The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) (with time stamps for hot scenes) (1080p) [CC]

When college professor, Peter Proud begins experiencing flashbacks of an earlier life, he’s mysteriously drawn to a place he’s never been to, but which seems familiar and where he soon finds his previous incarnation’s wife.

REVIEW (1) — Peter be not Proud…

This creatively titled but little known 70’s film blends supernatural horror with family drama and eroticism, which is a bizarre combination and every fan of cinema should be wary of it. Max Ehrlich adapted the screenplay from his own novel and, even though I’m not much of a reader myself, for once I tend to believe the people who claim that “the book was, in fact, better”. Fundamental elements featuring in a story like this, such as character drawings and filming locations are better left to the imagination of each individual reader. Peter Proud is a tormented college professor whose reoccurring nightmares and lively hallucinations all indicate that he lived a previous life already, in a small Massachusetts town during the 1940’s. Obsessed with the vague content of his visions, he ventures to a place he only knows about from his dreams. He discovers that he’s the reincarnation of an infamous ex-soldier, who was married and father of one gorgeous daughter. The wife murdered him during a nightly swim and she managed to keep it a secret for almost 30 years until, now, the adulterous Jeff Curtis reincarnated as Peter Proud. The basic premise is truly intriguing and (correct me if I’m wrong) never been done before, but still I wouldn’t call this film much of a success. The plot contains too many redundant aspects but regretfully lacks thrills, involvement and pace. Also, too often this film just serves as a poor excuse to touch on sexual topics that were, I admit, extremely controversial in the early 70’s. It’s not very common to stumble upon an American-made 70’s thriller that broaches incest, rape-fantasies and female masturbation, so I definitely acknowledge its shocking impact when it first got released. That’s exactly what you read in the other submitted user comments on this website: people vividly remember their first viewing of “The Reincarnation of Peter Proud” and continue to regard it as a curious and thought-provoking cult film. Too bad the wholesome has severely dated by now, and the only REAL elements remained to impress you are the sublime cinematography and the extraordinary courageous performance by Margot Kidder. Oh, and the totally unexpected climax but I can’t say anything about that, of course…

REVIEW (2) — Intriguing and a bit unworldly

I stumbled upon THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD purely by coincidence and I doubt that many people have seen it. And after seeing it, I believe that this movie was unrighteously lost in movie-history. It’s not really a horror-movie but more a supernatural mystery/thriller with a touch of drama and a mix of 70’s eroticism. Now that’s a mouthful, I know, but that’s basically what it is.

The story centers around Peter Proud, who’s having disturbing nightmares of a woman beating a man to death. He also dreams of images of an unknown town. He soon discovers that the town really exists and in his search for answers, he starts believing that he is the reincarnation of Jeff Curtis, the man who was killed in his dreams. Things get even weirder when he actually meets Jeff’s widow Marcia Curtis and her daughter Ann Curtis.

Michael Sarrazin’s toned down way of acting is pretty suitable for the Peter Proud character and Margot Kidder is more than decent as Marcia Curtis (both young and old). But the best performance probably comes from Jennifer O’Neill as Ann Curtis. She comes off as young, yet mature.

The over-all structure of the story perhaps isn’t flawless. The first part is intriguing and fairly high-paced, but the middle-part is a bit too slow. The ending is yet again satisfying. The movie itself often smoothly swifts between atmospheres. Sometimes creepy & violent, other times there’s room for drama or even romance. This movie does contain a lot of nudity, sometimes casual, sometimes sweet, sometimes disturbing. Margot Kidder amazed me with her bath-tub scene, which was erotic and shocking at the same time.

The editing was rather good, using a lot of cross-cutting every now and then. A technique which, when over-used, could become annoying, but here it was used carefully, having the right effect. On a final note: Jerry Goldsmith’s score was excellent with a lot of variety, reminding me a bit of Howard Shore’s early work for David Cronenberg.

Like I said, THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD isn’t perfect but it is an intriguing film. It might look a little dated now, but I can imaging that in 1975 it was quite shocking (with its hidden incest theme and all). So, when being in the right frame of mind, this movie is certainly worth seeing. Good luck with tracking it down.

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