'Dummy' That Bludgeons Mom on Island is Really Her Daughter Marguerite

by Kathleen
(New Jersey, USA)

I saw this made-for-TV movie in college in 1976 or 1977 and can't remember the name of it.

A man is called to the island residence of his deceased ex-wife to claim his daughter, Marguerite. She is a beautiful flaxen-haired teen who has been raised in isolation. She's into botany, very shy and feminine.

The opening scene shows Marguerite's mother being bludgeoned to death by a ventriloquist dummy with a baseball bat in a child's bedroom. The dummy has a creepy voice, and it's shocking to see it stand up and attack the woman. The dummy is dressed in black with an English cap.

The movie climaxes with the father calling the hospital where his daughter was born, only to be told by the nurse that his ex-wife gave birth to a boy. Marguerite is then seen dressed in the dummy's clothes, his/her last attempt to murder having been foiled.

I remember another scene on a motorboat, where Marguerite is on a date with a beer-swilling guy who comes on to her. He's dispatced over the side of the boat.

Thanks for any leads you can give me.