The American TV-movie has gained a bad rap over the years, but there was a time when folks looked forward to these flicks — and not in an ironic sense or a need to hate-watch.
That period of kinder and less cynical viewership was surely in the 1970s and ’80s when the made-for-television movie became more widespread. The “movie of the week” format took off in the former decade, with the major networks at the time (ABC, CBS, and NBC) devoting blocks in their schedules to these standalone, small-screen features. And one of the more revisited genres was horror. Duel, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Trilogy of Terror, Are You in the House Alone?, The Initiation of Sarah. These are just a few of the classic telefilms that scared a whole generation of viewers.
There have been great strides to archive and restore these past horror TV-movies, however, a large amount is still unavailable on streaming on in a physical format higher than VHS (official or homemade). That being said, for every “lost” movie is another that has been rescued from the depths of time and obscurity.
Available Now: Night Gallery (1969)
Pictured: Rod Serling in Night Gallery (1969).
Right before the TV-movie boom, NBC aired a feature-length anthology called Night Gallery. Of course, Rod Serling‘s follow-up to The Twilight Zone would go on to become a three-season show; the first standard episode would air a year later after this pilot. And one of the most terrifying stories in the whole run can be found here: “The Cemetery.” While not always the case with subsequent segments, all three of the pilot’s tales were written by Serling himself, and the directors were Boris Sagal, Steven Spielberg, and Barry Shear. The cast included Joan Crawford, Ossie Davis, Sam Jaffe, Richard Kiley, Roddy McDowall, and Barry Sullivan.
The entirety of Night Gallery has since been remastered and released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.
Still Unavailable: How Awful About Allan (1970)
Pictured: Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris in How Awful About Allan (1970).
Anthony Perkins is best known for playing a murderer, but the tables were turned in Curtis Harrington‘s adaptation of Henry Farrell‘s novel How Awful About Allan. Perkins’ character was hospitalized following the tragic fire that also claimed his father’s life. The psychological trauma was so great, Allan became blind. Now under his sister’s (Julie Harris) care, the protagonist experiences a series of strange happenings around the house. Someone wants to kill Allan, but who?
Tubi has a rather shoddy copy of How Awful About Allan, one that somehow looks worse than the DVDs out in the wild. Awful indeed.
Available Now: Crowhaven Farm (1970)
Pictured: The cast of Crowhaven Farm (1970).
Walter Grauman‘s Crowhaven Farm was part of a folk-horror resurgence in the ’70s. It even predates the miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, an adaptation of Harvest Home. In this homely but creepy movie, a family’s inheritance of a Salem farmhouse comes with dark strings.
Crowhaven Farm is available on MOD Blu-ray from MakeFlix, but fair warning: this isn’t a thorough restoration. At the same time though, this may be the best the movie will ever look until it’s given a more extensive makeover.
Still Unavailable: Home for the Holidays (1972)
Image: Sally Field, Jill Haworth, Eleanor Parker, and Jessica Walter in Home for the Holidays (1972).
This Aaron Spelling production, one directed by Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano, foretold signature elements of slasher movies as well as served as an early example of holiday horror. Here Sally Field and Jessica Walter play two of four adult sisters terrorized by a killer in a yellow raincoat. This dark and dreary reunion-turned-whodunit is set at Christmas, but that fact is so visually muted, on account of its snowless, Californian venue.
As of now, Home for the Holidays is still trapped on VHS, with any subsequent DVDs being obviously made from the same source. Meanwhile, you can always track it down on YouTube.
Available Now: The Victim (1972)
Pictured: Elizabeth Montgomery in The Victim (1972).
The Victim is another small-screen adaptation of the story “The Storm” by McNight Malmar; an earlier TV telling was in the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology series Thriller (1960). Bewitched and The Legend of Lizzie Borden star Elizabeth Montgomery plays a concerned woman who flies to visit her sister, only to find an empty house and a suspicious brother-in-law. This doesn’t boast the most unpredictable outcome, however, the buildup is enjoyable.
Herschel Daugherty‘s The Victim (also known as Out of Contention) can be purchased on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.
Still Unavailable: Crawlspace (1972)
Pictured: Teresa Wright and Arthur Kennedy in Crawlspace (1972).
The elderly folks in this adaptation of Herbert Lieberman‘s novel were played by Teresa Wright and Arthur Kennedy, and their bleeding hearts land them in trouble. After allowing a strange man (Tom Happer) to stay in their basement for the time being, the situation soon gets out of hand. Now, you’ll constantly ask why the main characters allowed this to go so far, but it’s possible these two people are working out some unspoken feelings of grief.
