A potentially intriguing paranormal story is rendered dull and flat by lifeless acting and pedestrian direction. Young college professor Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) is plagued by nightmares of a murder. He convinces himself that he is remembering a past life and goes in search of answer. He tracks down Marcia Curtis (Margot Kidder), a woman who holds a terrible secret from the past and her daughter Ann (Jennifer O'Neill) to whom he feels a strange attraction. Adapted by Max Ehrlich from his own novel and directed by J. Lee Thompson, the film suffers from a plodding pace, a predictable plot and a flashback narrative structure that ruins any momentum that may have been developing. Thompson manages to deliver the occasion piece of decent atmosphere, but fails to sustain it for any extended period making for a frustrating viewing experience at times. He also fails to make the most of the potentially incestuous relationships and the psycho-sexual dramas being played out between the characters and between past and present. The film isn't helped by a rather limp and uninspiring leading man in the case of Michael Sarrazin, nor by some extraordinarily poor make-up effects used to age Margot Kidder. "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" isn't a total write-off and it has just about enough going for it to keep you watching all the way to the rather predictable ending. This is a film, however, with an intriguing central premise that should have been spooky and mysterious with a touch of horror and more than a little psychological depth - unfortunately it has few of these elements. ( )