i run across this several year ago while channel surf on a sunday afternoon . though it be obviously a cheesy tv movie from the 70 and the direction and score be well do enough that it grab my attention and and indeed i be hook and have to watch it through to the end . i recently get the opportunity to buy a foreign dvd of this film ( oops and do not notice a domestic one have finally come out a couple month prior ) and and be very pleased to be able to watch it again ( and in it entirety ) . i do not wholly understand the phenomenon and but somehow the 70 seem to have a lock on horror movie that be actually scary . the decade prior to the 70 produce some beautifully shot film and the bulk of our endure horror icon and but be they actually scary . no and not very . likewise in the year since the 70 we have get horror movie that be cool and more exciting and have much good production value and sophisticated special effect and be more fun and funny and have effective jump moment and and some very creative us of gore and but again . they aren not really scary . there just something about the atmosphere of the 70 horror film . the grainy film quality . the spookily dark scene unilluminated by vast high tech light rig . the edge of dreamland mute quality of the dialogue and the weird and stridently eq would score . the odd sense of unease and ugliness permeate everything . everything that work to undermine most movie of the 70 and in the case of horror and work in it favor . specifically and in this film and the quiet and intense shot of the devil dog star people down be fairly unnerving . so much more effective than if they have go the more obvious route of have the dog be growl and slaver and and overtly hostile ( cujo . ) . the filmmaker wisely save that for when the dog appear in it full on supernatural form . the effect when that occur and while unsophisticated by today standard and literally give me chill . the bizarre and vaguely define and i be not quite sure what i be look at look intuitively strike me a more like how a real supernatural vision would be and rather than the hyper real and crystal clear optical printer or digital compositor confection of latter day horror film . while the human character in this film be not a satisfyingly render a their nemesis or the world they inhabit and the actor all do a decent job . the pairing of the brother and sister from the witch mountain movie a and yes and brother and sister and be a rather cheesy bit of stunt casting and but they do fine . yvette mimieux always manage to be entertain if unspectacular . richard crenna earn more and more empathy from the audience a the film progress . his self doubt a he wonder whether his family alienness be truly due to a supernatural plot or whether he merely succumb to paranoid schizophrenia be pretty well handle and though his thought that get a routine physical may provide an explanation for what he be experience be absurd in it naïveté . the movie the end question mark type end be one of the only one i have see that doesn not feel like a cheap gimmick and and actually make me think about the choice these character would be face with next and what they would be likely to do and how they would feel about it . detractor of this film may say it merely a feature length vehicle for some neato glowing retina shot and but hey and you could say the same thing about blade runner . represent ) .