Low-quality copies of John Newland‘s Crawlspace have crawled their way onto YouTube.
Available Now: The Screaming Woman (1972)
Pictured: Olivia de Havilland in The Screaming Woman (1972).
Casting famous film stars in TV-movies back then was common, so to see Olivia de Havilland in The Screaming Woman is nothing odd. Director Jack Smight helms this tale of a woman questioning her sanity. Not just because everyone is scrutinizing her every move since leaving psychiatric care, but because she swears she hears a woman’s scream somewhere on her property.
You can dig up The Screaming Woman on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.
Still Unavailable: A Cold Night’s Death (1973)
Pictured: Robert Culp and Eli Wallach in A Cold Night’s Death (1973).
Comparisons to John Carpenter’s The Thing are common and expected when watching this slow-burning tale of madness and isolation. Jerrold Freedman‘s A Cold Night’s Death is also set at a research station in an arctic environment, but the increasingly small cast here — only Robert Culp and Eli Wallach‘s characters are left by the end — succumbs to alienation rather than an alien. Or so we think.
This ominous, vague, and eventual two-hander can be found on YouTube. The faded video quality adds to the chilly and eerie aesthetic.
Available Now: Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
Pictured: Ted Bessell and Sian Barbara Allen in Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973).
In the vein of Psycho, Gordon Hessler‘s Scream, Pretty Peggy also centers on a peculiar man (Ted Bessell) and the tense relationship with his mother (Bette Davis). Sian Barbara Allen plays the college student hired to help the matriarch around the house, and like the young woman whose job she filled, her life is in danger. But who means her harm? The son or his mother?
One strength of this mystery is Bessell’s character’s macabre sculptures, which practically burst from the screen. See for yourself by watching Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray and DVD releases.
Still Unavailable: The Strange and Deadly Occurrence (1974)
Pictured: Robert Stack, Vera Miles and Margaret Willock in The Strange and Deadly Occurrence (1974).
Years before landing Unsolved Mysteries, Robert Stack led this movie about a tormented family. The parents and their teenage daughter moved away from the city, but recent events may send them back. Someone or something doesn’t want them here. John Llewellyn Moxey, the director of The City of the Dead and a great deal of TV-movies, provided Sandor Stern (The Amityville Horror) and Lane Slate‘s (The Car) story plenty of atmosphere. A few scenes are effectively unsettling.
The Strange and Deadly Occurrence is available on YouTube.
Available Now: Bad Ronald (1974)
Pictured: Scott Jacoby and Ted Eccles in Bad Ronald (1974).
Based on Jack Vance‘s novel, Bad Ronald follows the troubled namesake as he comes of age. After Ronald (Scott Jacoby) murders a young girl, his mother (Pippa Scott) hides him in a secret room in their house. Yet when she dies, Ronald is left to fend for himself. That is, until another family moves in, and the boy becomes obsessed with the daughters. Buzz Kulik‘s take on Bad Ronald is very different from the source material, but nevertheless, this version has stayed with audiences for years. The idea of a stranger living in the walls simply gets under the skin.
Bad Ronald has since been upgraded to Blu-ray by Warner Archives.
Still Unavailable: Scream of the Wolf (1974)
Pictured: Peter Graves and Clint Walker in Scream of the Wolf (1974).
Director Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) and prolific author and screenwriter Richard Matheson pulled off a rather daring collaboration with Scream of the Wolf. This character-driven adaptation of David Case‘s story “The Hunter” has since been seen as homoerotic, although not everyone shares that opinion. Even so, there is something suggestive about the intense relationship between Peter Graves and Clint Walker‘s characters. It’s definitely more potent than the killer wolf subplot here.
A tolerable print of Scream of the Wolf has been available on DVD and streaming services for a good number of years, but it’s high time we get an upgrade.
Available Now: Dead of Night (1977)
Pictured: Bobby descends the stairs in Dead of Night (1977).
Dan Curtis’ most renowned anthology TV-movie is Trilogy of Terror, but the overlooked Dead of Night deserves an honorable mention as well. Not to be confused with the 1945 anthology of the same name, this trio of tales is also penned by Richard Matheson. And like his and Curtis’ previous portmanteau, this one paces itself before churning out a devastating finisher. After somewhat lesser stories about a vintage car and vampires, we get to the best of the collection: “Bobby.” The segment was so great, it was worth repeating; Curtis remade the story in Trilogy of Terror II (1996).
