Timid Sarah and her popular stepsister, Patty, are pledging sororities at their new college. Patty gets into the most celebrated sorority on campus, but Sarah is only accepted by the least prominent.
"The Initiation of Sarah" tells the tale of a college freshman (Kay Lenz) with telekinetic powers. She is pressured to join a sorority after her sister (Morgan Brittany) is recruited to a rival chapter run by a group of popular bullies.
It's the two Morgan's of "Dallas" (Fairchild and Brittany) as typical big haired 70's sorority beauties versus the revenge of the lesser sorority destroyed out of a long running feud. Morgan Brittany and Kay Lenz are sisters, although Lenz was adopted, the daughter of Kathryn Crosby, once head of the sorority Morgan Fairchild now runs.
It's true this one is similar to Carrie (1978) but in a way better. It's about two sisters that start college and want to end up in the same sorority but end up in opposing sororities.
As others have noted, this is seemingly little more than a re-packaging of the "Carrie"/"Jennifer" concept with hotter-looking actresses. And also as others have noted, Kay Lenz is miscast here; she's too gorgeous to be believable in this role.
This mildly entertaining TV movie benefits largely from (mostly) appropriate casting, and decent performances from the cast. Kay Lenz is extremely appealing as Sarah Goodwin, a shy young woman going off to college with her adoptive sister Patty (Morgan Brittany).
This is one of the most entertainingly ridiculous TV movies ever made. It has often been written off by many smug critics as "Carrie Goes to College", but that's not entirely accurate.
Arriving at college, sisters Sarah and Patty Goodwin (Kay Lenz and Morgan Brittany) try to join ANS, the most popular sorority on campus. Patty's in, and Sarah is advised to join PED, a less popular sorority.
This TV movie is "Carrie" set on a college campus combined with the type of Satanic secret society movies that were popular in the 70's. Kay Lenz and her sister are starting university together (Lenz is an adopted orphan and hence can be the same age as her sister) and are excited to join a sorority.
