Thanks for the info, Charles. I saw "Crowhaven" with my mom when I was about 6. It scared the **** out of both of us. We loved it! I think those wacky tv movies need to make a comeback. They are so different from the tired style of tv movies today. I think Lifetime makes the bulk of today's tv movies, but none of them are any good. We need more horror stories, westerns, war movies, mini series; everything.
I think there's a growing nostalgia for the 70s-type of tv movie. Notice that the ABC AfterSchool Specials are now available. And what are those, but mini tv movies?
Does anyone remember one called "I Love A Mystery?" I know David Hartman was in it...god knows who else. I saw it 2 or 3 times in the 70s. Kind of a spy spoof. Very funny. Add that to the shopping list of made-fors that should come back!
This movie was a horrific expereince for me and my sister. We both had serious issues with sleeping at night for about a year after seeing the movie. Looking up the movie on the net finds many people who had the same experience. It was every kids worse nightmare. Little devils that lived in the fireplace. They would come out at night and run around your bed. As a bonus they tie a rope to your feet and drag you up the fireplace. I was STUNNED! Recently I bought the overpriced VHS off ebay, but want a DVD!
Let's not forget DEATH RACE, starring Doug McClure, Roy Thinnes, Lloyd Bridges, and Eric Braeden. A crippled Allied plane is chased by a Nazi tank throughout the entire film. A childhood favorite of mine, and still good fun, even if it doesn't hold up as well as I remember it. Bridges makes for the least convincing Nazi in (tele)film history, but he sure has fun trying. Extremely hard to find; my copy originated from the Encore Action Channel, with a hilarious intro by Burt Reynolds.
Dark Sky Films is reportedly re-releasing TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975) on R1 DVD sometime in 2006.
Since DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973) was a Lorimar film, Warner Bros could make a small fortune releasing a legit R1 DVD edition of it, in time for Halloween 2006, as part of a mix of horror titles (as they have this year with DRACULA A.D. 1972, NIGHT OF THE LEPUS, DEMON SEED, PRIVATE PARTS, etc).
If the cover art to such a DVD featured the fireplace, and the faces of a couple of those creepy little guys, half-forgotten memories would be dredged-up among countless casual DVD shoppers in the 30-50 year age range, and a slew of copies would be sold, no doubt about it.
Tv movies have generally been ignored by the studios and that's a shame. If Night of the Lepus can sell then there are so many horror/tv movies out there.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark The Aliens Are Coming Cat Creature Cold Night's Death Curse of the Black Widow Norliss Tapes Devil's Triangle Horror At 20,000 Ft The People
For tv fans: Gilligan's Island movies Perry Mason movies Return of Man From UNCLE Return to Mayberry Wild Wild West movies
This is only a small sample of what's out there. There are a wealth of tv movies out there and the studios complain they're running out of product.
Tv movies have generally been ignored by the studios and that's a shame. If Night of the Lepus can sell then there are so many horror/tv movies out there.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark The Aliens Are Coming Cat Creature Cold Night's Death Curse of the Black Widow Norliss Tapes Devil's Triangle Horror At 20,000 Ft The People
For tv fans: Gilligan's Island movies Perry Mason movies Return of Man From UNCLE Return to Mayberry Wild Wild West movies
This is a minute sample of the titles available. There are a wealth of tv movies out there and the studios complain they're running out of product.
Does anyone remember those ABC Wide World Mystery Late Night movies? They were also done in the 1970s and the ones I remember were shot on videotape. I'd love to see some of those released!
Wow, I LOVED those movies! I used to frustrate my parents by staying up late to watch them. I'd really love to see most of those again.
Remember "A Howling In the Woods"? It starred Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden.Creepy!
Another good one that I remember that gave me the chills was "The House That Would Not Die" with Barbara Stanwyck.
I remember watching a lot of the titles, that have already been mentioned, when they originally aired.
As another poster mentioned there were some of "old" Hollywood's greatest stars in these movies which gave them a polished look. These movies also had real substance and depth to them and were produced back when writers had ORIGINAL ideas.
Does anyone remember Salvage? It was this exceedingly lame ABC Movie of the Week starring Andy Griffith in which he builds a homemade rocket to go the moon with the intention of bringing back to earth a bunch of crap to sell.
I do see made-fors at the 99 cents store from time to time. They look like cheapie copies. Some have starred Angie Dickenson...some have starred the guy from "Quantum Leap" Dean somebody?? Looks like there's a lot of made-for fans on this site! I love the spooky gothic ones from the 70s. I hate the "disease" ones. Yeesh! There's also about a zillion mini-series from the 80s that I wouldn't mind seeing. "Fresno" with Carol Burnett and Dabney Coleman is at the top of my list!
To everyone else, what about Goodnight My Love or Dr. Cook's Garden. Also, The Night That Panicked America. And another with a couple of titles, neither of which I'm sure of: Starred Robert Wagner and E. G. Marshall, the one a cynical P. I. looking for the missing daughter of a mobster, the other a priest charged with investigating reports of miracles involving the same girl.