so* stupid that she really wasn't a sympathetic character at all. Part of the problem may have been with the screenplay and the way the character was written. However, I really feel a big part of the problem was with Joan Hackett's overacting. The character reminded me of all the bad traits of Mary Tyler Moore's Laura Petrie on the old Dick Van Dyke Show, but even more so. Some different casting would have helped a lot, or if the director kept her performance reined in a heck of a lot more. It may have been intentional though. Unlike the other films, the boys laugh at her. All but one of them even actually like her husband!

It may be heresy to say so, but this gripping remake of DIABOLIQUE actually surpasses the legendary original. The film benefits from the eerie Puget Sound locations, and the dynamic chemistry between Joan Hackett, Tuesday Weld and Sam Waterston (but especially Hackett and Weld). The script is clever, and the "twist" at the very end is far more chilling in this version. The original is still a great film, but the 2nd tv remake (with Melissa Gilbert) and the 1996 movie with Sharon Stone and Isabel Adjani both pale in comparison to this unfortunately forgotten but superior version.

A tough schoolmaster (Sam Waterston, rather miscast) ignores his wife and beats up on his mistress; the two women plot to murder the brute, dumping his body into the private school's murky swimming pool--where it vanishes completely! John Badham directed this not-bad TV-adaptation of Henri-Georges Clouzot's French thriller "Les Diabolique" from 1955. It has graceful performances from Joan Hackett and Tuesday Weld, a convincing scenario, chilly atmospherics, but no heart--it's just a workman-like exercise. Badham creates some tense moments, but he doesn't have any fun toying with the audience the way a more darkly-humored filmmaker might, and his finale is disappointing. Remade again in the US as "Diabolique" in 1996.

That "Reflections of Murder" is a cut above the average should come as no surprise with a strong cast under director John Badham. It's well paced with the suspense nicely controlled and underlined cleverly with the music of Bach. However the hazy filter through which it seems to have been filmed is out of character and unnecessary.

While fairly enjoyable, not much remains other than the enigma that is Tuesday Weld. Weld's previous film had been "Play It As It Lays" in which her underplayed but haunting performance was to have brought her the recognition her talent deserved. The movie flopped and vanished into oblivion. This turn of events seems to mark a turning point in Weld's career. It had become clear that major stardom would be something that would elude her.

Weld brings to her character in "Reflections of Murder" a complexity and intelligence not written in the script. She's played characters of weakness and vulnerability, strength and cunning, as well as the occasional psychotic; always with intelligence and conviction. Not to mention her natural beauty, which in "Reflections of Murder" is very reminiscent of Jean Seberg, a fellow enigmatic cinematic presence.

All the elements that go toward the making of a cult star are in place. For those among that following, "Reflections of Murder" is compulsory viewing.

Here's some fun trivia about this movie; You can Google the home where the filming of the boy's school took place at 23120 Woodway Park Rd. Woodway, WA. It used to be a private residence of the Boeing family (I was told) but has been a Dominican Sisters convent for decades. We lived down the street at the time and my mom was friends with one of the nuns there, Sister Mary Charles, a very kind lady. This home was used for the exteriors for the movie but not the interiors. Important to the movie plot is a scene with a swimming pool. The convent did not have one so the movie company built one, "aging" it to not look new. Even though the feeling of the movie is creepy, the actual site and surrounding neighborhood are beautiful. Instead of being known for Law and Order, Sam Waterson was known for this portrayal of a real bad dude. It's been interesting to see him as normal over the years. I feel sorry for those of you that were traumatized over the bathtub scene when you where young.

It's apparent that no one knows how to kill anyone in this film. It's a boring movie about a very abusive headmaster (mainly towards his wife), a bunch of bratty boys and people that do not know how to kill other people but they do try to kill.

Tuesday Weld's character, Vicky, is two-faced - you can never tell with whom her loyalty lies. One minute she's all with Claire, later she's all about Michael. In the end, you realize she's all about herself and not really with _____ (I can't give away the ending).

This is a movie I should like but I don't. It seems to have all the right elements for a film of my liking but it irritated and bored me instead.

2/10

I had to see all the remakes of "les Diaboliques" by Clouzot, adapted very freely by the Clouzot brothers from the Boileau and Narcejac book. In the book, the victim is a man with heart problems, killed by his wife and mistress. But Clouzot changed the situation, and it was his real wife in life that became the fragile victim (Vera Clouzot would die of heart attack a few years later), and the husband and his lover (fantastic Signoret) are the demoniac killers (was Meurisse the double of Clouzot?).

In this third version of the book, directed competently by John Badham, it is simply a remake of the Clouzot brothers script still happening in a school, with no elements from the book (even if you have Boileau and Narcejac in the credits, but missing the Clouzot brothers). Sam Waterston seems a weak husband at the beginning, but quickly reveals to be a violent monster, he is a worthy successor to Paul Meurisse. Joan Hackett, physically strong, is the fragile wife of Waterston. Tuesday Weld, physically tiny, is the tough sadistic Waterston lover. They both fit very well their characters. Still from the french movie, we see the wicker trunk for the corpse. "Reflections of a murder" is a pleasant and well done remake of "les Diaboliques", but the original Clouzot masterpiece had much more impact 20 years before, as this version is only a forgotten tv movie with only a video cassette release.

