Scream, Pretty Peggy

(1973) **

Peggy (or “Pushy Peggy” as I began calling her) answers an ad for what I initially believed was a “lighthouse keeping” job. Having often dreamt about living in a lighthouse myself, I immediately liked Peggy. Soon, however I realized that she answered an ad for “light housekeeping” and also concluded that Peggy is the type of person who feigns helplessness and self-deprecation to get what she really wants. With her Colombo-like puzzlement and big toothy grin, she is used to getting her way. For example, she tells her new employer that she doesn’t mind being paid .75 cents/hour, but as soon as she states this she quickly gets her pay jacked up to $1.65. Oh, I’m on to you Pushy Peggy! But I digress. Let me start again.

College student Peggy Johns answers an ad seeking someone who is willing to perform light housekeeping for .75 cents/hour. When she arrives she is greeted by a frail Betty Davis who informs her that no such job exists. Betty’s sculptor son, Jeffrey, tells his mother that he advertised for the help but he is now unsure whether or not he still wants it. Peggy charms her way into the job and is given a tour of the sprawling mansion. She is told that she can go anywhere she wants except to the apartment above the garage. Jeffrey explains that he has a lot of chemicals and things up there and he does not want Peggy to get hurt.



Peggy soon becomes suspicious of Jeffrey’s explanation about the apartment when a man, Mr. Thornton, arrives at the house seeking information about his missing daughter, who just so happened to work for Jeffrey right before her disappearance. After seeing the silhouette of a woman in the apartment window she questions Jeffrey who informs her that his dangerous, mentally ill sister Jennifer lives there and is locked up for her own safety. After Thornton disappears and Peggy finds his glasses, she begins to suspect that he was murdered by Jennifer. Despite being warned to stay away from the apartment, Pushy Peggy, whoops, there I go again, Peggy decides to go pay a visit to Jennifer to get some answers. Not a good idea.

More horror from the early 70s “Movie of the Week” series, hooray! This is just a ridiculous, predictable movie but fun still the same. As noted above Peggy is about as annoying as a human being can be and to refer to her as “Pretty Peggy” in the title only calls attention to her homely mug. She is supposed to be charming but “grating” would be a much more appropriate description. She’s passive-aggressively pushy and it’s difficult to believe anyone would hire her, much less allow her to move in to help out. It also makes no sense that a stranger would be invited into the lives of Betty Davis and Jeffrey given that they are harboring such a dark family secret. Despite silliness of it all, I still get drawn in for some reason. I watched this on You Tube in 6 parts. For an example of how annoying Peggy is, jump to the 6:15 mark on this video,