TV Guide critic Judith Crist tersely dismissed Haunted by Her Past as a "spook story," but that's probably because the producers wouldn't preview it for her. Better than the usual Gothic TV-movie, the film casts soap-opera diva Susan Lucci as a 20th-century wife who is possessed by the spirit of an 18th-century murderess (Finola Hughes). At first playful and flirtatious, the woman turns deadly as the malevolent ghost seeps into every orifice of her brain and body. Obviously, trouble is in store for her unwitting husband (John James). Decked out with a lush musical score by Paul Chihara, Haunted by Her Past played to respectable ratings when it first aired on October 5, 1987.