There are two other tv versions of the book, "les Démoniaques" with Aurore Clément (she is the only advantage of this poor version, far from Clouzot and Boileau - Narcejac in art collection background, to forget) and "House of secrets" (still close to Clouzot but with some elements of the book, and an interesting new beginning and ending in an asylum). And the last version is a cinema version with stars Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani (Stone is ridiculous, with vulgar clothings and behaviour, the husband is even more ridiculous (burying the movie) and Adjani is fine ; to forget, it is a vulgar remake of Clouzot's film still in a school (we find again the wicker trunk), with a ridiculously inconceivable new ending ; in the final credits, you can find the script by the Clouzot brothers). In fact, none of these versions are faithful to the original book, only the egyptian version from 1968 had nothing to do with Clouzot's script and was adapted from the book with the fragile husband.

I just wonder how Hitchcock would have adapted the original book, as he was very interested by shooting it and finally shot quite faithfully another Boileau and Narcejac, giving his masterpiece "Vertigo" (with just manipulating the end).

There is a special chemistry at work in this movie, and its results are chilling. Tuesday Weld is far from the "Dobie Gillis" bimbo as she has often been portrayed. Joan Hackett is eerily on target and Sam Waterston is complex and intriguing. Especially effective (and spooky) is the set -- e.g. the swimming pool full of leaves in the autumn -- that contains who-knows-what. The original "Diabolique" has a classier title, but has fewer edges than this film. Highly recommended.

This is a good suspense flick about two women who conspire to murder a man who is the husband of one, and the lover of the other. Then, after committing the crime, they aren't able to find the body.

I haven't seen too much of Sam Waterston's early work, but I thought he was very good as Michael Elliott, the abusive husband and boyfriend, and the target of the murder scheme. Tuesday Weld put on a surprisingly good performance as the heartless mastermind of the crime (Vicky) - a role I wouldn't have expected to have suited her particularly well. As far as the main actors were concerned, the only disappointment was Joan Hackett as Elliott's wife Claire. Her performance might be best described as inconsistent: very good in some places, and at other times painfully artificial. The story was a good one, and it certainly kept me guessing all the way through.

The last scene of the movie weakened the whole thing, unfortunately, even though it didn't really have too much to do with the story that the movie had focussed on. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that the last scene made a really good movie end on a note of sheer silliness for no apparent reason. That, and Hackett's inconsistency, detract from the movie, but not seriously. Overall this is still well worth watching, and I rated is as an 8/10.

Far, far better than DIABOLIQUE remake (1997). Tuesday and Joanne worked well together, and kept their ultimatums hidden, sort of. Cleverly nuanced with sharp and intelligent plot movement. And Sammy got what he deserved, or did he? The special effects near the end reveal how to do it without state-of-the-art special effect machinery. Well, it is television. And the Ending, The Real Ending, one that had been criticized some in its day, is beaut. Had this flick as a strong 8, but made it a 9, cuz of that very provocative, and highly shaded piano playing upstairs. Forgot what piece it was, though. Listen closely.

Saw this when just a wee laddie and it scared the bejesus out of me. Saw the original a few years ago, and guess what, it did nothing for me. Shame.

made-for-tv remake of french suspense classic "Diabolique". Excellent script, eerie locale (the rain drenched and fog thickened landscape of Puget Sound), sharp editing and fine directing from John Badham make this far superior to average movie-of-the-week. And the performances could not be better. The great Joan Hackett (gone, alas, but not forgotten) and Tuesday Weld give tense, piercing performances. It takes a little while to get used to Sam Waterson playing a villian but when you see this film you understand how easy it is for Waterson to play the dark side of Jack McCoy on LAW AND ORDER. You will be on the edge of your chair during the scene on the bridge as the two women try to change a flat tire with a dead body in the trunk.

I saw this as a very small boy. A very early memory for me is of not being able to sleep for days, thinking that some dead bloke was rising out of the bath. Nice. Still, that'll teach me for pleading to stay up past bedtime. I can't imagine it would have the same effect on me now, but I'd love to see it again sometime

I grew up in the house they used for the interior shots of the school and was in high school when they filmed there. Of course it was a blast getting to watch the movie-making process close up and to meet the actors. Sam Waterston was virtually unknown at the time (this was before his big break in The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford) and was somewhat aloof, as was Tuesday Weld, although I can understand the stress & hours that are involved in movie acting would cause an actor to conserve his/her energy. Joan Hackett on the other hand was very warm and outgoing - she would hang out in the kitchen with our family during her down time and talk away. She obviously fed off the energy of others and I have very fond memories of her, even though she was something of a drama queen. Watching the movie now, I'm very surprised at how well it has stood the test of time. John Badham used the combination of the Bach score and the damp and dead-leafy environment of Puget Sound in autumn to classic effect and I have come to appreciate Hackett's nuanced performance more as an adult than I ever could as a teenager. The movie really captures the feeling of the area and brings me fond memories of my childhood autumns.