''The Haunting of Sarah Hardy'' is a 1989 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

horror film directed by

Jerry London Jerry London (born January 21, 1947) is an American television director and producer. Life and career London has directed more than forty television movies including Emmy Award nominated '' Chiefs''. London won best director for James Clavell ...

and starring

Sela Ward Sela Ann Ward (born July 11, 1956) is an American actress, author, and producer. Her breakthrough TV role was as Teddy Reed in the NBC drama series '' Sisters'' (1991–1996), for which she received her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstandin ...

Morgan Fairchild Morgan Fairchild (born Patsy Ann McClenny; February 3, 1950) is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series since. Fairchild began her career on the CBS daytime soap opera ''Search for T ...

Roscoe Born Roscoe Conklin Born (November 24, 1950 – March 3, 2020) was an American actor and songwriter. He is best known for his roles on various television soap operas, most notably as archvillain Mitch Laurence on ''One Life to Live'' in six stints ...

Michael Woods Michael Woods may refer to: * Michael Woods (Australian politician) (1857–1934), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Michael Woods (comics), American writer/editor of comic books * Michael Woods (cyclist) (born 1986), Canadian cyclist ...

, and

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...

. The film aired on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

on May 31, 1989.

Cast

as Sarah Hardy *

as Allen deVineyn *

as Emily Stepford *

as Lucy *

as Austin Hardy * Charles Bernard as Uncle Neddy *Vana O'Brien as Aunt Caroline

Production

Filming took place in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, at the

Pittock Mansion The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style château in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. The mansion was originally built in 1914 as a private home for London-born '' Oregonian'' publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Georg ...

Release

''The Haunting of Sarah hardy'' was distributed on home video by CIC in the United Kingdom in December 1989.

Critical response

Irv Letofsky of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote of the film: "The thing about suspense is that the characters can be dumb and the plot can be muddled and the whole production can be awkwardly filmed and sometimes it can still work. But if there's no passion in the playing and it all lies there flat and deadly and every twist and turn of the story is predictable by a mile, then there's not much fun and surprise left." John Stark of ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' wrote: "The hokey plot, with its ending right out of '' When a Stranger Calls'', could be excused if the characters weren’t so one-dimensional. There’s no sense of locale, either. Although filmed in and around Portland, Ore., it could be Anywhere, U.S.A. There is one old-fashioned quality we can be thankful for: It isn’t violent."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haunting of Sarah Hardy 1989 television films 1989 films 1989 horror films American supernatural horror films Films directed by Jerry London Films shot in Portland, Oregon American horror television films USA Network original films 1980s supernatural horror films 1980s American films