Return from Witch Mountain (1978)

Load of rubbish!!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This follow-up to 'Escape from Witch Mountain' cuts to the chase far sooner than the original, boasts some excellent location photography of Los Angeles, a groovy score by Lalo Schifrin - and it has Bette Davis and Christopher Lee! They play siblings who occupy a castle that looks as if it belongs in Transylvania rather than the centre of L.A. and while Davis makes no bones about just being into villainy for the money, Lee - dressed in the usual Disney Villain homburg and three-piece suit - has the usual desire to harness Tony & Tia's alien powers to become "The Most Powerful Man in the World".

The intergalactic kids who charmed "Escape from Witch Mountain" (1975) - telekinetic Ike Eisenmann (as Tony Malone) and telepathic Kim Richards (as Tia Malone) - return to Earth for a vacation. They land their flying saucer at a deserted Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Elsewhere in Los Angeles, mad scientist Christopher Lee (as Victor Gannon) demonstrates his mind-controlling invention for greedy partner Bette Davis (as Letha Wedge) by commanding her vertigo-suffering nephew Anthony James (as Sickle) to scale a skyscraper. An accident causes Mr. James' to fall, but young Eisenmann has sensed trouble, and saves him from certain death.Impressed by the teenager's powers, Ms. Davis and Mr. Lee kidnap Eisenmann, drug him, strap him to a lab table, probe his chest, and take control of his mind with an ear contraption. Among other things, they want Eisenmann to levitate some gold from an exhibition. Left behind, young sister Richards tries to rescue her brother, with help from a truant gang of boys. They are pursued by educator Jack Soo, in his last film role. Mr. Soo wants kids to stay in school.If you haven't figured it out by now, this is an obvious production-line sequel to the unexpectedly imaginative and successful original. Writer Malcolm Marmorstein, who stirred up trouble in "Dark Shadows" and "Peyton Place", didn't get many opportunities to add a goat named "Alfred" his story lines. Everyone here deserved better.**** Return from Witch Mountain (3/10/78) John Hough ~ Bette Davis, Christopher Lee, Anthony James, Ike Eisenmann

(Credit IMDb) Tia and her brother Tony have supernatural powers, can communicate and move things with the power of their mind alone. They arrive on Earth for a visit in Los Angeles. When Tony uses his powers to prevent an accident, he gets into the hands of Dr. Gannon, a ruthless scientist who's constantly striving for power over the world. He puts him a device into the brain that allows him to control Tony's will. Tia gets help from a kid's gang to free Tony and save the EarthI thought the original was OK but not anything noteworthy, so I really didn't set my expectation bar that high for this one. I was enthralled with the beginning. Watching Christopher Lee order around a person on the top of the building had me on the edge of my seat, but after that I quickly became bored. The two kids don't do enough this time around to maintain my interest, and the only thing I enjoyed mostly about this movie was Christopher Lee's performance.Performances. Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann are OK but rather bland as the kids this time around. Christopher Lee is an utter menace, and I loved it! It lagged whenever he was off screen. His intensity did wonders for this movie. Bette Davis adds class, but her part was thoroughly under-written.Bottom line. Dull follow-up, which I struggled to get through. This may have been solid for it's time, but it's clearly dated now days. Recommending it for a rainy day watch is even pushing it. Stick to the original, and that's not even that great.4/10

Psychic alien siblings Tia (a charming performance by the adorable Kim Richards) and Tony (a solid turn by Ike Eisenmann) go to Los Angeles to check out human life in the big city. Trouble occurs when Tony gets abducted by evil, arrogant scientist Victor (the always fine Christopher Lee in smoothly sinister form) and his greedy accomplice Letha (a perfectly wicked portrayal by Bette Davis). It's up to Tia and an amiable gang of scruffy delinquent kids to rescue Tony from this dastardly duo. Director John Hough, working from an eventful script by Malcolm Marmorstein, relates the absorbing plot at a constant brisk pace, maintains a pleasingly lighthearted tone throughout, makes nice use of the gritty LA locations, and stages the thrilling action scenes with considerable flair (a lively and lengthy car chase rates as the definite exciting highlight). Richards and Eisenmann are both excellent in their roles; they receive sound support from Lee, Davis, Jack Soo as jolly truant officer Mr. Yokomoto, the ever-creepy Anthony James as cowardly flunky Sickle, Denver Dyle as the gregarious Uncle Bene, and Richard Bakalyan as gabby, irritable cab driver Eddie. AIP biker flick regular Adam Roarke has an uncredited bit part as a museum security guard. The street gang members are a genuinely likable bunch of harmless minor league miscreants. The special effects are pretty nifty. Lalo Schifrin's funky 70's TV cop show-style score totally hits the groovy spot. Frank V. Phillips' polished cinematography is likewise up to par. A fun family feature.