Directed by - Ralph L. Thomas

Starring:
Donald Sutherland - Holy Man (Pow Wow)
Chad Lowe - The Boy
Mia Sara - The Boy's Girlfriend

Supposedly based on a true story. Donald Sutherland plays a faith healer-holy man (known as a Pow Wow), who cures a boy's father of alcoholism. He teaches the boy to read and then takes him on as an apprentice Pow Wow.

When a local farmer's animals start mysteriously dying the Pow Wow tries to exorcise the demons. However the demons are more powerful than he had anticipated and he becomes deathly ill. An aging Pow Wow woman cures him and shows him the face of his tormentor. It turns out be a nutty old hermit that lives nearby.

The holy man and the boy confront the hermit who breathes fire at them. This causes the hermit's house to catch fire and burn to the ground. The holy man stabs the hermit and they flee the scene.

The sheriff drags the boy out to the scene of the crime. The house is fully intact and there's no evidence of fire damage. When the boy sees this he freaks out and spills the beans. The two are convicted of the crime and are sent off to jail.

What we've got here is a very strange little movie. We're left wondering if there really was some evil force at work here or if it's all hypnosis or the power of suggestion. The holy man admits to having been committed to an asylum for several years but the boy sees the same things as the Pow Wow.

The movie takes place in 1927 in rural Pennsylvania. This helps to give everthing a more eerie feeling. Sutherland is at his weirdest as usual and steals the show.

I think, like me, most people will probably find things a bit muddled. This is okay because it gives me a good reason to watch it again real soon.