There is no Blu-ray for Dead of Night at the moment, however, the currently available DVD is more than acceptable, as is the version on Tubi.
Still Unavailable: Death Car on the Freeway (1979)
Pictured: Dinah Shore and Shelley Hack in Death Car on the Freeway (1979).
Hal Needham‘s (Smoky and the Bandit) Death Car on the Freeway is more horror coded than first realized or admitted. Despite the impressive car stunts and action-movie pacing, this TV-movie also functions as a slasher. Instead of a dark and isolated forest, or an abandoned house, these imperiled women are being killed in broad daylight and on busy roads. A mysterious madman in a van is picking off unsuspecting female drivers, and only a reporter played by Shelley Hack (Charlie’s Angels) can stop him.
The copy of Death Car on the Freeway circulating on YouTube includes vintage commercials.
Available Now: Devil Dog – The Hound of Hell (1978)
Pictured: The namesake of Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978).
Satanic Panic was en route when a lot of these TV-movies were produced, and one of the sillier examples was Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell. Director Curtis Harrington did the best he could with the limited budget for effects, which is most obvious during the climactic showdown between human and a not-so-good boy. In the movie’s defense, the dubious visual effects give it a surreal quality.
This amusing rehash of The Omen but with a dog in lieu of The Devil’s spawn can now be found on Blu-ray from various labels. It’s also streaming on Tubi and SCREAMBOX.
Still Unavailable: This House Possessed (1981)
Pictured: Parker Stevenson and Lisa Eilbacher in This House Possessed (1981).
One of the more interesting haunted house stories from the vintage TV landscape was William Wiard‘s This House Possessed. And that’s because it’s not really about a haunted house. A former Hardy Boys actor (Parker Stevenson) plays an exhausted musician in need of healing, and a personal nurse (Lisa Eilbacher, 10 to Midnight) is crucial to that rehabilitation. In time though, an uncanny force within the singer’s rented mansion reveals itself. Combine some schlocky moments — that bloody shower scene — with great performances and a wonderful score by Billy Goldenberg (Duel), and you have one of the best horror TV-movies to come out of the ’80s.
Fans are anxiously waiting for This House Possessed to hit Blu-ray, but in the meantime, there’s always YouTube and random DVD releases.
Available Now: Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
Pictured: Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981).
Scarecrow horror movies tend to be more deficient than dreadful, but Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a sizable exception, if not the best of its kind. Directed by Frank De Felitta and penned by J.D. Feigelson, this Deep South horror story of revenge is rich in unease and haunting imagery. For good reason, this one has stayed with audiences for decades.
Dark Night of the Scarecrow is now available on Blu-ray from VCI Entertainment.
Still Unavailable: Don’t Go to Sleep (1982)
Pictured: Robin Ignico, Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper in Don’t Go to Sleep (1982).
One of the most wanted horror TV-movies on physical media is, without a doubt, Don’t Go to Sleep. Richard Lang‘s grief-stricken ghost story has stellar performances from its adults, Valerie Harper (Night Terror) and Dennis Weaver (Duel), and a truly creepy turn from then-child star Robin Ignico. Fans haven’t looked at a pizza cutter quite the same since they first saw this movie.
The YouTube upload of Don’t Go to Sleep looks like someone took a pizza cutter to it, but unfortunately, that’s all we have right now.
Available Now: Invitation to Hell (1984)
Pictured: Susan Lucci in Invitation to Hell (1984).
One of the most recognized faces in daytime American television headed this campy and Wes Craven-directed TV-movie. Susan Lucci played one of the seductive residents of a shady suburb where joining the local country club can have fatal consequences. It’s not the least frightening, but Invitation to Hell is entertaining in other ways.
FilmRise has made Invitation to Hell available at various streaming sites.
Still Unavailable: Deadly Messages (1985)
Kathleen Beller starred in several horror TV-movies, with Are You in the House Alone? being her most popular. She then starred in two ’80s suspensers: No Place to Hide and this one, Deadly Messages. Of all the three mentioned, the latter is the only movie with a supernatural element. Beller’s character accidentally invites trouble into her life when she messes around with a Ouija board.
Deadly Messages lacks a DVD and hasn’t found its way to streaming yet, but a surprisingly nice copy can be found on YouTube.
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