Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1981)

Two twins with telekinetic powers are home schooled by their father because he doesn't want anyone to know what they can do.  Dad tells the twins that if anyone figures out what they can do, men in white coats will take them away and stick needles in their brains. This is an unfortunate tact to take since when their father is attacked by bikers, they don't do anything to save his life. I'll bet Dad was rueing his paranoid teachings at that point.

Meanwhile Nora, who works for the Board of Education and has a meeting to check on the twins home schooling, is stuck by the side of the road when her Porsche breaks down.  Lucky for her, new Deputy Blanchard comes to her rescue and brings her back to the station so she can reschedule her appointment and get her car towed.

When Blanchard goes to close up the station - apparently he's the only police officer in town - Nora is still hanging out because her car won't be ready till the next day. So Blanchard and Nora go to dinner and spend the night together.

The next day, Nora borrows his car to check on the twins, who've managed to keep anyone from knowing that Dad is dead.  That whole needle in the brain thing really messed them up. The girl thinks they can tell Nora, but the boy doesn't trust anyone.

When their drunk landlord, who gulps little cans of soda and alcohol while behind the wheel, arrives demanding to see their Dad and won't be dissuaded from his task, our telekinetic boy child decides the best thing to do is reanimate Dad.  This doesn't work out so well, and now the kids have a zombie Dad to keep hidden. But they don't hide him very well since he drives them to the beach, waits in the car, goes after some surfers who stomped on their sand castles and looks for the bikers who killed him.

The movie has a great plot. Who wouldn't want to see twins with telekinesis reanimate their dead Dad  and try to keep anyone from finding out while seeking revenge on those who wronged them?  The problem is the film is not very exciting and the acting is bland.

The kids have an acting style that could best be described as a deer in the headlights. They have blank faces, wide eyes, and stilted speech.  To make things even more awkward, they are told to use think-speak while in the house, which means they are communicating with their minds.  This involves them staring blankly at each other while saying nothing.  It also means the audience is watching two kids standing stationary and staring at each other. Hooo boy.  Honestly though, I didn't hate it.

The Deputy is played by 50s heartthrob Fabian, and Nora is played by Marilyn Burns, who was in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Twins Beth and Michael are played by the writer/directors children, which explains the acting issue.

Acting!

The many expressions of Michael

Nora and the Deputy on the way to romance aka sex.
They've known each other for ten minutes.

The days when it was okay to drink and drive
while wearing a crazy sports coat

King Diamond?

Okay kids, we need you to react to some pretty horrific situations and your

expressions are really going to sell how you're feeling in these scenes....

.... bikers are killing your dad.

.... your Dad is dead and you're sitting with his corpse.

....your zombie dad just killed a man.

.... playing Pong with your mind is fun.

...bikers have a knife to Nora's throat.

...you're killing a biker with your minds.