Bad Ronald (1974) 
Buzz Kulik
Creepy made-for-TV thriller about a nerdy boy named Ronald (Scott Jacoby) who is constantly picked one. One day a girl insults his mother so he accidentally kills her. Ronald tells his mother (Kim Hunter) what he has done and she suggests that he live behind the walls until everything can blow over. She goes in for an operation and dies, which means the house gets sold to a new family who Ronald stalks from behind the walls. OK, it's highly unlikely Ronald could have lived behind the walls but I'm willing to let this slide because the story itself is so good and so interesting that one can overlook a flaw here and there. I was really shocked at how drawn in I was and by the time the 70-minutes was over I had found a new favorite. The movie has an overall creepy feel from the start of the film when we see the relationship between Ronald and his mother and it gets creepier as the film goes along as Ronald slowly begins to lose his mind. The "friendships" he builds behind the walls, which forces him to come out is rather creepy and handled extremely well here. The scene where he confronts the youngest daughter living in the house has some great suspense and does the ending, which closes everything up quite nicely. I thought Jacoby was very good in his role and make the character quite believable as did Hunter. Dabney Coleman, Pippa Scott, Cindy Fisher, Cindy Eilbacher and a young Lisa Eilbacher (AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN) round out the cast and also deliver fine work. The 70's were a pretty good decade for made-for-TV films and this one has gotten one of the best reputations out there and for good reasons.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
John Newland
A young woman (Kim Darby) and her husband (Jim Hutton) inherit an old, creepy house. The two move in and start remodeling when the wife reaches a room in the basement that she wants to turn into her work room. She's warned by an old carpenter not to remove the bricks from the locked up chimney but she does so anyways and soon she is being terrorized by some troll-like creatures. For years I've read how many kids this movie terrified when they were younger and I couldn't help but think of my own terrors as a childhood. I remember watching IT the first time my mother let me stay by myself and it scared the hell out of me so I can understand why this film terrified so many who watched it back in the day. The film holds up incredibly well as its 75-minute running time goes by very quickly and everything moves at a good pace. What really worked so well is the fact that the director really builds up the eeriness of something being in the dark but you don't know where or what it's going to do. There are many great scenes where we see the creatures sneaking out of their hiding spots but our female victim doesn't know where they're coming from. Another major plus is that Darby is so good in the role. You automatically care for what happens to her and you can't help but feel bad for the lady when her husband and friends begin to think she's crazy. This made-for-TV flick has more power and atmosphere than many of the theatrical movies released around its time. The look of the creatures are rather good, which is another major plus. In the end, this is still an effective little gem that deserves its cult status.
How Awful About Allan (1970) 
Curtis Harrington
Made-for-TV thriller has Anthony Perkins playing Allan, a tormented man who is facing various forms of trauma and blindness due to the shock of his house catching fire and him not being able to save his father who he hated. After an eight month stay at a psych ward, he returns home to live with his sister (Julie Harris) but slowly starts to lose his mind as he believes a guest staying in one of the rooms is trying to kill him. Outside of the good performance by Perkins this film offers very little else. Even at just 75-minutes the thing bored the hell out of me and I can't tell you how many scenes there are of Perkins just walking around to see if someone is there or not. After a while this gets rather boring especially when it keeps happening over and over. I'm pretty sure the director was going for a psychological horror film in the same vein as PSYCHO but the screenplay doesn't come close to it and that includes the twist ending here, which is easy to see coming because there's nothing else it could have been. One nice touch is how the blindness is shown in the film as the special effect is quite nice. Perkins, playing the same type of character as Norman Bates, thankfully doesn't try to replay that role and instead gives a different type of performance. He's good in the film but often he doesn't have too much to work with. Harris doesn't add anything nor does the supporting cast. Those who enjoy these Made-for-TV horror films might want to check it out but others should stay clear.
- Michael, interesting movie. I hope to catch it again sometime during this challenge.
